Literature Circles

1. Literature Circles an introduction… (adapted from Harvey Daniels' book of the same name) Holly Dilatush February 6, 2009

2. What are Literature Circles? • a collaborative way of approaching reading and learning about what you are reading • useful for any reading groups, study groups or book clubs • a way that involves everyone! • literature circles “rotate” (in circles ), with each person trying each of the roles • Literature circles help readers engage meaningfully with the texts they are reading!

3. Literature Circles, continued… • Literature circles can be used with any writing sample, from paragraph to news article to chapter to books (fiction or nonfiction); Literature circles work with any written text! • What are the literature circle roles? (see the next slide!)

4. Literature Circle roles The easiest way to begin to understand the power of literature circles is to learn and understand the various roles • discussion director • creative connector • vocabulary vitalizer • idea illustrator • character captain • literary luminary • essence extractor • rigorous researcher • travel tracer

5. Discussion Director • Facilitates discussions when group meets; is responsible for: • Being sure each person has their turn to speak, to contribute to the discussion • Gently reminds that it’s someone else’s turn when anyone talks tooooo long  • Guides the conversation from one person to another, if/as needed • Might “recap” and repeat outline of what’s been said (the discussion director is also welcome to share and contribute their own thoughts to the conversation)

6. Creative Connector • Selects three to five phrases or passages in the reading that reminded them of something/someone else and briefly shares the phrase/passage and the connection. • Example # 1: You are reading about a mother and daughter relationship and a particular line spoken by the mother reminds you of a conversation/situation you experienced with your mother – share your story and talk about your feelings and how you imagine the character feels at that point of the story. • Example # 2: The story mentions a particular place and it’s a place you’ve visited before, talk about that – try to connect specifics in the reading to your real experience.

7. Vocabulary Vitalizer Selects ten to twenty vocabulary words or phrases or idioms: • Researches their meaning • Provides the list and definitions/ explanations to the group (may provide photos or drawings, too) • Selects three or more from the list and writes new sentences, using the words or phrases in a new sentence that illustrates the meaning.

8. Idea Illustrator Selects three or more specific passages or themes from the reading and: • (in a face-to-face class) Draws pictures or sketches “webs” (mind-mapping illustrations) that relate to their thinking. • In an online class these sketches might be scanned and shared – or online tools (such as clip art and Microsoft Office’s Smart Art) might be used. • **Note!** The drawing talents of the idea illustrator are not important – it’s the connections made that are important (however, if you are one of those lucky people with a talent for drawing, here is an opportunity for you to shine! )

9. Character Captain Selects one or more characters and develops detailed descriptions: • Follows their chosen character(s) through the entire reading passage and shares their observations • Example #1: might track a character’s emotions and list how they change throughout the passage • Example #2: might compare two characters, noting similarities and differences that they observe • Use your imagination and find your own ways to deepen the understanding of certain characters!

10. Literary Luminator Selects three to five short passages from the reading – passages which the luminator thinks are among the most important and/or powerful – and: • Reads them aloud to the group (giving page number location of the passage) • Explains why they chose them

11. Essence Extractor • Tries to capture the major theme or themes of the reading and describe it in ten words or less. • Hopefully will encourage response and debate from others in the circle – • This may sound like one of the easiest roles, but can be one of the most difficult! So, collaborative discussion is especially helpful!

12. Travel Tracer • Place the story in the world! • The travel tracer might: • draw a map • might find a map and “trace” the route (or routes) of the story on that map • may simply write a list of the places, in the order they appear in the reading – and provide that list with a map, pointing to each place as he/she shares his/her list • The travel tracer begins with the “world” (it may be outer space, it may be the earth, or a virtual world) and then “maps” the story in that world.

13. Rigorous Researcher • Selects one or more topics from the reading to research in depth. • Example #1: If the reading references a language or culture unfamiliar to most of the group (or unfamiliar to the rigorous researcher), he/she might learn more about the language or culture • Example #2: If the reading references many names of unfamiliar foods, games, plants, clothes, music (or other things), the rigorous researcher might find photos and/or descriptions of those and share them with the group

14. Sound like fun? How it starts: • Holly will make a schedule with the list of the roles and ask people to choose a role. • Participants in the reading group will promise to try and prepare for their role. • Holly hopes that participants will post their contributions to the Book Club’s group discussion forums, too. • We’ll meet on Skype (and use “DimDim” online interactive whiteboards, too)

15. At the first "real" literature circle meeting: • Welcome everyone! • Q & A (help each other!) • Discussion Director takes the lead and selects someone (or asks for volunteers) to start – then makes sure each person has a turn! • And then the fun begins! continued…

16. IMPORTANT!! For literature circles to work most effectively, it is very important that EACH participant takes a turn at EACH of the different roles. Helping each other through the process is part of the fun! Learning is about growing and reaching for new experiences.

17. Literature Circles! • http://www.literaturecircles.com/

18. Thank you ! We will use literature circles to discuss our reading of the book: Kite Runner (author Khaled Hosseini) EnglishCafe ID = Smiling7 Skype ID: smilin7