Sample

The Moral Logic
of Survivor Guilt

A Literature Circle Study

How to Implement the Literature Circles

1.
Chunk the text ahead of time.

•Break into pre-planned sections with both guided and analysis questions.

2.
Create groups of 4 and assign (or allow students to pick) roles. Be intentional with grouping based
on needs for roles.

•Reader – reads the text aloud to the group

•Annotator – given specifics to focus on (summarize sections in 1 sentence in the margins,
vocabulary, important ideas that come up through the section, etc.)

•Connector – Looks for connections in the text, including among ideas/events within the text, to
previous texts studied, to the world, and to themselves.

•Discussion leader – facilitates annotator and connector sharing their work and asks the
questions that must be answered per section.

3.
There could also be a spokesperson role added to the groups, the reader or discussion leader could
be the spokesperson, or it could be random teacher-pick to hold all students accountable to answer
and know the information.

4.
Roles could remain the same or rotate per chunk, class-by-class or even group-by-group basis.

Chunking the Text

Chunk the text ahead of time.

•Break into pre-planned sections…

Section 1 (paragraphs 1-4) *model this with the class practicing all 4 roles before grouping
Section 2 (paragraphs 5-6)
Section 3 (paragraphs 7-10)
Section 4 (paragraphs 11-13)
Section 5 (paragraphs 14-16)

•…with guided and analysis questions.

- Include guided comprehension questions for every section to help students understand as they
follow along in their groups.
- Focus analysis questions on the questions the author poses, identifying and organizing the
author’s argument, why the author uses philosophical ideas, the stories of soldiers used,
comparing and contrasting ideas presented, the central idea of the article, etc.
- Questioning resources: the Close Read margin questions, Analyze the Text questions, the Practice
questions and chart (especially to make sense of the philosophical ideas)

Logistics of the Literature Circles

•
Make a graphic that includes all 4 roles and their responsibilities to display on the board
throughout the activity, especially if groups are changing roles by section.

•
Provide a handout/document with questions by section to distribute to each group.

•
You could use a timer for groups to work through the section and then as a whole class
answer and discuss the questions.

OR

•
You could allow groups to work through the sections at their own pacing, but they must
run section answers by you before they can move on to the next section. You hold
section questions and only give them the next set when they can correctly answer and
explain that section’s questions. (probably better for later in the year)