Websites:
Literature Circles Resource Center: http://www.litcircles.org/
Responses to Literature: http://ksumail.kennesaw.edu/~jcope/Eng3391/ABRIdeas.pdf
3rd Grade Literature Circles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNNQARvoGds
4th Grade Literature Circles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlJJhP3frUQ
5th Grade Literature Circles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltkprzZhyeI
Literature Circles in a Bilingual Classroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGtgO6UAvr4
Literature Circles in a ESOL Classroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugxsk0Beb3I
Literature Circle Role:
Discussion Director (Questioner)
Literature Circle Role: Author Expert
Literature Circle Role: Power
Literature Circle Role: The Problem and Its Complexity
Literature Circle Role: Listening to All Voices
Literature Circle Role: Disrupted Understandings
Literature Circles Resource Center: http://www.litcircles.org/
Responses to Literature: http://ksumail.kennesaw.edu/~jcope/Eng3391/ABRIdeas.pdf
3rd Grade Literature Circles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNNQARvoGds
4th Grade Literature Circles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlJJhP3frUQ
5th Grade Literature Circles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltkprzZhyeI
Literature Circles in a Bilingual Classroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGtgO6UAvr4
Literature Circles in a ESOL Classroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugxsk0Beb3I
Literature Circle Role:
Discussion Director (Questioner)
- You are in charge of the group. It is your responsibility to:
- Keep the group on task
- Invite each person to contribute his/her role
- Encourage others to comment as each role is presented
- Be prepared with thoughtful and open-ended questions for your group to discuss that you feel are important issues in the book
Literature Circle Role: Author Expert
- Research the author of your book. Examine the author’s website. Bring a laptop, if possible, and share the best of the website with your group. You can check out a laptop from the media center, if you don’t have one.
- Is the author’s life reflected in the book? In what ways? If not, how did the author become interested in the topic?
- What other books has the author written? Does this author tend to write with a specific style or about a specific topic?
- What are some interesting facts about the author?
Literature Circle Role: Power
- Who has the power in this book? Where would each main character fit along Botelho and Rudman’s power continuum? What benefits does power provide? What disadvantages do the powerless have to deal with?
- Does the balance of power shift at all during the book? How? How does this shift in power affect the lives of the characters?
Literature Circle Role: The Problem and Its Complexity
- What is the underlying problem of the book? How did this situation come about? What are the historical roots of this problem? What social justice issues are involved? Are there any remnants of this problem present in our culture today? If so, what are they?
Literature Circle Role: Listening to All Voices
- Whose voice is not heard in this book? How would the problem be viewed from this (unvoiced) perspective? Pick a character whose opinion we don’t hear in the book, and give him/her a voice. What would he/she say?
Literature Circle Role: Disrupted Understandings
- What new insights have you found from this book? What stereotypes or “givens” have been disrupted? What action does this book inspire you to take, in order to achieve social justice?