LITERATURE CIRCLES / PLANNER · GRADE 8 BLANK

Plan a circle: “The Gettysburg Address”

Abraham Lincoln (1863) · public-domain speech (nonfiction) · grades 6–12 · ~2–3 class sessions. Rights: Public domain.

Kit section 5 (group agreement & calendar), scaffolded for this text. Students fill the group, calendar, and roles.

Text, group, and target

Text / author / edition	“The Gettysburg Address” — Abraham Lincoln (1863). ______________________ (edition)
Group / period / dates
Grade / TEKS target (p. 3)	Grade 8 · §110.24 — 9(D): rhetorical devices; 8(D): argument/claim; 1(D): student-led discussion. (Nonfiction: replace the literary focus with your course’s informational/argumentative expectation.)
Learning intention	We are learning to explain how Lincoln’s structure and word choices advance his purpose.
Success criteria	I bring one open question, cite two details with locations, respond to a peer, and name how my thinking changed.

Reading map & calendar

Chunk	Read through	Meeting date · leader
1	“Four score” — the founding and the present dedication of the cemetery.
2	The living’s “unfinished work” and the “new birth of freedom.”

Members & first-meeting jobs (p. 7 roles)

Member	First job	Rotates to (next meeting)

Text-specific discussion questions (open — more than one answer)

Predict: A speech at a battlefield cemetery — what will Lincoln ask the living to do? What in the opening hints at it?
Question: Why might Lincoln spend so little time on the dead and more on the living?
Clarify: What is the “unfinished work” and the “great task remaining”?
Summarize: State Lincoln’s main claim in one sentence, without opinion.
Interpret the theme: How do repetition and contrast (past / present / future) advance his purpose? Use two details.

Optional Jigsaw lenses (p. 4): Purpose (why Lincoln speaks) · Structure (past → present → future) · Language (repetition: “dedicate,” “we cannot”) · Rhetoric (appeals to shared ideals) · Context (the Civil War, 1863).

LITERATURE CIRCLES / STUDENT PREP BLANK

Reading notes: “The Gettysburg Address”

Name: _______________ · Home group: _______________ · Section: “The Gettysburg Address,” ____________ · Expert lens: ____________

Everyone prepares. Read the whole assigned section. Write or draw three important ideas, two supporting details with locations, and one summary in your own words. Keep interpretation separate from summary.

Questions

What needs clarification?
What could the group explore?

3 · Important ideas

Character choices, conflicts, themes, or central ideas.

Vocabulary

Word + location + meaning or clue.
Mark anything still uncertain.

2 · Supporting details

Short quote or accurate paraphrase + page/paragraph + what it shows.

1 · Summary in my own words

Bring to the circle

My interpretation: These details suggest __________________________________________
Synthesis (connect two lenses): ____________________________________________________
After discussion: My thinking changed / became clearer because ______________________

TEKS evidence: 6(C,D) supported inference; 7(A) theme through characters/events; 1(D) response to a peer. · Pair with the PlotPoint “The Gettysburg Address” room.