The Time Machine : Literature Circle Roles

How Do Literature Circles Work?

1. During literature circle time, you will bring in the book your "circle" is reading

AND

2. be prepared to be one of the following:

Big Cheese, Discussion Director, Literary Luminary, Word Wizard, Creative Connector, Artful Artist, Decoding Detective, or Summarizer.

The Big Cheese
Your job is to help to run the discussion. At the end of the discussion, make sure that everyone knows what pages to read for the next day and what their role is. Link to sample Big Cheese Role Sheet.

Discussion Director
Your job is to develop a list of 3 - 4 questions that your group might want to discuss about this part of the book. Your job is to help people talk over the big ideas in the reading and share their reactions. Usually the best discussion questions come from your own thoughts, feelings, and concerns as you read. Link to sample Discussion Director Role Sheet.

Literary Luminary
Your job is to locate a few special sections of the text that your group would like to hear read aloud. The idea is to help people remember some interesting, powerful, funny, puzzling, or important sections of the text. You decide which passages or paragraphs are worth hearing. Use post-it notes to mark the sections (I'll give you a whole bunch of them, just ask). Link to sample Literary Luminary Role Sheet.

Word Wizard
Your job is to be on the lookout for a few especially important words in the section you are reading. If you find words that are puzzling or unfamiliar, mark them down while you are reading and then later on write down the definition. Link to sample Word Wizard role sheet.

Decoding Detective
Your job is to be ready to help the reader to sound out unfamiliar or challenging words.

Creative Connector
Your job is to find connections between the book your group is reading and the world outside. This means connecting the reading to your own life, to happenings at school or in the community, to other people or problems that your are reminded of, to other books on the same topic... There are no right answers here. Share the connections you think of. Link to sample Creative Connector role sheet.

Artful Artist
Your job is to draw a picture, sculpt, model, etc... related to the reading. You can create something that is discussed specifically in your book, or something that the reading reminded you of, or something that conveys any idea or feeling you got from the reading. When the Discussion Director gives you your turn, you may show your artwork. Let the group talk about what they think your picture means. After everyone has had a chance to think about your artwork, tell them what it meant to you. Link to sample Artful Artist role sheet.

Summarizer
At the end of your circle time, your group is to summarize what you read. The summary should be 1-2 minutes long. It should give the key points, the highlights, the gist of the reading. Link to sample Summary role sheet.

Positive Person
Your job is to set a positive tone to your group's discussion. Link to sample Positive Person role sheet.