1. L ITERATURE C IRCLES How They Work…

2. W HAT ARE LITERATURE CIRCLES ? You will read your lit circle novel in a group and individually. Each group member will have a role every few days that he/she will be responsible for fulfilling. You will also have an ongoing assignment involving The Hero’s Journey.

3. D ISCUSSION DIRECTOR Your job is to create at least five questions to discuss with your group members after you have finished reading. These questions should be about the big ideas from the book. Usually, the best discussion questions come from your own thoughts, feelings, and concerns as you read.

4. C ONNECTOR Your job is to tell the group what connections you make between this week’s reading and our real lives. You may connect the reading to your own life, to what happens in your school, or in your community. You may also relate it to movies, the news, television shows, or other books. There are no right or wrong answers here— whatever the reading connects you with is worth sharing.

5. P ASSAGE P ICKER Your job is to choose at least three passages of the reading that you feel are important enough for your group to hear again. The idea is to help people remember some interesting, powerful, funny, puzzling, or important sections of the book. You will provide the page number of each passage and the first two words so your group members will be able to find the passage. Also, write down the reason for why you chose this passage to share with your group members. You can read passages aloud yourself, ask someone else to read them, or have people read them silently and then discuss.

6. S UMMARIZER Your job is to prepare a brief summary of this week’s reading. The other members of your group will be counting on you to give a quick (one- or two- minute) statement that conveys the key points from this week’s reading assignment. Your summary should be at least five sentences long.

7. I LLUSTRATOR Your job is to draw some kind of picture related to the reading. It can be a sketch, cartoon, diagram, graph, or even a stick-figure scene. The picture can be about something that is specifically discussed in the reading, or something that the reading reminded you of, or a picture that conveys any idea or feeling you got from the reading. Label your drawing to help explain it to your group. Color helps your group members see your illustration. Allow your group members to comment on and discuss your illustration.

8. L IT C IRCLE R ULES AND E XPECTATIONS All group members must… read the whole novel you are assigned come to lit circles prepared (with book and lit circle role work) participate in discussions stay on task be respectful of other group members (by paying attention, making eye contact, listening, and responding)