Literature Circles
Literature circles are similar to book clubs, but with more structure and rigor. Students are organized into small groups to discuss an assigned text. Each individual in the group has a specific role, which will change each week, and everyone in the group is responsible for facilitating and participating in the discussion. Using literature circles as a means of discussing literary and creative texts encourages deeper critical thinking, intellectual autonomy, and peer-to-peer learning.
(Literature circles description and roles adapted from Randi Tanglen, “Student-Centered, Collaborative Learning and ‘Literature Circles’ in the American Literature Classroom,” PALS, June 12, 2017.)
Roles
The purpose of assigning roles in the group is to help readers approach texts with clear purpose and to allow for diverse engagement and analysis points within each text. One or more people will be assigned the following roles:
- Summarizer: Prepares a brief and concise (~1-2 paragraph) summary of the assigned text.
- Questioner: Develops two higher-order discussion questions to promote critical and analytical thinking about the text. Following discussion, posts one follow-up discussion question to the group Wakelet.
- Connector: Makes connections between the text and other texts, historical events, or current issues. May research background information on the author or historical or cultural contexts surrounding the text that enhance the group’s understanding and interpretation of the literature.
- Close Reader: Locates 1 significant passage or scene and analyzes how language and structure (figurative language, imagery, organization) helps develop character, conflict, or theme.
- Sustainability Rep: Considers the text in the context of the relevant SDG, making links between issues, goals, and outcomes of that SDG.
Students are required to submit their preparation in advance of each literature circle meeting. We will be using the collaborative platform, Wakelet, to organize each group’s work. Your audience is your fellow group members; contribute in a way that they can benefit from your ideas and work.
Literature Circle Discussion
Each group will meet once a week in Thursday class to discuss each text. Prior to the meeting, students should review their group members’ prep work. In the meeting, the groups can decide how to best facilitate the conversation (i.e. designate a facilitator, allow everyone to offer a quick overview of their prep work, focus on select roles for points of engagement, etc).
What is essential is that all group members participate and that everyone feels welcome to share their thoughts. This means listening more than speaking, asking questions of each other, and approaching the meeting and the text as an opportunity to learn from new perspectives, expand insight into the text, and acknowledge complexity and difference.
Post-meeting Discussion Question
Following the meeting, the Questioner will pose one new discussion question for larger class discussion. Groups may wish to collaborate on this question at the end of their discussion.
Assessment
Literature circle prep work will be assessed according to the following rubric:
| Full Credit | Reasons for Reduced Points | |
|---|---|---|
| Content | Makes a substantial and meaningful contribution to the group’s topic/discussion Promotes deeper and more meaningful understanding of the text | Limited or partial contribution Unclear relationship between post and the text |
| Details | Posted in a timely manner Uses reliable sources (for connector and sustainability roles) and offers citation/link to those sources. Few mechanical errors that impede understanding | Uses non-credible sources or unclear citation of sources used or locations in text Errors that make it difficult to understand ideas |
Annotations
In Units 2 and 3, beginning in Week 8, students will annotate course readings through the social annotation tool Perusall.
Social annotation means that everyone is taking notes and recording reactions together on a shared text. This form of annotating will allow us to learn effective techniques for annotation, share ideas, questions, and resources, and build community together.
In order to annotate using Perusall, you must access the readings through our LMS, iLearn.
Why annotate?
Every time you read a text, for this or any class, you should annotate that text, either by hand or digitally. Engage in conversation with the text. Look for and identify patterns or moments of confusion, make connections between different sections of the text, and make meaning of what you have read. Given the value that we place in discussions on supporting every claim you make in the language of the text, and grounding your questions in the text, your annotations are and will be significant to your learning in the course.
What should my annotations look like?
This very much depends upon you. We acknowledge here that our engagement with a text can look different from reader to reader, but for the purposes of our work, they must be at least somewhat discernible to others.
In an English class, you will read a wide variety of texts:
- For literary texts (short stories, poetry): You will take particular note of word choice, definitions of new vocabulary, character development, details of form and structure, figurative language, grammar patterns, repeated images (motifs), key developments in ideas, and connections to earlier passages that you have noted or that we have discussed in class.
- For journalistic texts: You should identify the main arguments of the text and the evidence that it uses to support this argument. You should think about the larger implications of the topic or argument, and make connections to topics or events outside of the text.
Remember the different modes of engagement you practiced in the literature circles (questioning, connecting, close reading, etc). Apply these same diverse modes of engagement to the annotations.
Assessment
Grades will be recorded for each text, with a score from 0 – 3. Scores of 2 or 3 are passing grades. Full credit is awarded for quality annotation, including highlighting significant points in the text, explaining questions or ideas, and engaging with the ideas and comments of classmates.
To be eligible for full credit, students should submit at least 3 annotations on each reading. Annotations are due by the start of class on their due date; no late annotations are accepted.