6. Why use literature circles in
your classroom?
It provides opportunities to read, write,
speak, and listen.
Students interact in groups and are held
accountable for individual roles.
They are student directed.
They are engaging.
7. Literature Circle Roles and
Structure
Roles
Discussion Director (questioner)
Literary Luminary
Vocabulary Enricher
Summarizer
Connector
Illustrator
Adapted from Harvey Daniels
8. Discussion Director
This role is designed
to promote discussion
and to ask higher level
questions about the
text.
9. Literary Luminary
This role is designed
to get students to
choose passages from
the text. They may
choose them because
they´re...
interesting
funny
confusing
important
10. Vocabulary Enricher
The vocabulary
enricher´s role is to
choose difficult
words from the text
and find out what
they mean. They
then explain the
meaning to the rest
of the group.
11. Summarizer
The summarizer´s
role is to choose the
most important
events that occurred
in the passage.
These are shared
with the group and
other group
members add their
ideas.
12. Connector
The connector relates
things that occur in the
passage with his or
her life, the real world,
or another book read
or movie seen.
13. Illustrator
The illustrator´s job is to
draw something from the
passage that caught his
or her attention. The
image is then shared
with the group and other
members guess what is
happening in the picture
and discuss this part of
the passage.
14. Challenges of Managing
Literature Circles
Developing an understanding of roles
Teaching students to work in groups
Helping students stay organized
Maintaining and English environment
Making sure students do the reading
Keeping the conversation going
15. Addressing Challenges
Developing an understanding of roles
Practice, practice, practice
Teacher guides students through the process
Student volunteers have conversations in a “fish
bowl”
16. Addressing Challeges
Teaching students to work in groups
Establishing what good groupwork looks like
Good conversations vs. Bad conversations
Developing Clear Expectations
Modelling by teacher
Modellng by students
Evaluation of mock conversations
Self and group evaluations after each
conversation.
17. Addressing Challeges
Helping Students Stay Organized
Keep role sheets, meeting calendar, notes, and
self evaluations in a folder that stays with the
teacher
Spend time at the beginning determining
students roles, pages to be read before each
meeting, and meeting dates.
18. Addressing Challeges
Maintaining and English Environment
Establish the expectation of English when
setting up groupwork expectations
Hold students accountable for English speech
Video camera
Fish bowl
Teacher observations
19. Addressing Challeges
Making sure students read
Create time for reading in class
Choose books that are at students´ independent
reading level
20. Addressing Challenges
Keeping the conversation going
Give students conversation sentence starters,
In my opinion..
One connection I made...
I agree/ disagree...
What do you think, _______?
Etc.
Establish the expectation of keeping the
conversation going.
Practice commenting on other group members
ideas.
21. Useful Links
Literature Circle Resource Center
http://www.litcircles.org/
http://www.literaturecircles.com/
Literature Circles: Getting Started
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.
asp?id=19
Literature Circle Roles
http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/reading/li
terature_circles/
http://www.edselect.com/Docs/Litcir.pdf
22. Resources
Daniels, H. (2002). Literature Circles: Voice and
Choice in the Student Centered Classroom.
Portland: Stenhouse Publishing.