1. This will be fun!

2. What are Literature Circles?
Literature Circles are a little like a book club, but with a bit more structure.
Literature Circles are small student-led group discussions in which each group member has a specific role and has prepared for the discussion according to that role.
Literature Circles rely on good communication and participation from all the members.
Literature Circles can help you understand and connect with your book, and share a fun reading experience with your classmates.

3. Literature Circle Roles
Discussion Director
Summarizer
Decoder & Connector
Investigator
While you will each have your own specific jobs to do, you will also help each other!

4. Discussion Director
Your job is to write down at least five questions for discussion. These questions should be open-ended (not "yes/no" questions) and designed to spark interesting discussion. You will also write the answers after the group has discussed them.
During the discussion, your job is to encourage all group members to participate by involving them in the discussion, to ask follow-up questions when conversation lags, and to be sure that every participant has a chance to share his or her ideas.
This role should go to someone who likes to be in charge, but is not bossy about it, and who can keep others on track. They should be outgoing and able to think of deep questions to ask about the book.

5. Summarizer
Your job is to write a summary of at least ten sentences covering all the important events from the assigned reading and explaining why these events were significant. How did they change the characters? How did they develop themes? You must write down the important, big events of the section, not insignificant details. This role should go to someone who has done well all year on their reading logs and is a decent writer, with legible handwriting.

6. Decoder & Connector
Your job is to find connections between the story and the world/present. These connections might relate to current events, personal experiences, movies or other books, or anything else that relates to the story in some way. During the literature circle, present each connection to your group, and ask them if they can provide additional connections for this section of the text.
Your job is also to decode new words by writing down vocabulary and meanings and sharing with the group.
This role should go to someone who knew how to write good responses on their reading logs, and who enjoys learning new words.

7. Investigator
Your job is to research information that relates to the book. This is a very important job as much of what you find will need to be included in your project at the end of the year. Each week you will need to bring in and share information with your group about the setting of your book, history, author, time period, geography, significant events, etc.
This role should go to someone who likes looking beyond the story itself, and enjoys learning about other cultures. It would also be helpful if they have regular access to a printer so they can print and bring in what they find.

8. Weekly Assignments and Book Checks
Each week you will be responsible for completing an assignment specific to your role in your circle. If you do not do your part, your group will miss important information and YOU will lose points. You MUST come to the literature circle prepared, and WITH your book. There WILL be book checks conducted EVERY LITERATURE CIRCLE DAY, and if you don’t have your book you will lose ADDITIONAL points.
MAKE SURE YOU PURCHASE YOUR BOOK BEFORE THE START OF 4th QUARTER!!!

9. Literature Circle Calendar
We will be doing our literature circles for five weeks since we need to be done before testing season starts in May. That means you all MUST read your book IN ITS ENTIRETY within that five weeks. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you are HERE for EVERY Literature Circle day.
Week 1: Select roles, begin reading. Topic: Setting
Week 2: Topic: History of the Country
Week 3: Halfway point. Topic: Political/Economic factors
Week 4: Topic: Culture
Week 5: Topic: Themes

10. Literature Circle Project
After finishing the memoirs, you and your group will create a project to present to the class. You will need to gather information that you worked on during the reading and present it in an informative and visually appealing way. You will tell your classmates about the author, their story, their home country, the situation there that they had to deal with, and what has happened since to the author and their country. You will find out about the history, political and economic climate, etc. of your author’s homeland.