Seedfolks as a Liturature Circle Activity

What are Literature Circles

• Small peer-led discussion groups whose members have chosen to read the same story, poem, article or book.

• Group size ranges from 2-6 students

• Time limits range from 30-45 minutes

• Basic staples include independent reading, collaborative learning, and reader response

The importance of Lituratue circles

• Promotes collaboration

• Promotes participation

• Promotes accountability for assignments

• Promotes multicultural, multivoices perspectives

• Less anxiety prome participation

Key Ingredients

• Student choice
• Small temporary groups
• Notes to guide discussions
• Topics from the students not the teacher
• Open, natural conversations
• Teachers serves as facilitator and observer
• Student self-assessment

Assign each student in the group a role:

 

Connector

Your job is to connect the text to your own life and experiences or to today's society and culture as a whole. How does what you read relate to your community, your school, your family, or your world? What does the reading remind you of? Can you connect this reading to something else we’ve read in class?

Date	Page of Passage	Summary of Passage	Connection

Discussion Director

Your job is to ask questions about the book. Questions that will make other students think and generate discussion. What did you think about as you read? What do you predict will happen next? What questions would you ask a character or the author?

Date	Questions	Your Response to Questions
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Literary Luminary

Your job is to find important passages within the text that your group will discuss. Passages that will get your group thinking about a powerful, interesting, amazing, sad,  or funny part in the book. You and your group members will then discuss the passage and how the passage affected you.

Date	Page and Paragraph	Why did you select this passage?

Artful Illustrator

Your job is to make members of the group visualize what is happening in the book. Each day after you read add something to your drawing that represents an important aspect of your book. You can draw something that happened in your book, something the book reminds you of, or a feeling you get from the book. Show your drawings to the group and have members guess the meaning and then share your experiences.

Date	Illustration

Adapted from Harvey Daniels

Summarizer

Your job is to summarize the key points and events in your reading. You will always be the first one to present to your group.

Date	Pages	Summary

Word Wizard

Your job is to find words that you do not know in the reading. First, try to figure out what they mean in context and later check your answer with a dictionary. Try to choose words that you know your group will be unfamiliar with. If you cannot find a word you do not know, select words that are interesting to you that you and your group members could later use in your writing. You might select words that stand out a lot in your reading. Maybe they are repeated frequently, used in an interesting way, or key to the meaning of the text.

Date	Word	Page Number and Paragraph	Definition and Plan for discussion
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