- Pantomime
Act out a scene you choose or the class calls out to you while up there.
- Dramatic monologue
Create a monologue for a character in a scene. What are they thinking/feeling at that moment? Why?
- Dramatic monologue
Create a monologue for a character while they are out of the book. Where are they? Why? What are they thinking?
- Business card Book
Write the story in the most compelling way you can on paper the size of a business card.
- Postcard
Write to a friend, the author, or to a character about this book.
Write as if you were the character or author and write to yourself.
- Mapmaker
Draw a map of the book �s setting.
- Moviemaker
Write a one page "pitch" to a producer explaining why the story would or would not make a great movie.
- Trailer
Movie previews always offer a quick sequence of the best moments that
make us want to watch it � storyboard or narrate the scenes for your
trailer. Focus on verbs.
- Billboard
As in the movies, take what seems the most compelling image(s) and create an ad.
- Adjective-itis
Pick five adjectives for the book or character(s), and explain how they apply.
- Collage
Create an individual or class collage around themes or characters in the book.
- Haiku/Limerick
Create one about a character.
- CliffsNotes
Have each student take a chapter and, using the CliffsNotes format, create their own.
- Roundtable
Give students a chance to talk about what intrigues, bothers, confuses them about the book.
- Silent roundtable
The only rule is the teacher cannot say anything during the period allotted for class discussion of book.
- Silent conversation
A student writes about a story on paper, then passes it to another
who responds to what they said. Each subsequent respondent "talks"
to/about all those before.
- Fishbowl
Impromptu or scheduled, two to four students sit in middle of circle
and talk about a text. The class makes observations about the
conversation then rotate into the circle.
- Movie review
Students write a review of (or discuss) a movie based on a story.
- Dear author
After reading a book the student(s) write the author via the publisher (who always forwards them).
- Surf the Net
Prior to, while, or after reading a book check out the Web and its offerings about the book, its author, or its subject.
- Inspirations
Watch a film inspired by a story (e.g., Franny and Alexander is inspired by Hamlet) and compare/contrast.
- Timeline
Create a timeline that includes both the events in the novel and
historical information of the time. Try using Post-Its on a whiteboard
or butcher paper!
- Mandala
Create a mandala with many levels to connect different aspects of a book, its historical time, and culture.
- Transparencies
Copy portions of the text to a transparency. Kids annotate with
markers and then get up to present their interpretations to the class.
- Gender-bender
Rewrite a scene and change the gender of the characters to show how they might act differently (e.g., Lord of Flies). You can also have a roundtable on gender differences.
- Picture this
Bring in art related to book �s time or themes. Compare, describe, and discuss.
- Kids books
Bring in children �s books about related themes and read these aloud to class.
- Downgrade
Adapt myths or other stories for a younger audience. Make into children �s books or dramatic adaptation on video or live.
- Draw!
Translate chapters into storyboards and cartoons; draw the most
important scene in the chapter and explain its importance and action.
- Oprah bookclub
Host a talkshow: students play the host, author, and cast of characters. Allow questions from the audience.
- Fictional friends
Who of all the characters would you want for a friend? Why? What would you do or talk about together?
- State of the Union
The President wants to recommend a book to the nation: tell him one
important realization you had while reading this book and why he should
recommend it.
- Interview question
When I interview prospective teachers, my first question is always, "What are you reading and do you like it?"
- Dear diary
Keep a diary as if you were a character in the story. Write down
events that happen during the story and reflect on how they affected the
character and why.
- Rosencrantz and Gildenstern
Write a story or journal from the perspective of characters with no
real role in the story and show us what they see and think from their
perspective.
- Improv
Get up in front of class or in a fishbowl and be whatever character
the class calls out and do whatever they direct. Have fun with it.
- What if
Write about or discuss how the story would differ if the characters
were something other than they are: a priest, another gender or race, a
different age, or social class.
- Interrupted conversations
Pair up and trade-off reading through some text. Any time you have
something to say about some aspect of the story, interrupt the reader
and discuss, question, argue.
- Found poetry
Take sections of the story and, choosing carefully, create a found poem; then read these aloud and discuss.
- 13 views
Inspired by Stevens �s poem "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," write
a poem where each stanza offers a different view of a character or
chapter.
- Personal ad
What would a particular character write in a personal ad for the newspaper? After posting on board, discuss.
- Holden Meets Hamlet
What would one character (or set of them) in one story say to another
if given the chance to talk or correspond? Write a dialogue, skit, or
letter.
- Character analysis
Describe a character as a psychologist or recruiting officer might: what are they like? Examples? Why are they like that?
- Epistle poem
Write a poem in the form and voice of a letter: e.g., Phoebe to Holden from Catcher in the Rye.
- Write into
Find a "hole" in the story where the character disappears (off
camera) for a time and describe what they do when we can �t see them.
- The Woody Allen
In Take the Money, Allen interviews the parents of a man who
became a bank robber. Write an imaginary interview with friends and
family of a character whom they try to help you understand.
- Author interview
Write an interview or letter in which the character in a story asks
the author a series of questions and reflects on how they feel about the
way they were made.
- The Kuglemass
Woody Allen wrote a story in which the character can throw any book
into a time machine and it takes you inside the book and the era. What
would you do, say, think if you "traveled" into the story you are
reading?
- Time machine
Instead of traveling into the book, write a scene or story in which the character(s) travel out of the book into today.
- Biography
Write a biography of one of the characters who most interests you.
- Autobiography
Have the character that most interests you write their autobiography of the time before, during, or after the story occurs.
- P.S.
After you read the story, write an epilogue in which you explain �
using whatever tense and tone the author does � what happened to the
character(s) next.
- Board game
Have groups design board games based on stories then play them. This is especially fun and works well with The Odyssey.
- Life graph
Using the Life Graph assignment, plot the events in the character �s
life during the story and evaluate their importance; follow up with
discussion of graphs.
- Second chance
Talk or write about how it would change the story if a certain
character had made a different decision earlier in the story (e.g., what
if Huck of Huckleberry Finn had not run away?)
- Poetry connection
Bring in poems that are thematically related to the story. Integrate these into larger discussion. Use Poetry Index.
- Reader response
Pick the most important word/line/image/object/event in the chapter
and explain why you chose it. Be sure to support all analysis with
examples.
- Notes and quotes
Draw a line down the middle of the page. On one side write down
important quotes, on the other comment on and analyze the quotes.
- Dear classmate
Using email or some other means of corresponding, write each other
about the book as you read it, having a written conversation about the
book.
- Convention introduction
You have been asked to introduce the book �s author to a convention of
English teachers. What would you say? Write and deliver your speech.
- Sing me a song
Write a song/ballad about the story, a character, or an event in the book.
- Write your own
Using the themes in the story, write your own story, creating your
own characters and situation. It does not have to relate to the story at
all aside from its theme.
- Executive summary
Take a 3x5 card and summarize what happened on one side. On the
other, analyze the importance of what happened and the reasons it
happened.
- Read aloud
One student starts the reading and goes until they wish to pass. They
call on whomever they wish and that person picks up and continues
reading for as long as they wish.
- Quaker reading
Like a Quaker meeting, one person stands and reads then sits and
whomever wishes to picks up and reads for as long as with wish� and so
it goes.
- Pageant of the Masters
In Los Angeles this remarkable event asks groups to stage different
classical paintings in real life. People would try to do a still life of
some scene from a book or play. The class should then discuss what is
going on in this human diorama.
- Create a diorama
Create a diorama of a particularly important scene such as the courtroom or Ewells � house in To Kill a Mockingbird.
- Day in court
Use the story as the basis for a court trial; students can be
witnesses, expert witnesses called to testify, judge, jury, bailiff,
reporter; great fun for a couple days.
- Censorship defense
Imagine that the book you are reading has been challenged by a
special interest group. Students must write a letter defending the
book, using specific evidence from the book to support their ideas.
- Call for censorship
In order to better understand all sides to an argument, imagine you
are someone who feels this particular book should not be read and write a
letter in which you argue it should be removed.
- Speculation
Based on everything you know now in the story, what do you think will happen and why do you think that?
- Questions anyone?
Students make a list of a certain number of questions they have about
a particular character or aspect of the book; use these as the basis
for class discussion.
- Newspaper connection
Have students read the newspapers and magazines to find articles that
somehow relate to issues and ideas in the book(s) you are reading.
Bring those articles in and discuss.
- Jigsaw
Organize the class into groups, each one with a specific focus. After
a time rotate so that new groups are formed to share what they
discussed in their previous group.
- Open mind
Draw an empty head and inside of it draw any symbols or words or
images that are bouncing around in the mind of the character of a story.
Follow it up with writing or discussion to explain and explore
responses.
- Interrogation
A student must come up before the class and, pretending to be a character or the author, answer questions from the class.
- Post-Its
If they are using a school book in which they cannot make notes or
marks, encourage them to keep a pack of Post-Its with them and make
notes on these.
- Just the facts, ma �am
Acting as a reporter, ask the students the basic questions to facilitate a discussion: who, what, where, why, when, how?
- SQ3R
When reading a textbook or article, try this strategy:
- (S)urvey the assigned reading by first skimming through it;
- then formulate (Q)uestions by turning all chapter headings and subheadings into questions to answer as you read;
- next (R)ead the assigned section and try to answer those questions you formulated;
- now (R)ecite the information by turning away from the text as
soon as you �ve finished reading the assigned section and reiterate it
in your own words;
- finally, (R)eview what you read by going back to your
questions, the chapter headings, and asking yourself what they are all
referring to, what they mean.
- Brainstorming/Webbing
Put a character or other word in the middle of a web. Have students
brainstorm associations while you write them down, then have them make
connections between ideas and discuss or write about them.
- Cultural literacy
Find out what students already know and address what they need to know before reading a story or certain part of a story.
- Storyboard
Individually or in groups, create a storyboard for the chapter or story.
- Interactive story
If you have a student who is a computer genius, have them create a multimedia, interactive version of the story.
- CyberGuides
Search the Net for virtual tours based on the books you might be studying.
- Tableau
Similar to the Pageant of the Masters, this option asks you to create
a still life setting; then someone steps up to touch different
characters who come alive and talk from their perspective about the
scene.
- Audio books
There are many audio editions of books we teach now available � some
are even read by famous stars who turn the book into its own audio
performance. Recommend audio books to students with reading difficulties
or play portions of them in class.
- Sound off!
Play a video version of a book you are reading � only turn off the
sound while they watch it. Have them narrate or discuss or write about
what is happening, what the actors are revealing about the story through
their gestures. Then compare what you saw with what you read.
- Narrate your own reading
Show kids how you read a text by reading it aloud and interrupting
yourself to explain how you grapple with it as you go. Model your own
thinking process; kids often don �t know what it "looks like" to think.
- Magnetic poetry
If working with a poem, enlarge it on copier or computer and cut all
words up into pieces; place in an envelope and have groups create poems
from these words. Later on discuss using the same words for different
texts. Heavier stock paper is ideal for this activity.
- Venn diagram
Use a Venn diagram to help you organize your thinking about a text as
you read it. Put differences between two books or characters on
opposite sides and similarities in the middle.
- Write an essay
Using one of the different rhetorical modes, write an essay in which
you make meaningful connections between the text and your own
experiences or other texts you have read.
- P.O.V.
How would it change the story if you rewrote it in a different point
of view (e.g., changed it from first to third person)? Try it!
- Daily edition
Using the novel as the basis for your stories, columns and
editorials, create an newspaper or magazine based on or inspired by the
book you are reading.
- Read recursively
On occasion circle back around to the beginning of the chapter or
text to keep yourself oriented as to "the big picture." This is
especially important if you have questions to answer based on reading.
- Oral history
If you are reading a historical text, have students interview people
who have some familiarity with that time period or the subject of the
book.
- Guest speaker
If you are reading a book that deals with a subject an expert might
help them better understand, invite one in. Try the Veterans of Foreign
Wars, for example, if reading about war.
- Storytelling
After reading a story, pair up with others and tell the story as a
group, recalling it in order, piecing it together, and clarifying for
each other when one gets lost.
- Reciprocal teaching
A designated student or group reads a section of a text and comes
prepared to present or teach it to the class. Follow up with discussion
for clarification.
- Make your own test
Have students create their own test or essay questions about the
text. This allows them to simultaneously think about the story and
prepare for the test on it.
- Recasting the text
Students rewrite a poem as a story, a short story as a poem or play.
All rewrites should then be read and discussed so as to understand how
the different genre work.
- Debates
Students reading controversial texts or novels with debatable subjects such as 1984 should debate the issues.
- Literature circles
Students gather in groups to discuss the text and then report out to the class for full-class discussion.
- That was then, this is now
After reading the text, create a Before/After list to compare the
ways in which characters or towns have changed over the course of the
story. Follow up with discussion of reasons.
- source: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/82
