Literature Circles are small

groups of students who meet

together to talk about books they
have read.
• Each member of the group has a job
with certain responsibilities.
• If the group is to work effectively, each
person must do his job.
• Participation and self-control are
important ingredients in successful
 Discussion Director
Your job is to develop a list of questions that your
group will want to discuss about the piece. Don’t
worry about the small details; your job is to help
people talk over the big ideas in the reading and
share feelings. Usually the best questions come
from your own thoughts and ideas as you read.
 Sample Questions
•What was going through your mind as
you read this piece?
•What was the topic or theme?
•Did anything surprise you?
•How did you feel about
the characters?
 Character Analyzer
Your job is to choose a character and write a
response about him/her. Does this character
remind you of anyone? What is your opinion of
the character? What does he look like, and what
does he do? Identify some of the character’s traits
and give evidence from the story to support your
ideas.
 Artful Artist
Your job is to draw anything about the piece you
liked. You may also draw something as a response
to the reading.
-Character
-Setting
-Problem
-Exciting Part
-Surprising Part

When your group meets, don’t say what your

drawing is. Let them guess and talk about it. Then
you can tell them about it.
 Text Connector
Your job is to connect
the text to something in
life or to another text.
Does this story remind
you of anything?
Identify whether your
connection is text to
text(TT) or text to life
(TL).
Summarizer
Your job is to write
a brief summary of
the story. That
means that you are
retelling the key
points in a shorter
version. Include the
main ideas, but
leave out small
 Word Finder
Write down any words you don’t know. Also
write down words the author used that you
think are especially interesting or vivid. Use
a dictionary to find word meanings. When
your group meets, help your group members
talk about the words you have chosen.
 Passage Picker
Your job is to pick parts of the piece that
you want to read aloud to your group. You
might choose a:
- Good Part - Interesting Part
- Confusing Part - Funny Part
- Important Part - Surprising Part
- Scary Part - Good Description
-Good Writing Sample
Remember:
• Do your job with excellence!
• Do your part to enable your
group to have a meaningful
conversation about your book.
• Stay on topic as you talk.
• Share your ideas and enjoy the
conversation.