Literature Circles

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Literature Circles
By Mary in MA

Hi, Mat!

The job requirements for each group memeber are as follows: 1.) Discussion Director composes 3-5 "fat questions" on the reading for the day. "Fat questions" are those that require higher-order thinking skills
to answer, not just a fact or detail from the story (ex: Why did this character react to this particular event the way that he/she did? What makes you think so? Give evidence from the story). The Discussion Director also leads the group for the day in staying on task and in talking about the questions (he/she writes down the consensus of the group's answers). 2.) Passage Picker selects

1 or more paragraphs from the story to share with the whole group based on the importance/significance of that section to the story so far (this could be because it introduces a new character, describes a possible cause/effect, explains something not understood previously about the story, etc.) The passage might also be chosen because the Passage Picker likes the way it is written (lyrical language, exciting phrasing, funny, thought-provoking, great descriptions, etc.). The Passage Picker writes down the page number(s) of the passage and then writes what it is about the particular passage that made him/her select it. 3.) Word Specialist picks out, writes down, and defines (using a dictionary) at least 5-7 words that are unfamiliar, unusual, important from the section being read for the day. These are shared and discussed with the group who also enter them in their Reading journals as vocabulary for the story. It is essential to make the students understand that the person with this job must be THOROUGH in selecting ALL WORDS that may fit the category of Important/Unusual/Unfamiliar even if they think they already know the what the words mean. It is also essential to have the students use the dictionary and write down ALL the possible uses of the word so that when the group is discussing them they can decide which meaning is appropriate for the author's purposes. 4.) The Investigator/ Connector job may need the most support from the teacher because it requires the student to draw upon prior knowledge either from personal experience, previously-read stories, other known information sources to formulate conclusions about the story. This task may require some degree of research to further enhance understanding of the author's purpose. The teacher as facilitator may need to guide the students to think more deeply about something they have known, read, or experienced that is similar to what is going on in the current story. The Investigator/Connector writes down his/her connections and shares with the group who may also add input or conclusions of their own. 5.) The illustrator chooses something from the chapter to draw a picture about (something or someone significant). This could be about a turning point in the story. The picture should be in as much color and detail as possible. On the back of the drawing, the illustrator writes why he/she chose this subject to draw and what significance it has to the story. The explanation should be at least 1 paragraph long (depending on grade level). During the Group Share, the illustrator holds up the drawing for all memebers to see and elicits reactions/responses to the content of the picture. Only after the others have discussed it then the Illustrator shares what she/he has written about the picture.

As I stated in my earlier post, I have had excellent success using Literature Circles at both the 4th and 6th grade levels. If you are contemplating using it with younger children, you may have to adjust the job requirements to suit their capabilities. I have the job titles and tasks on large laminated posters which I keep hanging on the walls for reference. When I first introduce the program, I spend about a week or so per task modeling how the jobs should be done with the whole class doing the given job assignment. Once I feel secure that everyone understands the process, I break the class into smaller groups who will work together until the end of the story. In order to avoid controversy about whose turn it is to do which job, have all students write their names and the date on the task sheet each day. The person whose task it is should write his/her name and title first with the date, followed by the names and title of the other group members. My rule is that the jobs rotate on a daily basis and no one repeats a job until everyone in the group has gone through the rotation.

For assesssment purposes, you have the individual task sheets and the group consensus statements to work with. The hardest part for the teacher is to sit back and let the kids do it themselves. Once they understand how the process works, they are eager to get down to work and,since they know that their grade depends on individual as well as group participation, it is usually pretty easy to keep them on task. The best part is seeing how well they interact with the literature and get a deeper meaning from what they are reading.

Hope this helps.