Literature Circles
Book titles:
Little Brother, Acceleration, Sold, Street Pharm,
If I Grow Up, Schooled, Final Takedown
– Choose a novel based on your reading ability and personal interests.
-Each group will decide how many pages will be read in each section. Generally, the book is to be divided into 8 parts. YOU MAY NOT READ AHEAD- it is important that everyone reads, make notes and discusses one section at a time. IF YOU ARE A FAST READER, PLEASE HAVE ANOTHER NOVEL TO READ
-Make all your notes on one document (READING-JOURNAL-blank READING-JOURNAL-blank pdf) that will be emailed to your teacher when requested. Make your notes as complete as possible and include page references. Your writing journal will be assessed for quality and completion. See the example to aid in your understanding. Reading Journal Example- Beige Reading Journal Example- Beige (pdf)
-Each “Circle” day will start with about 15 minutes worth of discussion regarding the notes made for the preceding section. The rest of the class will be for reading and take notes on the new section.
Literature Circle Roles
For each section of the novel, you will be responsible for one of the following roles- each group member will rotate through the roles so one day you will do Plot development, the next you will do Character development, then Research, and finally, Literary Style.
Plot Development– starts the discussion!
– Make notes on the twists and turns of the plot OR
-Sketches a picture (visualization) of the section. Use colour!!! Stick figures are acceptable. Must show the group your visualization and explain your reasoning.
-Regardless, can you explain what happened? Are there any twists? Foreshadowing? Is there tension growing? Can you identify the climax?
Character Development- speaks second.
-Makes notes on how the author is developing the protagonist
– Look for specific passages that demonstrate both direct and indirect characterization
-Think of specific adjectives to describe the protagonist’s character:naive, proud, insensitive, egotistic, etc.
-Look also for on-line images of what you think the protagonist may look like and share these with the group to see if they agree
Researcher
You have a few things to do:
-First, look up the significance of any names or places to understand why the author made those choices.
-Learn about the location of the novel. Provide background info on the society, culture or history of the location.
-Where possible, share maps and images with your group
-Look up uncommon or difficult words
-As the novel progresses, there will be less background research to do, so while you look up words or factual information, begin to focus on the character development of the other characters in the novel
Literary Style
-You need to take notes of interesting passages and literary devices.
-Choose passages that illustrate the novel’s theme or that demonstrate the author’s use of metaphor, imagery, irony, dialect, or characterization.
Theme vs Topic Assignment
Write a paragraph that explains the theme of your book. See the attachment for details:
Story Summarized in 12 Words (powerpoint story) 
With your group, summarize your novel into 12 words. Be sure to stay focused on the theme.
- Only use adjectives, nouns and verbs- make them count!!
- Use powerpoint to make your 12 “slide” book
- Use the first slide as a title page (therefore there will be 13 slides in total)
- For each slide, have the word and an image you think matches the word.
- Try to make the illustrations consistent (all colour, all black and white, etc)
- Have the same formatting for each slide
- You will present your “book” as a group to the class
Assessment- how well were you able to summarize the book while focussing on the theme? Were your images consistent and relevant? Was effort shown in formatting?
Discussion Questions for each story- to use to help in understanding. You are NOT required to answer these in writing.
Vocabulary– see “Vocabulary” section on Edublog.
-Keep your bookmark in your novel at all times. -Whenever you find a new, level 2 word, record it on your bookmark.
-You will have a total of 12 words by the end of the novel study so do a logophile once a week.
Individual Project– due Monday, January 19th.
