LITERATURE CIRCLES / PLANNER · GRADE 8 WORKED EXAMPLE

Plan a circle: “The Tell-Tale Heart”

Edgar Allan Poe (1843) · public-domain short story · grades 8–11 · ~1 week / two meetings. Rights: Public domain.

Kit section 5 (group agreement & calendar) filled in for one text — a finished plan students see before writing their own. Tinted italic = sample answers.

Text, group, and target

Text / author / edition	“The Tell-Tale Heart” — Edgar Allan Poe (1843). Public-domain short story.
Group / period / dates	Omar’s group · Period __ · Meetings ___ & ___
Grade / TEKS target (p. 3)	Grade 8 · §110.24 — 7(A): theme through characters/events; 6(C,D): support inferences; 1(D): student-led discussion.
Learning intention	We are learning to explain how the narrator’s unreliable voice reveals a theme about guilt and the mind.
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	The plan, the seven nights of watching, and the killing.	Tue · Leader: Omar
2	The police visit and the confession.	Thu · Leader: Bea

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

Member	First job	Rotates to (next meeting)
Omar	Questioner	Summarizer
Bea	Summarizer	Clarifier
Kai	Clarifier	Evidence tracker
Zoe	Predictor	Questioner

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

Predict: The narrator insists he is sane — what will his behavior reveal instead? What clue hints at it?
Question: Why might Poe let the narrator tell his own story? How does that shape our trust?
Clarify: What is the “beating” the narrator hears at the end — literal or guilt?
Summarize: Order the events of the night of the murder, without opinion.
Interpret the theme: How does the narrator’s voice reveal a theme about guilt or madness? Use two details.

Optional Jigsaw lenses (p. 4): Character (the narrator) · Point of view (unreliable first person) · Language (repetition, dashes, exclamation) · Plot (control unraveling) · Theme (guilt and conscience).

LITERATURE CIRCLES / STUDENT PREP WORKED EXAMPLE

Sample 3–2–1 notes: Kai, point of view lens

Name: Kai · Home group: Omar’s group · Period __ · Meetings ___ & ___ · Section: “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Chunk 2 · Expert lens: Point of view

What a finished prep looks like. Kit section 6 / Organizer A completed for one reader, so students can compare their notes to a strong model.

Questions

Is the narrator mad, or only guilty?

Why confess when he had gotten away with it?

3 · Important ideas

1. The narrator claims sanity while describing obsession.

2. He stalks the old man for seven nights before acting.

3. He confesses under an imagined heartbeat.

Vocabulary

acute = sharp, heightened.

dissimulation = hiding true feelings.

2 · Supporting details

1. His repeated “nervous — very, dreadfully nervous” (opening) undercuts the sanity claim.

2. His shriek to the police (ending) shows guilt breaking through his control.

1 · Summary in my own words

A narrator kills an old man over his “eye,” hides the body, then confesses when he thinks he hears the heart.

Bring to the circle

My interpretation: The mind cannot escape its own guilt, no matter how it insists it is calm.
Synthesis (two lenses): The unreliable narrator (point of view) proves the theme: his own telling exposes the guilt he denies. Text points: the sanity claim (Chunk 1) and the confession (Chunk 2).
After discussion: My thinking became clearer once the group compared evidence.

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