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Have you run Literature Circles before and are looking for some fresh ideas for student roles? Or are you looking to start book clubs for the first time?
Either way, this is the perfect place to learn about the many options for literature circle roles – the key ingredient for ensuring a well-developed, engaged and differentiated learning experience for your students!
Wondering how to get started with literature circles?
Learn how to set up, organize and run book clubs in middle school or upper elementary.
Options for Literature Circle Roles (Middle School / Upper Elementary)
While there are many different choices for student roles in literature circles, I wouldn’t include them all every time.
Depending on my grade, the time of year and my students, I like to include 6 literature circle jobs. From there, students can choose the role they would like to play for each section of the book.
This gives both my students and me plenty of choice and flexibility for literature circle activities.
Reading Roles For Literature Circles
Below are 16 lit circle roles organized roughly according to the level of thinking and understanding required.
The first few book club roles mostly require fact recall, while the last few involve understanding the text more deeply, critical thinking and creativity.
Discussion Director / Facilitator
You’ll want a facilitator every single time. However, while most teachers have this as one of their literacy circle roles, I prefer to keep it separate.
In my literature circles, each student has a job to complete then take turns to lead the discussion during the group meetings.
Some teachers will create a while reading task for this student such as creating 3-5 discussion questions or a few talking points about the reading. It’s up to you!
Summarizer
This student is responsible for writing a short summary of the reading section. Depending on your students, you might provide a framework or template.
Students are practising their ability to identify the important information while weeding out the extra details. They should identify the main idea, character(s) and events.
Quiz Master
This is another role in literature circles that focuses on facts and information found in the book. These are great for students with IEPs or struggling readers.
The student is tasked with creating questions to ask their group mates during the circle meeting. The answers to these questions can be found in the text so they are more knowledge-based and check basic comprehension.
Illustrator / Sketch Artist
Have a student draw a picture to represent an important event or scene in the current book section. It can be based on knowledge and facts or you could ask students to dive deeper into themes or character feelings, etc…
Investigator / Researcher
This is a fantastic reading role for literature circles particularly if the novel is historical, factual or generally has a lot going on.
The investigator’s role is to research a person, place, thing, event (or any other facet of the book that could cause confusion for readers) to gain a better understanding.
For example, if a novel’s setting is unfamiliar to readers, the investigator might research the area. A novel set in a time in history may benefit from more information about that time period. If the main character suffers from a medical condition, readers can learn more about it for a better understanding of their life.
Word Wizard
This student is responsible to finding the meaning (literal and/or contextual) for any words or phrases that classmates may not know.
This could include new, unfamiliar vocabulary words or idioms, metaphors or phrases that are unusual and important.
Character Catcher
One very common literature circle role in elementary is the Character Catcher. This student gives information to help us better understand the character with evidence from the text. It could be their motives, character traits, feelings, actions…
Interviewer
Have a student act as a journalist and develop questions that could be asked during an interview with a central character. They should be questions that go beyond surface level actions and help us get into the minds of the characters.
These questions are asked during the meeting and the group has to try to answer the questions in the voice of the character.
Connector
Have a student make text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world connections while they read their book section and share with the group.
Predictor
This book club role has a student make predictions for the next section of the book (or for a sequel if it’s the last section). Each prediction needs to be given with the part of the text that causes it.
Questioner
This student must develop a mix of questions that encourage deeper thinking and understanding of the book. These questions are discussed as a group during the literature circle.
I like to provide students with a Q-Chart and provide guidance for how many thick or thin questions should be created.
Mood Setter
The Mood Setter is tasked with developing and sharing a solid grasp on the mood of the book/chapters. This is shared and discussed during the group meeting. As always, they need to provide evidence for their thinking.
Literary Observer
This literacy circle role is similar to the Word Wizard but takes it up a notch. Go beyond learning new words and phrases to discovering and building skills with literary devices that improve our writing.
I would guide students to find, describe and explain those that we have already learned in mini-lessons throughout the year. Depending on grade and time of year, this list would differ.
However, consider literary devices such as irony, metaphor, personification, analogy, onomatopoeia, sarcasm, simile, hyperbole, idiom…
Clarifier
This student is responsible for explaining sections of the text that are harder to understand. This will likely go beyond basic facts and have them describe what they think the author means. This student role should require a higher level of thinking than the Summarizer.
Thinker
Excellent practice for another essential reading comprehension strategy. The Thinker is required to make and record inferences throughout the chapters. Each inference can be on any topic but must be supported with evidence from the text.
Creator
Got some uber-creative kids? Let them have fun with this one! The Creator needs to create something, anything, that is inspired by the reading selection. In the group meeting, they can discuss their idea, design, materials used and the section of text that inspired them.
Done-for-You Literature Circles Bundle
Save time with our Literature Circle package that has everything you need from start to finish to use over and over again!
From organizing groups, assigning roles (with our 8 most popular roles included), student handouts, meetings, journals, final assessment projects… it’s all ready to print and go!
Thoughts on Roles in Literature Circles
I’ve just shared 16 possible literature circle roles. Please don’t go and create book clubs with all 16 jobs!
Keeping it fresh and switching out the roles means you can run literature circles multiple times in one year without your students getting bored.
Differentiation and student choice are key to success. I include more roles than are needed. For example, if I have groups of 4-5, I will include 6 lit circle roles. I’ll make 2 or 3 mandatory and let students choose beyond that.
This post does a great job describing what literature circles are (and aren’t) which make for some compelling reasons to do them, I think!
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