Day 115: 3/25/25 - Harry Potter Chapter 11 Lit. Circle Discussion

Homeroom:

          Good Morning. Please sit at your house table &  use this time to get ready for your day.

Do Now:

1. Check that your homework is done
2. Make sure you have all your materials
3. Sharpen pencils

ELA Learning Target:    

Today we will participate in Lit Circle discussions about chapter 11, and compete in the 45 Second Summary Challenge.

Do Now:

• Write Down the your homework
• Open your notebook to your job from chapter 11
• Discussion Directors - open your computer to my blog

Homework:

• Finish reading chapter 11 (if not already done)

Activity #1

Chapter 11 Lit Circle Discussions

The Rules for Lit. Circle Discussions:

1. While we read each chapter you will be expected to complete your job for that chapter. Each member of the group will have a different job, and the jobs will rotate each chapter so you will never have the same job twice in a row.
2. If we do not finish reading a chapter in class it will be your responsibility to finish the reading, and complete your job. 
3. At the start of each class the following day you will engage in a literature circle discussion about the reading. 
4. The Discussion Director is the leader of the conversation. 
5. You will take turns sharing, and engaging the rest of your group in a discussion about your topic/job.
6. When you share it is your job to get the rest of the group involved. DO NOT READ! USE QUESTIONS TO ENGAGE THE REST OF YOUR GROUP MEMBERS! 

• Summarizer: 
• What happened in this chapter?
• What would you include in a summary? Why? 
• What are the most relevant details/events in this chapter? Put the events in order.
• What's the main idea? (USE YOUR BOOK)
• Character Captain:
• What characters were in this chapter? 
• What did they do, say, think, feel, etc? 
• What did we learn about this character? 
• Who were the most important characters? 
• How did they impact the story? 
• Vocab Enricher:
• Pick a word. Take your group to the page. 
• Have someone read the sentence. 
• Ask, "What do you guys think this word means?" Then let them guess.
• After everyone takes a guess, share the definition at the end. REPEAT! 
• Conflict Evaluator:
• What conflicts did you identify in this chapter? 
• Why was this a conflict? 
• Is it an internal or external conflict? 
• How does this conflict impact the story?
• Discussion Director:
• Read the questions that you have already prepared. 
• You can also ask the three questions below.
1. A Lightbulb Moment!!! - Did anything stand out to you?
2. A Question Mark - Is there anything you didn't understand? Perhaps something that you would want JK Rowling to explain?
3. A Connection - What did you learn (about yourself) from this chapter?

Mr. T's Discussion Questions:

• Who steals the ingredients to make the Polyjuice Potion?
• Why do you think that person really wants to make the potion more than the others?
• Who starts the dueling club?
• Who does Harry get paired with at the dueling club?
• Draco uses a spell on Harry at the dueling club. What did the spell do?
• What is a Parselmouth?
• If you were Ron or Hermione how would you react to Harry being a Parselmouth?
• Who do the students at Hogwarts believe is the Heir of Slytherin?
• Who does Harry find Petrified?
• Harry is misjudged in this chapter. Have you ever been misjudged like Harry? What was it over, and how did it turn out?

Activity #2

The 45 Second Summary Challenge?

In this challenge you will work with the members of your house to write a summary of the chapter. You are writing together as a group, however each person must write their own summary their notebook. You will have just 12 minutes to write.

Each house will then choose a representative to read their summary out loud. The representatives from each house will have just 45 seconds to read their summary. 

Your summaries should include:

• 2 Pts - The main idea 
• 6 Pts - The most relevant details
• 2 Pts - Your reflection (Your own thoughts about the events of the chapter)
• 10 Points Total

As you are working I will come around to help you. I might ask you questions like:

• What does your summary need to start with?
• Have you written the main idea?
• What did you write for the main idea?
• What relevant details are you including?
• Why are those details important or relevant?
• Have you used any transitional words to connect your thoughts and sentences? 
• Are there any places where you should use transitional words or phrases.
• What are your thoughts on the events of the chapter? (reflection)
• What do you think about what you read? 

YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO FOLOW THE RULES OF WRITING. 

• Indent the first sentence
• All other lines are lined up on the margin line
• Words go on the line
• Put spaces between your words
• Use proper capitalization & punctuation
• Spelling matters (You should not be spelling words from the book incorrectly, especially character's names)
• Neatness matters

How will I earn points for my Hogwarts House?

1st Place = 30 pts

2nd Place = 20 pts

3rd Place = 10 pts

4th Place = 5 pts

How will I be individually evaluated?

• Three times throughout the unit (Chapters 5, 10, & 15) your summaries will be handed in digitally through google classroom as a quiz grade so I can formally assess your writing. 

Activity #3

Best Question

• When we play "Best Question" your classroom teacher acts as the judge. 
• Each house picks 1 representative to read the question they think is best, and then the student leads the discussion. 
• After all 3 houses have led the discussion for their question the teacher will award house points for the question they think is best.
• The points are entirely up to the teacher, and they may choose to award more or less points based on the strength of your questions.
• Some days all Houses will earn points, while other days only one house might earn points. It all depends on you and the quality of your efforts.