Another approach to the idea of Lit Circles that is media-centric and richer in content than the classic Lit Circle.

1. LIT CIRCLES
Rebooted
For
The 4Câs And

2. Learning is an active process.
We learn by doing.
Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind.
Dale Carnegie

3. Anadiplosis
Define:

4. QUICK:
Write an example of
Anadiplosis

8. Anadiplosis

9. QUICK:
Write an example of
Anadiplosis

10. Learning is an active process.
We learn by doing.
Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind.
Dale Carnegie

11. The SEVEN Demands of Comprehension

12. These kinds of
activities are
not rich enough
to provide
the 7 skills

17. http://beverlyhighlights.com/2012/10/02/annotating-is-a-crime-against-nature/

21. The RICHNESS of Lit Circles

22. LIT CIRCLE PITFALLS

23. 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 weeks
Don’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”

24. 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…..

25. Heed Musashi’s words:
“The Way is
in the
Training”

26. Or heed Gladwell:
Students will
cheat if they
don’t know
how to do the
given task -
Paraphrased

27. Or heed Marzano:
Great tasks in Lit Circles

28. Take Notes Take Notes Take Notes Take Notes
Worksheet Worksheet Worksheet Worksheet
Bookwork Bookwork Bookwork Bookwork
TEST
The Common Calendar Flow

30. THE
SUSHI
METHOD

33. 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 explainWHY
Multiple defensible answers are required

34. Fast Reps.
Picture Storybooks.
Commercials on
32
Pages
30
Seconds

35. 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

37. 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

38. 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?

40. 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?

42. 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?

43. The Training. Play 30 second commercials

44. The Training. Play 30 second commercials

45. The Training. Play 30 second commercials

46. The Training. Play 30 second commercials

47. Download off YouTube. Optional

48. 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

49. 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?

50. Summarizing made easy.
The Quadrants. Summarizing.

51. The Quadrants. Summarizing.

52. 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.

53. The Quadrants. Conflict.
Great
Examples!

54. TV Commercials.
Conflict in 30 Sec.

55. 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

56. Characterize. Student Made Examples

57. Characterize. Student Made Examples

58. Characterize. Student Made Examples
NEEDS MORE DETAILS

59. Characterize. Student Made Examples

60. those were good, but they lacked WHY statements….

61. 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

62. 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 THISWORK -
KIDS SHOULD PROVIDE
REASONING IN A SENTENCE
Full Bore Creativity

63. Why the change?

65. The Training. Play 30 second commercials
Find commercials on

66. Workflow. Getting kids working
The power of Lit Circles
is kids talking about
literature, in small groups
and sharing their observations
by recording them.

67. 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

68. 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

69. Workflow. Getting kids working
Have strict timeframes.
Two to Five minutes.

70. Workflow. Getting kids working
Timeframes create intensity.

71. Text.Translating the skills
Have students read short passages and do the
Lit Circles in class, in a controlled setting.

72. Building TEXT-TO-SELF Connections

74. Text.Translating the skills
A key thing to teach for
independent reading
TEXT TO SELF CONNECTIONS
We 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:

75. 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

76. 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

78. Literary Devices

79. http://sparkcharts.sparknotes.com/sat/satcriticalreading/section4.php

83. Literary Devices

84. Literary Devices

85. Literary Devices

86. Literary Devices

87. Lit Log Name ___________________ Number________
Book Name__________________________________ Author________________________
Other Books by this author (series)______________________________________________
Publisher __________________________________ City___________ Copyright _________
Year ___________Number of Pages_____ Library of Congress Number_____________
Bibliography
Literary Devices - find a quote, passage or paragraph which
illustrates 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

88. GOOGLE FORM LIT CIRCLE
tinyurl.com/CATELitCircle

89. Anadiplosis

90. Big Mac Same Double Double

91. Baseball Same Football

100. Lit Circle: You Build

101. Focus on completion, with immediate feedback (grades)
Don’t send things home.
Don’t take things home.
Clear rubrics. Focus on skills, not facts.

102. Don’t teach books
Teach SKILLS

103. CHOICE
is the only
THING

104. Book levels
DO NOT MATTER

105. Read together
Share
Report alone

106. THIS WILL HAPPEN
Kids will see Irony, Paradox,
Poetic Justice,
Foreshadowing and
more in REAL LIFE
NOT just books.

107. THIS PROCESS
IS MORE
IMPORTANT
THAN
STANDARDIZED
SCORES

108. Learning is an active process.
We learn by doing.
Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind.
Dale Carnegie

109. LIT CIRCLES
Rebooted
For
The 4Câs And
jcorippo@cue.org