Putting Together Pieces in New Ways

As we returned to Literature Circles, it was important to me to discuss with students what parts of the process they enjoyed and what parts they had not. Not everyone felt the same way about all parts of the process. Some of the answers were surprising and some were not (Likes: talking about books, brainstorming as a group to write roles, Dislikes: Writing reflections).

Out of this discussion, we brainstormed some new roles to take the place of old roles that they had not enjoyed or found challenging. We also talked a bit about how to use the discussion to generate ideas for the reflection, which many students said they felt was "like cheating". I disagree, since I'm hoping that meeting helps spark connections students might not otherwise have made or fill out their ideas for writing.

The new roles included:

Political Pundit: In charge of researching world connections or issues
Mood Manager: A revamped Literary Linguist, focusing on how the author creates the story's magic
and the favourite, Devil's Advocate, where students find issues to bring up in their meetings and debate.

Here's the link to the google doc:

Room 305 Demands New Lit Roles (also on the links page)

Printing from Google docs has occasionally been tricky in the past, but I've done my best to eliminate issues where possible.