Literary Lenses Literature Circles: A Book Club Meeting of the Masterminds

Turn your students in literary masterminds with Meeting of the Masterminds Literature Circles. For this literature circle activity, student will meet in a book club and role play using a literary lens. They’ll be a critic, (reader) responder, psychologist, historian, philosopher, and linguist.

Meeting of the Masterminds Literature Circles are perfect for you if are looking for...

• an engaging learner-centered approach to encourage literary analysis
• an activity to get your students excited about reading and discussion literature
• a student-led discussion resource to get students to think deeper about a text
• an effective way to provide reading accountability
• a fast and easy to way to plan an effective and meaningful novel or drama unit

What is the Meeting of the Masterminds Literature Circles?

You will receive six literature circles roles. Each role includes an individual literary lens analysis task. Then, students meet with other members of their mastermind group. During their literature circle meeting, each student will complete a unique mastermind task that involves presenting, discussing, and engaging with their group members.

What are the highlights of these literature circles?

• A meeting of the mastermind literature circle can take place for ANY work.
• It is a perfect activity for a whole class reading selection, or it would work great for group novel studies (each group reads a different book).
• It can be printed or assigned digitally.
• The content text is editable, so you can modify it to meet the needs of your students. (Please note: headings and clipart are not editable.)
• An editable rubric is included that you can use to grade each student in his/her mastermind role. This rubric could also be used by each student for self-assessment and to set the expectation.

Here's how the Meeting of the Masterminds Literature Circles work :

1. You'll open the editable resource in either PowerPoint or Google Slides.
2. Then, you'll edit any of the tasks if necessary.
3. Next, print the tasks or assign the digital resource (included).
4. Put students in groups of six or less.
5. Assign a reading section from a novel or play and assign roles to students. Each student in the group will receive a different role.
6. After reading, students will meet to complete their literature circle.
7. Optional: Assign the next reading section and give new roles. Keep rotating roles and meeting in circles until you've finished the work.

What your students will love:

• the collaborative, student-led approach to reading and discussing
• an equitable way to do group work that provides accountability for each member
• a new approach to analyzing a text

What you'll love:

• your students high-level of enthusiasm and engagement with the text
• a new, exciting approach to class discussions and literary analysis
• the hours of time you'll save planning and prepping a novel/drama unit

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