TEACHING STRATEGY - LITERATURE CIRCLES

FOLLOWING THE DESCRIPTION OF LITERATURE CIRCLES, THERE WILL BE SAMPLES AS WRITTEN BY LESLIE STAVEN

Literature Circles are great ways to make sure that all students are involved and have a responsibility to share, demonstrating their understanding, about the readings.  Groups of five people take different roles, reflecting on specific points and encouraging one another to think about the book in more depth and on different levels.  

The following describe the individual student's role and responsibilities.

 Literature Circle Role: Discussion Director

You are in charge of the group. 
It is your responsibility to:

• Keep the group on task

• Invite each person to contribute his/her role

• Encourage others to comment as each role is presented

• Be prepared with thoughtful and open-ended questions for 

your group to discuss that you feel are important issues in

the book

Literature Circle Role: Connections

It is your responsibility to show connections from the text to...

• ... TO SELF:

•      Show some personal connections with the book?

• ... TO TEXT: 

• Discuss how this book reminds you of other books you've read and why!

• ...TO WORLD:

•  Are there some current events to which you can connect to the book?  If so, what are these current events? 

Literature Circle Role: 

Listening to All Voices

Are there characters whose voices aren't heard in this book? 

Discuss how this/these characters might view 

the situations and problems which arise in the book.  

Select one character who is "voiceless" and give that character a voice.

  Be specific...  write lines of dialog, thought, or opinions from this character... which we don't get to hear.  

Literature Circle Role: Power Continuum

Choose a character and give examples from the book to demonstrate where this character falls on the power continuum.  

Does your chosen character, during the story, move on the continuum.  

Be specific and describe with quotes from the book!

As a reminder, the power continuum includes DOMINATION (dominated,  oppressed, unequal power [perhaps due to class, gender, race, etc]), COLLUSION (know that things which are happening are wrong, but they stay quiet), RESISTANCE (unwilling to be dominated, these characters will question what they see as domination), an AGENCY (takes action to improve tings because of a feeling of empowerment and has decided to take action).

Literature Circle Role: 

The Author’s Message

Discuss the perspective of the author.  

What message was the author trying to convey?

How did the author's desire to convey this message affect the writing style?

What was the author's purpose for writing the book?

What message was the author trying to get across to the audience?

Does this author have credibility to write about this topic?

Give specific examples (quotes) from the text which demonstrates the author's attempt to convey the message.

EXAMPLES...

Listening to All Voices – Soldier Bear

It is a common misbelief that animals are emotionless and are left unaffected by losing others with whom or which they’ve had relationships.  However, there have been many documented cases of animals, “wild” animals (bears, primates, wolves, lions, etc.) as well as domesticated dogs/cats, demonstrated remarkable emotional reactions during reunions with others of their species (Matheson, Johnson, and Feuerstein, J., 1996) and those not belonging to their species.  Mishra [2008] described when “…a sloth bear was reunited with her human family… Rani - the bear … - leaped with joy and grunted and gurgled merrily at the sight of the two [human family members] on Friday.  It had been 10 days since she was taken away from the father-daughter … the animal stopped eating for several days. But after a 20-minute reunion on Friday, Rani was munching on biscuits and slurping milk…As they walked away, the bear slumped in her cage.”)  Therefore, as I read the final pages of Soldier Bear, by Bibi Dumon Tak, it was obvious that the soldiers, as loving and attached to the bear (Voytek) as they were, misjudged the depth of the bear’s psychological and emotional capacities.  Having been assigned to “Listen to all Voices” in the literary circle, I realized the most silenced characters were the animals:  Voytek (the bear), Dottie (the Dalmatian), Stalin (the large dog) and Kaska (the monkey).  I will focus on the silent voices of Kaska and Voytek. 

The reader is led to believe that little Kaska was intentionally upsetting the soldiers, “Kaska was always coming up with new ways to drive everyone crazy.  She stole chocolate… shaving equipment, or jackets or berets… woke up the whole camp I the middle of the night with her screeching and climbed into bed with the soldiers” (page 31) and an insinuation within the text indicates that Kaska was actively bullying Voytek.  To give voice to misunderstood Kaska, one must realize that she is an animal which relies upon being a part of a social group with specific social order or hierarchy.  Her behavior was not intended to be “upsetting” but, in fact, it was a typical animal response to the need of social consistency.  Without the order and leadership which would make sense to a monkey, Kaska was forced to become the “troop” leader and, when those she considered subordinate broke rules known only to the monkey, she was forced to try to establish order and dominance, a behavior also found in the domestic canine.  Additionally, a curiosity born of boredom caused her to get into items which the soldiers would have preferred her to have left alone.  Much like a toddler given freedom to investigate, Kaska’s actions were not mischievousness, but a method of learning and her avoidance behavior was in response to what she believed to be aggressiveness.  The fact that she climbed into the bunks with the soldier demonstrates her need for companionship and socialization because most primates sleep with family members.  Kaska found the needed social attachment and an understanding of status levels with Stalin, described as “an old softy” (page 32), which, another animal which relies on social group and order, was feeling abandonment and a lack of pack hierarchy when his master had left the dog.  Kaska’s aggressive behavior toward Voytek, the bear, described as “Kaska attacked Voytek more than once, too – and before long she was his greatest enemy.  Whenever she saw Voytek pottering around the camp, she picked up a stone, a nut, or a handful of sand and threw it at his head” (page 31) was not a display of meanness; Kaska’s past of being uprooted from her social group (at a zoo) and thrown in with a group where she did not see any sort of social order, forced her into the position of being the leader.  The leader’s responsibility is to protect the rest of the “troop” and, without a doubt, a sudden appearance of a lumbering bear in her environment was a threat and Kaska was trying to protect her “troop.”  Obviously, as they lived alongside of one another and she discovered that Voytek was, curiously, not a threat, she was more tolerant and, when a new member of the social group arrived (Kaska’s son), Kaska made an effort to introduce the baby to Voytek and, in doing so, widened her social group to include Voytek and make sure that all understood where they belonged within the group.  “When Kaska spotted Voytek and the Dalmatian, she made a beeline for them…Voytek realized he didn’t need to run away from Kaska anymore… he finally dared to …take a look at what Kaska kept trying to show him” (page 116).   Kaska’s baby proved that her manners which were described as somewhat antagonistic were, in fact, a part of her species behavior:  “And suddenly Voytek felt a tiny little hand reach out and give his nose a good, hard pinch” (page 116).   When Kaska’s son died, the author clearly gave her grief voice.  However, Kaska’s depth of emotions and her voice was silenced by the inference that she didn’t notice condolences offered by her extended family:  “…Kaska refused to eat.  She dragged herself around the camp and Voytek followed her everywhere.  One time Peter even saw Voytek gently licking Kaska.  And Kaska let him – not because she was enjoying it, but because she didn’t notice” (page 124).  Even in the human world, people who are grieving may not respond to the emotional and/or physical support others offer, but it does not mean they do not notice.  Perhaps the display of condolences allowed her to feel less alone, understood and, although obviously not enough, still a part of the group. 

Voytek is given voice:  there are inferences to what he feels but not necessarily from a bear’s perspective.  Although I am the first to demand that animals have emotion and thought, the soldiers and the author fell victim, frequently, to anthromorphism, which, as it relates to this story, is the attribution of human characteristics, thoughts and emotions given to an animal:  “Voytek pretended he was off for another nap in the shade… but was spying on the soldier…” (page 51).   I have decided that his voice is least heard upon the departure of his comrades.  The author, throughout the book, repeatedly demonstrates the bear’s emotional displays and desire to be one of the group with great description (“Voytek stood upon his back legs and positioned himself between Lolek and Stanislav, like a father trying to separate his sons” [page 91), “And Since Voytek didn’t see any reason to stop working, he simply walked over to Staislav cool as a cucumber, and delivered his next load, and then headed off to fetch another one, which  meant that Stanislav had no choice but to get back to work too” (page 80), and  “He just covered his eyes with his great big paws and started rocking gently backward and forward…that big, strong bear was just a sad, little baby bear cut again” [page 66]).  Therefore, it is incomprehensible that there was such a lackluster description of Voytek’s transition to the zoo.  There seemed to be no expectation and there was no mention that Voytek would have a significant reaction to being separated from his extended family and placed in a zoo.  In the zoo, Voytek “missed his fellow soldiers very much at first…” (page 141) lacks the depth of emotions the author offered throughout the story.  I imagine, if the death of his previous enemy, Kaska, caused Voytek to mourn deeply (“When Voytek realized what had happened, he stopped eating too.  He rocked his big body to and fro and didn’t even want to go in the truck anymore” [page 124]) and, in order to help him move beyond his sadness, “five of them dragged Voytek to the duck and pushed him inside” (page 125) the truck, that the author’s statement about Voytek’s initial time at the zoo was watered down as not to upset a young reader.  I imagine that the truth is that Voytek was rocking, with fear and sadness that he either felt abandoned or that something terrible had happened to his family (as had happened with Kaska).  His final years at the zoo were confined, something that, throughout the story, seemed to be unbearable for Voytek, and, although he had visitors and friends who adored him, I believe the truth of the depth of his loneliness is probably comparable to a person who has lived beyond that of her friends and family, and is left in the care of strangers in a home.   “Whenever he heard someone speaking Polish, he pricked up his ears, ran over to the fence, and begged for a cigarette” (page 141).  Of course, it is assumed he begged for a cigarette but perhaps Voytek was begging for an answer to what happened to his comrades.

  

References

Matheson, M. D., Johnson, J. S. and Feuerstein, J. (1996), Male reunion displays in tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Am. J. Primatology, 40: 183–188.  doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2345(1996)40:2<183::AID-AJP5>3.0.CO;2-U

Mishra, S. (2008).  Bear has brief reunion with human family.  The Times of India, Environment, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-06-28/flora-fauna/27779834_1_bear-reunion-human-family. 

LITERATURE CIRCLES 
Leslie's Examples of Book Celebrations

Community fundraisers to support

causes related to the story

Community art show

A Prequel to the story

Presentation of Environmental Factors which influenced characters' roles

Photo montage of non-fictional characters

PowerPoint presentations for book sales

Shrinky Dink bookmarks depicting

favorite scenes in story

Re-enactment of scenes

Read-Aloud, with silenced voices of characters interrupting

Creation of a device which

would have helped a character

solve the story's "problem"

Examples of Book Celebrations 
by Harvey Daniels

Posters advertising the book

TV movie critic-style reviews

Readers' theater performances

Performances of a "lost scene" from the book

A sequel to the story

Read-alouds of key passages

(with discussion and commentaries)

Videotaped dramatizations

A time line of the story

Panel debates

Reader-on-the-street interviews

(live or videotaped)

Report on the author's life

A new ending for the book

A new character for the book

Collages representing different characters

A piece of artwork interpreting the book

(painting, sculpture, poem, mobile, collage, diorama)

An original skit based on the book

A new cover for the book

An advertising campaign for the book

Diary of a character

Letter recommending the book to

the acquisitions librarian

Impersonation of character, in costume, with props

Interview with the author (real or fictionalized)

Interview with a character

The story rewritten for younger kids

as a picture book

Pans for a party for all the characters in the book

A song or a dance about the book

News broadcast reporting events from the book

Family tree of a key character

A puppet show about the book

A board game based on the book

Background/research on the setting or period

A diorama of a key scene

 Daniels, Harvey (2002).  Literature Circles:  Voice and Choice in Book Clubs & Reading Groups. 

        Portaland, Maine:  Stanhouse Publishers.