BLOG roles

Touching Spirit Bear Literature Circle BLOG

Each week, you will take on one of the following roles:

    - Summarizer

    -  Connector

     - Illustrator

    -  Questioner/Discussion Director

    -  Word Wizard/Vocabulary Builder

    -  Literary Luminary (Quotes)

    -  Researcher (Connect to the Culture)

You may add video, pictures, and text of your group, the book, or outside material that will show me your understanding.

Connector: Your job is to find connections between the book and you, and between the book and the wider world. Consider the list below when you make your connections.

Your own past experiences

Happenings at school or in the community

Stories in the news

Similar events at other times and places

Other people or problems that you are reminded of

Between this book and other writings or movies on the same topic or by the same author

Some connections I made between this reading and my own experiences, the wider world, and other texts or authors.

Illustrator: Good readers make pictures in their minds as they read. This is a chance to share some of your own images and visions. Draw some kind of picture related to the reading you have just done. It can be a sketch, cartoon, diagram, flowchart, or stick- figure scene. You can draw a picture of something that happened in your book, or something that the reading reminded you of, or a picture that conveys any idea or feeling you got from the reading. Any kind of drawing or graphic is okay – you can even label things with words if that helps. Make your drawing(s) on any remaining space on this side and on the other side of this sheet. If you use a separate sheet of paper, be sure to staple it to this role sheet.

Literary Luminary: Your job is to locate a few special sections or quotations in the text for your group to talk over. The idea is to help people go back to some especially interesting, powerful, funny, puzzling, or important sections of the reading and think about them more carefully. Also look for literary devices and make connections to the six elements of fiction. As you decide which passages or paragraphs are worth going back to, make a note why you picked each one and consider some plans for how they should be shared.

Questioner/Discussion Director: Your job is to develop a list of questions that your group might want to discuss about this part of the book. Don’t worry about the small details; your task is to help people talk over the big ideas in the reading and share their reactions. Usually the best discussion questions come from your own thoughts, feelings, and concerns as you read. You can list them below during or after your reading.

Researcher: Your job is to dig up some background information on any relevant topic related to your book. This might include

The geography, weather, culture, or history of the book’s setting

Pertinent information about the author and other related works

Information about the time period portrayed in the book

Information on any topics or events represented in the book

Pictures, objects, or materials that illustrate elements of the book

Information about any character that is based on a historical person

This is not a formal research report. The idea is to find some information or material that helps your group understand the book better. Investigate something that really interests you – something that struck you as puzzling or curious while you were reading.

Summarizer: Your job is to prepare a brief summary of this sections’ reading. You can summarize in a list of key events or with a well written paragraph.

Vocabulary Enricher/Word Wizard: The words a writer chooses are an important ingredient of the author’s craft. Your job is to be on the lookout for a few words that have special meaning in the reading selection.

Jot down puzzling or unfamiliar words while you are reading. Later, look up the definitions in either a dictionary or some other source.

Note: When discussing vocabulary, you should always refer back to the text in order to examine the word in context.