African American Lit Circles – 12 novels – 12 assessments!
This is a complete literature circle for 12 novels, with 12 individual assessments, 4 assignments and 4 classroom activities.
I’m a seventh grade ELA teacher and this year I taught “The Crossover” by Kwame Alexander for the first time. Let me tell you, this book was AMAZING to use in class. I’ve even started a full product line for this novel to use in class.
Well, because we were reading the novel as a read aloud in class, I still wanted my students reading independently, so I began literature circles. I chose books at a variety of reading levels and guided students to choose a book at an appropriate level for them, both in reading and content. My “honors” selections are both more difficult in guided reading level and mature content. I asked only my serious, mature readers to select these books. Then, the grade level books were selected for a majority of the students. In addition, I teach two collaborative classrooms with regular and special education students so I had a few easier reads.
Here’s a list of the novels:
Honors Level:
The Hate You Give, by Angie Thomas
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
Seventh Grade book selections:
Ghost, Sunny, Patina and Lu by Jason Reynolds – all found in the Track Set #1-4
Brown Girl Dreaming and Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Just a little easier:
Booked by Kwame Alexander – FREE ASSESSMENT
Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen
For one month, the students had to read a quarter of their book each week. They had one outside activity to complete a week and then an activity to complete with their literature circle. At the conclusion of the unit, I collected the 4 assignments, the 4 writing prompts and the students took a 20 question assessment. Each assessment is individual to the book, but they are all the same format.
Here’s a list of the question types on the assessment:
1. protagonist
2. setting, place
3. setting, time
4-10 recall
11 & 12. figurative language
13. point of view
14. characterization
15. pace
16. point of view
17. language/conflict
18. foreshadowing
19. genre
20. theme
My unit on TpT includes 12 individual assessments with answer sheet and key. Also, the assignments for the weekly literature circles. This unit could be used as an addition to “The Crossover” unit or on their own. It would also be an awesome activity for Black History Month. The best part, you can pick and choose which novels you’d like to teach. I really hope you enjoy this unit. It was so great in my class!
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