Civics Non-Fiction Literature Circles

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Civics Non-Fiction Literature Circles

• 8th Grade Social Studies

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What are we doing?

• You will be assigned to a group of 3-4 students
• In your groups, you will be reading two
  non-fiction books about the era just before the
  Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s
• You will also be taking notes, asking questions,
  looking up additional information, and talking
  about what you read
• All you need to do is participate in class by
  reading, taking notes, and being a good group
  member

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What books will we read?

• During the first few days, everyone will read
  parts of Miles to Go for Freedom Segregation
  Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Years

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What books will we read?

• Then half of the groups will read Getting Away
  with Murder the True Story of the Emmett Till
  Case while the other half will read Freedom
  Walkers the Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

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Why are we doing it?

• To learn about Civil Rights
• To learn about American History
• To learn about civics concepts like the
  Constitution the Bill of Rights and the Supreme
  Court

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Why are we doing it?

• To gain experience reading non-fiction books
• To learn some new habits when reading non-fiction
  books
• To gain experience working in groups
• To gain experience developing your own questions
  and answering them

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New Reading Habits?

• Skim materials before you read them
• Read with a pencil in your hand (take notes not
  just on facts but on questions, comments,
  ideas, confusions anything that crosses your
  mind)
• Use direct quotes from the material as evidence
  to support your discussions

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New Reading Habits?

• Address any questions or confusions by talking
  with others who are reading the same material
• When the text is insufficient, go outside the
  text to get answers (look up unknown words, look
  up names/concepts mentioned by not explained)
• Spot different kinds of information patterns
  (compare/contrast, pro/con, cause/effect,
  sequence of events)

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How does it work?

• Each day you will be told what chapter to work on
• Each member of the group will fill in a
  Pre-Reading Notetaking Form for each chapter

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How does it work?

• Follow the instructions on the form.
• Step 1 skim the chapter and record questions
  predictions

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How does it work?

• Step 2 Read the chapter. Write down direct
  quotes that make you think of questions, ideas,
  confusions personal connections.

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How does it work?

• Step 3 After reading is done, return to the
  Pre-Reading chart and record comments and quotes
  about your predictions

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How does it work?

• Step 4 Discuss your notes with the group. Try to
  answer questions or address confusions. Do extra
  research to fill in gaps in your knowledge or
  vocabulary.

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How does it work?

• Step 5 Staple all group members forms together
  and hand them in. Youre done with one chapter!
• Each day you just repeat the process until the
  book is done.
• Sometimes the teacher will have you take a little
  quiz or write a short answer to a question to
  make sure you are understanding the material.

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How to quote text

• When we ask you to quote the text, we are simply
  asking you to write down some exact words you see
  in the book, put them in quotation marks, and add
  the page number.
• We are NOT asking you to find where the author
  has quoted other people. ANY text in the book can
  be used to make a quote for your notes.

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Example of Quoting the Text
Quote
Comment

• The author calls it a critical moment in
  American civil rights history (11).

Idea Now I see why we are reading this book!
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Example of Quoting the Text
Quote
Comment

• The murder and the sham trial were the last
  straw for African Americans (12).

Confusion Last straw before what? And what does
sham mean?
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A Few Other Issues

• Reading silently or aloud?
• What if you have questions with no answers?
• How is grading done?
• Resources available
• sample notes
• Dictionaries
• a few computers

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Dealing with Racial Terms

• Who is an African American?
• Dealing with old, outdated, archaic, and
  offensive terms