Literature Circles Combined Role Sheet

FICTION
This is an adaptation from the classroom of Phyllis Rado, A. I. Du Pont Middle School, Wilmington DE

Name: Joni Seidel-Gomez

Title: Secrets, lies and Algebra
Discussion Director: Develop a list of questions that your group might want to address in
this reading.
1. Who youre greater than (>) and who youre less than (<) is kind of the point of eighth
grade. (p.3) Do you agree that middle school is all about this ranking of people? When do you
think this disappears? Why is it so pervasive during this time?

2. Why is Tess suddenly disappointed in both algebra and her mother? What things do you rely on
to stay consistent in your life?
Connector: Your job is to find the connections between the text read and the real world.
Try to make many different kinds of connections.
Text-to-Self Connection
Tess tells Miranda and Sammy the secret about Rob. Who could you trust with such an important secret?
With whom could you create a Venn diagram? With whom would you have an empty set?

Text-to-Text
This novel is written in a mathematical perspective to portray ideas and real life
situations. Is there another story you have read recently that could be told in the same
way? Is there another study (history, science, ect) you would want your story written in?

Text-to-World
Standardized testing is prevalent in the United States. It is used in some other countries
as well. Do you think the state tests are given too much importance in the curriculum? Do these
tests make you nervous?
Word Wizard: Your job is to find some important words in todays reading.

Word

Page

What I guessed that it meant

when I read it
(and how I guessed)

What it means
(and how I found out)

Passage Master: Your job is to pick a special part of the text that you want to read out loud
to your group to further discussion.
Page

Part (Write the text verbatim.)

Why I picked it

Summarizer: Your job is to prepare a brief summary of the reading. This summary should
be about 3-4 sentences long and tell the main ideas.

Visualizer: Your job is to draw some kind of picture that is connected to the text. Your
drawing may be a graph, a sketch, a timeline, a stick figure, anything that represents what
has happened in the text.