Literacy Circles

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Literacy Circles
Why are we doing Literacy Circles?
Literacy circles are formed by groups of students
interested in reading the same book. The whole
idea of literacy circles is to give you the
opportunity to interact with literature in a way
that is fun and different from your routing. It
allows you to be in charge of your growth as a
reader.
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Literacy circles defined

• Students CHOOSE their own reading materials.
• Small temporary groups are formed by book
  selection (choice).
• Different groups read different books.
• Students use written notes to guide the reading
  and their discussions.
• Discussion topics come from the students.

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Literacy Circles defined.

• Students meet on a regular, predictable
  schedule to
• discuss books.
• Open, natural conversations about the book are
• encouraged.
• Teachers serve as facilitators rather than as
  members of
• the group or instructors.
• Evaluation is by teacher observation and
  student self-
• evaluation.
• A spirit of playfulness and fun pervades the
• room.
• 11. When books are completed, students will share
  with their
• classmates.

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Literacy Circles
1. You will be given the opportunity to review
and discuss a number of books in your class. You
will be asked to rate your favorite titles and
label your first, second and third favorite
books. Students with similar interests in a
title will be placed in a literature circle.
The members of your group will read the
chapters independently and discuss the book
together in your literacy circle.
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Literacy Circles
2. Reading groups are formed by reading
interests and the books you choose. Groups will
not be assigned based on who wants to be in what
group because their friends may be in the same
group. It may be possible that your groups
include one or two of your friends, but the
majority of those in each reading group will be
there because they are interested in reading that
book.
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Literacy Circles
3. Different groups will be reading different
books. In most instances, what that means is
that no two groups will be reading the same book
at the same time. Depending on the number of
students in the class, each class will consist of
three to four literacy groups with each group
reading a different book.
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Literacy Circles
4. For the next four weeks while you are in
summer school, your LA class will follow the same
routine as every other LA class in the district.
The routine of the class will be explained to you
later, but you will meet with your literacy
circle during the same time each day.
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Literacy Circles

• While in your literacy circles, you will be asked
  to pay special attention to certain aspects of
  reading like unknown vocabulary words,
  inferences, etc. You will be given post-it notes
  to help you identify areas to discuss and to note
  your interests.
• The use of post-it notes will be vital in
  your literacy circles because they will allow you
  to go back and use your reading to help direct
  your groups discussions and activities.

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Literacy Circles
6. While you will be given some direction at
first, what your literacy circle discusses will
be up to you and your group. You and the members
of your group will direct the discussion and make
real life connections that are meaningful to you.
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Literacy Circles

• As you and your group meet in your literacy
  circles, the discussions are meant to be open and
  natural. Making personal connections with the
  reading, digressing into similar areas of
  interest, and asking open ended questions are
  encouraged.
• If the reading reminds you of another time
  or place, then discuss it with your literacy
  circle.

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Literacy Circles

• While your teacher is there to help facilitate
  your literacy circles, each member of your group
  will be charged with a responsibility. A
  members role in the group will change each day,
  so each member will have the chance of acting out
  each role.
• The teacher will help keep each group on
  task however, he/she will not actively take
  control of or be a member of any group.

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Literacy Circles
9. Your teacher will be providing you feedback
on a regular basis. Your teacher will be making
observations on a daily basis, and you will be
asked to evaluate yourself and your literacy
circle as a whole. One of your responsibilities
as a member of your group is to monitor your
group and help assess whether or not you are
meeting your goals.
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Literacy Circles

• Literacy circles are meant to be fun and
  entertaining. One of the goals is to help you to
  become a better reader.
• We could have done the same old TAKS practice
  worksheets we always do in summer school.
  Instead, we want to give you a chance to
  experience reading in a different light.

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Literacy Circles

• As you finish reading each book, you will be
  asked to share what you think about that book
  with others who are not a part of your literacy
  circle.
• After each book is finished, then new
  literacy circles will be created with different
  combinations of students. The selections are
  based on reading choices.

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Literacy Circles
Roles...

• Each student in each literacy circle will
  have a role to play in the groups. Your role
  will change each day so that everyone in a group
  will perform each of the five roles.
• connector
• questioner
• literary luminary
• illustrator
• summarizer

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Literacy Circles
Summarizer Your job is to summarize the events
in the section your group has read for today.
Dont worry about the small details your task is
to help people talk over the big ideas in the
reading and share their reactions. The other
members of your group will be counting on you to
give a quick statement that conveys the gistthe
key points, the main highlights, the essenceof
todays reading assignment.
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Literacy Circles
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 similar events at other times
and places, to other people or problems that you
are reminded of. Dont forget to look at the
daily newspaper for current events that may
connect to what you are reading. Consider all of
the books you have read, movies you have seen,
people you have met, and experiences you have
had. There are no right answers herewhatever
the reading connects you with is worth sharing!
After you share, ask any group members to explain
any connections they found.
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Literacy Circles
Word Wizard Your job is to be on the lookout for
a few especially important words in todays
reading. If you find words that are puzzling or
unfamiliar, mark them with a post-it while you
read. Later jot down their definitions from a
dictionary and synonyms from a thesaurus. Also,
you may run across familiar words that stand out
somehow in the readingwords that are repeated a
lot, used in an unusual way, or key to the
meaning of the text. Mark these special words,
too, and be ready to point them out to the group.
When your circle meets, help members find and
discuss these words.
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Literacy Circles
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Literacy Circles
Literary Luminary Your job is to locate a few
special sections of the text that you feel 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, and then read them
out loud to your group. Explain why you selected
this passage, and continue with a discussion to
get feedback from the group members.
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Literacy Circles
Questioner Your job is to write a few questions
that you have about sections from the book. What
were you wondering about while you were reading?
Did you have questions about what was happening,
about the meaning of a word, about a character,
about what was going to happen next, why the
author used a particular style, or what the whole
chapter meant? Just try to notice what you are
wondering while you are reading. Jot the thought
or question on a post-it note, and attach it to
that part of the story. During your discussion
time, bring up the questions to be discussed.
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Literacy Circles
Illustrator Good readers make pictures in their
minds as they read. This is a chance to share
some of your own images and visions. Draw some
kind of picture related to the reading you have
just done. It can be a sketch, cartoon, diagram,
flowchart, or stick figure scene. You can draw a
picture of something that happened in your book,
something the reading reminded you of, or a
picture that conveys any thought, idea, or
feeling you got from the reading. Any kind of
drawing or graphic is okay you can even label
things with words if that helps.
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Literacy Circles