Role Description
Overview: A "Literature Circle" is a structure for talking
about a book with your peers as you read it together. Students are in
charge of the discussion and for setting reading assignments together
(how many pages read before next discussion). There are between 4 -6
members in each literature circle, and each member rotates one of the
following jobs throughout the project.
Discussion Director/Facilitator: This student is responsible
for writing down 5 thought-provoking questions for the purpose of group
discussion based on that day’s reading assignment. As the group
Facilitator, it is also this student’s job to direct the group
discussion, keep track of student work, and rate the group’s "Habits of
Work" each day the group meets.
Literary Luminary/Alternate Facilitator: This student is
responsible for choosing parts of the story that he/she wants to read
out loud to the group. The idea is to help students remember some
interesting, powerful, puzzling, or important sections of the text
being read. The Literary Luminary must decide which passages or
paragraphs are worth reading aloud, and justify the reason for
selecting them. Additionally, if the Discussion Director is absent,
this student will serve as the Facilitator.
Connector: This student is responsible for finding
connections between the text his/her group is reading and the outside
world. This means connecting the reading to the following: his/her own
life, happenings at school or in the community, similar events at other
times and places, other books or stories, other writings on the same
topic, or other writings by the same author.
Character Captain: This student is responsible for revealing
specific personality traits of the character(s) within the novel. This
means he/she will find examples in the assigned reading of
behaviors/actions that help group members to know the character(s).
Artful Adventurer: This student is responsible for sharing an
artistic representation of the material read. Avenues for expression
may include: artwork in any medium, music, poetry, collage, music,
mobile or anything else which represents an aspect of the material read.
Vocabulary Enricher: This student is responsible for finding
especially important vocabulary in the story. Vocabulary selected
should focus on words that are unfamiliar, interesting, important,
repetitive, funny, puzzling, descriptive, vivid or those used in an
unusual way.