Socratic Seminar and Literature Circles

Quick Write Describe an effective group discussion about literature or other texts. What does it look like? What does it sound like? As a participant in the discussion what should you be doing?

Samples Watch the following two videos. As you watch add to your thoughts on effective group discussion based on what you see. Discussion #1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn4BX9Pes3c Discussion #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZbvw1XyLFA

Literature Circles The roles involved in a literature circle will help give you a focus both while reading and while participating in discussion. There are 6 roles in a literature circle. Questioner Chooses questions that will lead the group in a discussion of the text Inference Master Explores deeper meanings of passages within the text Connector Finds text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections to increase understanding Vocabulary Viewer Defines unfamiliar words for understanding Summarizer Takes the most important aspects of the text in his/her own words Illustrator Creates a visual representation of the text

Now what? You will be assigned a group that you will work with for the next few weeks. Once you are in your group, please choose roles for the first story (“The Necklace”). You will not repeat roles, so everyone will get a chance to do each. Today, your group can decide how you will go about reading the story. You can read it aloud together, or read it individually. Either way, you must complete your assigned role while reading. Your first lit. circle discussion will be tomorrow. Future lit. circle discussions will be held in a fishbowl situation.