Literature Circles Schedule and Assignments

This blog post is to inform you of when your lit circle groups will meet and also what you need to complete before and after your meeting.

Lit circle scheduled meetings:
Group 1: February 8, 14, 28
Group 2: February 9, 15, 29
Group 3: February 9, 15, 29
Group 4: February 10, 16, March 2
Group 5: February 10, 16, March 2

Before your meeting, you must do the following:

1)     Write a short summary in your journal of what you read (at least ½ page)

2)     Under your summary, write a ½ page reaction to what you just read

3)     Write 3 discussion questions for the group to talk about which can be done one of two ways:

·        Write the questions on post-its and put them on the page where you had the question

·        Write the questions in your journal and note the page number where you had the question

4)     Flag one passage to share with the group you found one or more of the following:

·        Interesting

·        Curious

·        Confusing

·        Beautiful

·        Frustrating

·        Enraging

·        Exciting

·        Surprising

5)     Make a prediction about what you think will happen next (yes, you can still do this even after you finish a book!)

After your meeting, you must do the following in your journal:

1)     In a paragraph, describe how the group meeting helped you better understand and/or appreciate the text.

2)     In a paragraph, describe your contribution to the group and how you think you should be graded for your participation.


A friendly reminder:

PLEASE resist the temptation to read too far ahead of your assigned reading. As we discussed in class, most often reading ahead results in stifled discussion and lack of participation due to the inability to share your thoughts with the group since you already KNOW the answer. The fun of literature circles is making these discoveries together, not showing off what a great reader you are because you finished before everyone else.

You are still expected to maintain an independent reading book WHILE you are participating in literature circles, so if you finish your assigned reading early, then move on to your independent reading book. If you can keep multiple TV shows straight for weeks at a time, you can read more than one book at time without much confusion.