Group Work for Comprehension
Children work on an assigned piece of text in groups of five, each
member having a specific role as below. Please note roles are assigned in
no particular order but are rotated each time the activity is undertaken.
Role 1: Discussion Leader- this person creates 12 questions at least
three from each level literal, inferential and interpretative to promote
oral discussion. Sentence starters may be given on card for each level
of questioning.
Literal- Where was….? Name as many ……. Describe in your own
words…. Which character…..?
Inferential: What is the difference between….? How would you
compare….? How could the character….?
Interpretive: Predict what would happen if…? Why did the author
include…? Can you prove that….?
Role 2: Connection Maker – finds connections to share with the group.
These include
Text to Text- connections between this text and others I/ we have read
Text to World- connections between this text and world events
Text to Self - connections between this text and personal experiences
Text within Text- connections between sections of the same text
Role 3: Word Wizard- selects interesting or confusing words from the
text, looks them up in a dictionary and creates a sentence using the
word. Group suggest meaning of the word before hearing definition.
Word
page
paragraph
Definition
Sentence
Role 4: Illustrator- draws an illustration/ diagram/ chart specifically
connected to this section of text and writes a brief description telling
the significance of this illustration.
Role 5; Summarizer writes a brief summary of read passage answering
when, who, did what? where? taking note of the story structure.
This is adapted from Daniels, H. Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in
the Student Centred Classroom. York , ME, Stenhouse Publishers, 1994