Integrating Writing Strategies with Literature Circles
Thousands of books are available as choices for literature circles. Developing a variety of
literature circle activity folders can be overwhelming unless the teacher has a bank of
generic writing ideas that will work with a wide range of novels. Here is bank of writing
activities that will work for many literature circles.
1. Daily Journal Sheets: that chart the progress and critical thinking of the small group
and its members. All groups complete these with every book. (See attached "role" sheets)
2. Wordsplash: to introduce a work to students. After small groups speculate on the
reason those particular words appear together, ask them to predict the story that the words
might tell (1 side, 1 page). You can also ask a literature circle group to design a
wordsplash for the NEXT literature circle that will read this novel.
3. Mandalas: after students read a story, chapter, poem, or novel, ask them to draw a
picture that represents the images and feelings and characters of what they just read on a
circular piece of paper. Do this before discussion. Often times, this activity will help
students to crystallize their thoughts on a piece. After drawing, ask them to write just one
sentence explaining the drawing. After small group sharing of the drawings, ask them to
write 7 sentences explaining the story and its significance. Fran Claggett's book Drawing
Your Own Conclusions, explains this strategy in great detail. This is a first step of that
strategy
4. Main Idea or Theme Posters: Ask each small group of readers to choose the main
ideas and events of the novel they are reading. My favorite time for using this activity is
the middle of a long novel or about 3/4 of the way through a novel when you want to
make sure all the students are "caught up" in their understanding of the novel. On the
high school level, I might ask for 20-25 of the most important events that have happened
so far. What constitutes "important"? Each group of students must decide.
I then ask the students to choose 2-3 images of symbols that represent the book and to
make stencils of these images. For example, apples and milk bottles for Animal Farm and
loaves of French bread and silver candlesticks for Les Miserables or spider webs and
barns for Charlotte's Web.
Using the stencils, the students then draw 20-25 shapes on construction paper, cut them
out, and list the important novel events on the shapes. The shapes are then attached to the
poster (in order of occurence).Reading group members individually write an explanation
of the poster its events. The posters are presented to the class and then hung on the walls.
5. Pair/Share Journals: To keep variety in the classroom, I sometimes ask students in
one literature circle to share their journals with another literature circle in the class. This
allows the different groups to compare and comment on each other's findings and
discussions. It also allows me, as the teacher, from occasionally NOT having to read each
and every student's journal. I am able to collect any comment on them a few times less a
quarter.
6. Occasional Thought Letters: This writing is longer than a journal entry (which often
take about 15 minutes to write) yet shorter and simpler than a formal essay. It takes about
an hour to write and could be 1 page typed single-spaced. The student is able to write
about an entire week's work in the literature circle or class and reflect on the "whole" of
the week. I ask students to explain the most significant, problematic, exhilarating points
we discussed or strategies we tried.
7. Dialectical Journal: Students write one or two significant quotes on the left hand side
of their journal page. On the right hand side, the students then remark or comment or
explain or question the quotes. This allows the students to grapple with the meaning of
the passages.
8. Found Poetry: I ask the students to find a passage in the novel and to compose a
"found poem" using the passage's exact words. Sometimes I offer a group of passages for
the students to choose from.
9. Time Line: Ask students to tape 2 or 3 pieces of notebook paper together and to draw
a line across the taped pages in readiness for a time line. Then ask students to write about
positive characters and events on the TOP of the time line and about negative characters
or events BELOW the time line. After this is completed, ask the students to circle the one
most positive event and the one most negative event that has occurred in the story and to
write about them. Share within the group and add the writing to the journals.
10. Internet Research Project: If each literature circle is reading a different novel, I
usually made a reference folder for each group. The folder contains journal prompts,
discussion questions, some kind of a "hands-on" related research activity (making braided
Jewish challah bread for the novel THE CHOSEN or taffy for one of the Laura Ingalls
Wilder books, for example), and a simple research project for the group which is often
internet-based. Joe DiMaggio died right before one of my literature circle groups read
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA one spring. Since Joe is mentioned as the hero of the
main character in the novel, I asked that literature circle group to research who Joe
DiMagggio was, why he would have been someone's hero, and to write a speech about
him that might have been given at his recent memorial service or published in SPORTS
ILLUSTRATED.
11. Homemade Cliff Notes: Students who know each other well and have experience
with literature circle enjoy this activity. Each literature circle group is asked to write a
self-styled "Cliffs Notes" for their novel. I usually assign this for a novel that has no
actual Cliffs Notes. Students write chapter by chapter discussion questions, quizzes,
vocabulary lists and activities, maps, and test banks. If time allows, they can also write
character descriptions, setting explanations, and theme presentations. My high schoolers
type these up and often add a colorful cover in yellow and black ala the real Cliffs. If the
entire class of literature circles is reading the same novel, I split the Homemade Cliff
Notes into chapters and assign each literature circle a different chapter.
12. Food, the Book, and Writing: Ever had that class that meets right before the late
lunch period? They can be ingenious about getting food into the class. Several years ago,
my AP Language class was reading an contrast/comparison essay about gumbo. After
reading the light-hearted essay, they decided to research various gumbo recipes, select 5
to make for class, and bring them in to school. After a wonderfully smelling morning
with crock pots cooking in my class, we taste-tested the many gumbos and wrote our own
compare and contrast essays on our very own gumbos. Would work well for literature
groups, especially for the classes meeting later in the day.
13. Journals with Secondary Character Perspective: I often ask literature circles to
write a journal entry from a secondary character's perspective 2 or 3 times during the
course of their reading and then to share their entries with group members.
14. Journal Headlines: Write a headline for a particular section of the book . Example-"Bear House Vandalized."
15. Letter-Writing between Two Characters: Students can write imaginary letters
between two characters. This works well if different literature circles are working on the
same novel. Each group writes a letter for a particular character and sends it to the
"character" in another literature circle.
16. Telegrams: Students can write telegrams of urgency from one character to another.
Of course, cost must be taken into consideration. Every word or letter costs so much
money. Class can decide before hand how much money each character has to spend on a
telegram. Groups then draw character names out of a hat and must compose a message
within that character's telegram "budget."
17. Editorials: Students can write an editorial on an issue that a book introduces or write
an editorial from the perspective of a character keeping the novel's setting and the
character's knowledge in mind.
18. Life-Lines Project: Students collect quotations from each book/poem/play/short
story they read all year long in their journals. At the end of the semester and at the year,
they look over the list of quotes and decide why this group of quotations is significant.
(formal essay assignment).
19. Important Character Quotes: Students collect important character quotes as they
read through a novel. Afterwards, they examine the list and write about what these quotes
together reveal about the character.
20. Yearbook Snapshots of Characters: Students assemble "yearbook snapshots" of
various characters in a novel. They must decide on the following:
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nickname
activities, clubs, sports, (and what years they participated)
quotation that character chose that shows something about him and what is
important to him/her
favorite music/hobbies (must be consistent with setting)
book that has had greatest impact on this character
voted "most likely to......." by his/her class
character's plan after high school
Students must then find or draw a picture of their conception of the character (magazines
offer help and so do computer clip art programs). They mount the picture on white paper
with the information underneath
21. Advertisement: Students write an advertisement for a particular character from the
character's point-of-view. Examples might include Charlotte in CHARLOTTE'S WEB
offering her spider babies for adoption, Chillingsworth in SCARLET LETTER might
advertise his healing herbs, or a soldier in ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
advertising his need for waterproof boots.
22. Alphabet Scheme: Divide up the letters of the alphabet between your group
members. For each of the letters, choose something from the book that starts with that
letter. This can be a person, place, or thing. Then, write a brief explanation as to what the
significance of this person, place, or thing was to the story. Put only one letter per page,
but make them two-sided pages so it will read like a book. Add drawings/artwork on each
page, or find passages from the book to quote and attach. Type these. Make a cover for
the book and bind it together.
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A is for...............
B is for...............
23. Creating a Childhood for a Character: Students are asked to create a believable
childhood for a particular character in a novel. For example, students might devise a
childhood for David Copperfield's cruel step-father Mr. Murdstone or a childhood for
Jocasta of OEDIPUS REX.
24. Poetry Collection: Create a collection of poems relating to characters and incidents
in your book. Each poem must be accompanied by an explanation of its applicability to
the novel. Everyone in your group must write or collect two poems. Together, create a
cover and back for your collection and bind the poems within it. Be creative in your
cover design and material you use to make it out of. Possible poetic forms for you to
choose are: "I Am Poem" (as one of the characters, a "found poem" (see #13), an acrostic
poem based on the title of the book, and miscellaneous rhyming and free verse poems.
You can use published poems that relate to your novel, also. Please type all poems.
25. CD Cover: Using an actual CD clear plastic cover, please design a cover of a CD for
your novel. On the inside of the CD case, write a list of songs which will "tell the story"
of your novel. This song listing should fit inside the plastic case. Please add another sheet
(or sheets) which explain why these particular songs reflect the themes, settings, events,
and characters of the novel. You may also add the lyrics to each song.
26. Obituary for a Character: Students can write an obituary for a character who dies in
the novel or a character who has died before the novel "began." See attached obituary
written about Gregor in Kafka's Metamorphosis.
27. “To Do” List for a Character: I have had some success asking my student's to
create "to do" lists for the characters in the story, usually as a review at the end of a
section. The list should contain three or four items, going from general to fairy specific,
until the last item makes it clear -- for those who read -- who wrote the list.
List 1
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Buy dog food
Look for new way home from school
Buy red shoe polish
Check on tornado insurance for Aunt Em
List 2
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Buy pipe tobacco
Tune violin
Make appointment with Dr. Watson
Source:
http://www.studyguide.org/integrating_writing_strategies.htm