LIT CIRCLES Rebooted
For
The 4Câs And
Learning is an active process.
We learn by doing.
Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind.
Dale Carnegie
Anadiplosis
Define:
QUICK:
Write an example of Anadiplosis
Anadiplosis
QUICK:
Write an example of Anadiplosis
Learning is an active process.
We learn by doing.
Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind.
Dale Carnegie
The SEVEN Demands of Comprehension
These kinds of activities are
not rich enough to provide the 7 skills
http://beverlyhighlights.com/2012/10/02/annotating-is-a-crime-against-nature/
The RICHNESS of Lit Circles
LIT CIRCLE PITFALLS
HOW TO NOT BREAK LIT CIRCLES
Do: Make all the kids do all the jobs, collaboratively
Do: Give work that is academic and skill based
Don’t split up the jobs
Don’t give unfocused, artsy jobs
Do: Refresh the form every 4-6 weeksDon’t keep the same form all year
Don’t make kids read the entire book before beginning any work
Do: Have kids discuss where they are “so far”
LIT CIRCLE PITFALLS
Is it academic? Is it creative?
Is it interesting? Does it make kids better readers?
Do they enjoy the process?
Put your parent hat on, if your own child brought this lit circle home…..
Heed Musashi’s words:
“The Way is in the
Training”
Or heed Gladwell:
Students will cheat if they don’t know
how to do the given task - Paraphrased
Or heed Marzano:
Great tasks in Lit Circles
Take Notes Take Notes Take Notes Take Notes
Worksheet Worksheet Worksheet Worksheet
Bookwork Bookwork Bookwork Bookwork
TEST
The Common Calendar Flow
THE SUSHI
METHOD
The Training.
Kids do not have to read an entire book to begin
Keep the training fun - use pop culture items
Practice lit circles in class BEFORE letting them go home
Lots of 5 and 10 minute segments
WHY Statements rule: They have to explain WHY
Multiple defensible answers are required
Fast Reps.Picture Storybooks.
Commercials on
32 Pages
30 Seconds
The Training.
Use this form daily.
Watch the video or read the picture
book whole class
(Full size form on the next slide) Students work in groups of four
to do ONE quadrant at a time
All the students provided detailed,
written answers
The group then shares to the class
DIVERGENT answers are highly regarded
Characterize. Characters DRIVE the story.
Description - MULTIPLE and UNIQUE qualities.
(“brown hair and a smile” will not get it done) Actions - MULTIPLE and UNIQUE actions
(“he’s nice”, “she helps people” = too generic) Dialogue - KEY things the character says + catchphrases
(“Good morning”, “hello” = not rich enough0 Interior Monologue - What the character thinks about the problem OR other
characters and their actions. (The character should think about the conflicts)
How Society sees them - The key= NOT what you THINK (Number one error? What YOU think of the character)
Comprehension suffers without knowing characters
Summarize Characterize
Conflict Wishes
Somebody
Wanted But
So Then
Char vs Char
Char vs Self
Char vs Nature
Char vs Machine
Char vs Society
Description Actions
Dialogue Interior Monologue
How Society sees them
What 3 wishes would the character make? Tell why for each
1. Why:
2. Why?
3. Why?
Summarize Characterize
Conflict Wishes
Somebody
Wanted But
So Then
Char vs Char
Char vs Self
Char vs Nature
Char vs Machine
Char vs Society
Description Actions
Dialogue Interior Monologue
How Society sees them
What 3 wishes would the character make? Tell why for each
1. Why:
2. Why?
3. Why?
Summarize Characterize
Conflict Wishes
Somebody
Wanted But
So Then
Char vs Char
Char vs Self
Char vs Nature
Char vs Machine
Char vs Society
Description Actions
Dialogue Interior Monologue
How Society sees them
What 3 wishes would the character make? Tell why for each
1. Why:
2. Why?
3. Why?
The Training. Play 30 second commercials
The Training. Play 30 second commercials
The Training. Play 30 second commercials
The Training. Play 30 second commercials
Download off YouTube. Optional
BUY-IN.
YOUR STUDENTS WILL ASK TO WATCH AND ANALYZE VIDEOS OVER AND
OVER
Note: This is “close watching” as opposed to “close reading” -
but the skills gained are the same
The Quadrants. Summarizing.
Summarizing made easy.
1. Somebody: Who is the main character (protagonist)
2. Wanted: What does the main character want or need?
3. But: What gets in the way of the main character?
4. So: What does the main character do about it?
5. Then: What was the resolution of the story?
Summarizing made easy.
The Quadrants. Summarizing.
The Quadrants. Summarizing.
Char vs Char - Buzz LightYear vs Emperor Zurg
Char vs Self - Is Buzz a toy? Or not?
Char vs Nature - Buzz and Woody vs Scud (Sid’s Dog)
Char vs Machine - Buzz in the garbage machine
Char vs Society - The toys blame Woody for Buzz leaving
The Quadrants. Conflict.
Have students identify types of conflict as many as possible.
Pushing the definitions and trying is more important than being exactly correct.
The Quadrants. Conflict.
Great Examples!
TV Commercials. Conflict in 30 Sec.
The Quadrants. Conflict.
Group Activity:
- Make a collaborative slide deck - One slide per team member - Four movie posters per slide
- One type of conflict per person - Give a why on each
Characterize. Student Made Examples
Characterize. Student Made Examples
Characterize. Student Made Examples
NEEDS MORE DETAILS
Characterize. Student Made Examples
those were good, but they lacked WHY statements….
The bonus: Wishes
What 3 wishes would the character make? Tell why for each
1. Why:
2. Why?
3. Why?
The wishes need to be relevant!
Divergence is encouraged
Full Bore Creativity
The bonus: Wishes
What 3 wishes would the character make? Tell why for each
1. Why:
2. Why?
3. Why?
THE WHY STATEMENTS ARE THE KINGS OF THIS WORK -
KIDS SHOULD PROVIDE REASONING IN A SENTENCE
Full Bore Creativity
Why the change?
The Training. Play 30 second commercials
Find commercials on
Workflow. Getting kids working
The power of Lit Circles is kids talking about
literature, in small groups and sharing their observations
by recording them.
Workflow. Getting kids working
One
Two Three
Four
Five
Groups can all work on the same aspect and then share out to the whole group
Workflow. Getting kids working
One
Two Three
Four
Or, one person in each group can work on the same aspect and then share out to the whole group
Workflow. Getting kids working
Have strict timeframes.
Two to Five minutes.
Workflow. Getting kids working
Timeframes create intensity.
Text. Translating the skills
Have students read short passages and do the Lit Circles in class, in a controlled setting.
Building TEXT-TO-SELF Connections
Text. Translating the skillsA key thing to teach for independent reading
TEXT TO SELF CONNECTIONSWe need to get kids connecting to books, not just reading what we tell them to read.
Give 6-8 students books to skim at their desks. Have them open a random page and find something, anything they can relate to in
the passage. Connections can be Text to Self, Text to Text or Text to World.
Then, they can write down their one thing and share it with their table group. Repeat a couple times.
This activity helps build text-to-self connections.
Activity:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
The schedule.
Thursday
Friday
10 Minutes of group time - work on Characters SO FAR
10 Minutes of group time - work on Summary SO FAR
10 Minutes of group time - work on CONFLICT SO FAR
40 Minutes of group time - Share/Compare all categories
20 Minutes of whole class share and discussion
How do I know if they are reading the book?
Bad news: They aren’t
But you can fix that with “Why” questions
and Lit Circles
Literary Devices
http://sparkcharts.sparknotes.com/sat/satcriticalreading/section4.php
Literary Devices
Literary Devices
Literary Devices
Literary Devices
Lit Log Name ___________________ Number________
Book Name__________________________________ Author________________________
Other Books by this author (series)______________________________________________
Publisher __________________________________ City___________ Copyright _________
Year ___________Number of Pages_____ Library of Congress Number_____________
Bibl iography
Literary Devices - find a quote, passage or paragraph which
i l lustrates 1 of each of the following:
Characterization- List 1 Example of each for the Protagonist(///Actions)
1Monologue___________________________________________________________________
2Description__________________________________________________________________
3Dialogue ____________________________________________________________________
4 Actions_____________________________________________________________________
Analogy - A resemblance between similar things - Kitchen=Galley, car key is like a light switch , Babe Ruth
was the Michael Jordan of baseball (metaphor does not use like or as)
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Theme - The simplified message of the story: Star Wars- the Jedi battle the Sith, Sandlot- Boys growing up
loving baseball.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Stereotype - Judging things by their looks - sometimes it is true and sometimes it is wrong.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Foreshadowing - the author gives you hint that something good or bad is going to happen - not just repeating
something, but a hint about the action to come....
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
• Total Pages Read This Week _________________ Parent Signature _______________________
Genre of the book: Fiction Nonfiction Hist Fiction Humor Science Fiction Other ______________
Characterization- List 1 Example of each for the Antagonist
1Monologue___________________________________________________________________
2Description__________________________________________________________________
3Dialogue ____________________________________________________________________
4 Actions_____________________________________________________________________ in use since 1999
Anadiplosis
Big Mac Same Double Double
Baseball Same Football
Lit Circle: You Build
Focus on completion, with immediate feedback (grades)
Don’t send things home.
Don’t take things home.
Clear rubrics. Focus on skills, not facts.
Don’t teach books Teach SKILLS
CHOICE is the only
THING
Book levels DO NOT MATTER
Read together Share
Report alone
THIS WILL HAPPEN
Kids will see Irony, Paradox, Poetic Justice,
Foreshadowing and more in REAL LIFE
NOT just books.
THIS PROCESS IS MORE
IMPORTANT THAN
STANDARDIZED SCORES
Learning is an active process.
We learn by doing.
Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind.
Dale Carnegie