LITERATURE CIRCLES - summary discussion
In this discussion, we will focus mainly on sharing ideas and feelings about our individual texts. Each student needs to answer each question in each of 5 Today's Meet discussion rooms. The 5 topics are:
AUTHOR PURPOSE - why did the author write the story? Remember to explain your answer clearly and refer to the text to support your answer.
TARGET AUDIENCE - for whom is the story written? Remember to be specific - don't just say 'kids'. Give the approximate age group, gender (male/female), special interests or genre (eg adventure, comedy, mystery). Remember to give your evidence and reasons. The clues can be in the type of themes, messages, the amount of writing, font size, vocabulary difficulty or amount of images/pictures.
THEMES - big ideas that run throughout the text - these are ideas to do with people, life, the world. They are NOT the main idea or subject or what the text is about. Be careful not to RE-TELL the story. Themes are much BIGGER IDEAS.
MESSAGES - what is the author trying to say about the theme? For example, if a theme is the environment, they might want to say we need to care for the environment, or one person can make a difference. If the theme is war, the message can be hope or resilience after destruction. Themes and messages are related, but different.
TEXT TO TEXT CONNECTIONS - looking for common/similar themes, messages, settings, characters ... which ideas came up in more than one text? You can make connections with any texts we read or viewed this year. Don't forget the texts you read in your collaborative literature circle groups (Rabbits, Tree, Tanglewood, I am Thomas, The Island, My Two Blankets, Home and Away, Refugees, Circle, Matchbox Diary and, of course, The Treasure Box).
AUTHOR PURPOSE - why did the author write the story? Remember to explain your answer clearly and refer to the text to support your answer.
TARGET AUDIENCE - for whom is the story written? Remember to be specific - don't just say 'kids'. Give the approximate age group, gender (male/female), special interests or genre (eg adventure, comedy, mystery). Remember to give your evidence and reasons. The clues can be in the type of themes, messages, the amount of writing, font size, vocabulary difficulty or amount of images/pictures.
THEMES - big ideas that run throughout the text - these are ideas to do with people, life, the world. They are NOT the main idea or subject or what the text is about. Be careful not to RE-TELL the story. Themes are much BIGGER IDEAS.
MESSAGES - what is the author trying to say about the theme? For example, if a theme is the environment, they might want to say we need to care for the environment, or one person can make a difference. If the theme is war, the message can be hope or resilience after destruction. Themes and messages are related, but different.
TEXT TO TEXT CONNECTIONS - looking for common/similar themes, messages, settings, characters ... which ideas came up in more than one text? You can make connections with any texts we read or viewed this year. Don't forget the texts you read in your collaborative literature circle groups (Rabbits, Tree, Tanglewood, I am Thomas, The Island, My Two Blankets, Home and Away, Refugees, Circle, Matchbox Diary and, of course, The Treasure Box).