I sure wish my students inherently loved to read, and they all had wicked vocabulary skills, and I never had to convince them that a text was worthwhile of their time. If they did, that would make engaging reluctant readers much easier.

But that’s hardly ever the case, and more often than not, I have varying degrees of reluctant readers in my classroom. So the question becomes, How do I engage my reluctant readers? By the time students are in high school, they usually have a long history of not enjoying the reading requirements in school. And honestly, every student will probably be a reluctant reader at some time because they all have their own interests, experiences, and abilities. So what is a teacher to do?

Why are students reluctant?

Your strategies won’t get you far if you don’t get to the principle problem. Unless you happen to hit on the issue, spending your time looking up tips isn’t going to help your students long term. Look for any reason so you can personalize your solutions. Are there specific reading skills the student is struggling with? Is this a topic that is hard to identify with? Are there tasks associated with the reading that is keeping them disinterested? Perhaps the assignments themselves create a stress for students, such as requiring the class to read aloud. Is the text chosen something above their reading level?

Once you key in on the main issue, you’ll be better prepared to plan how to motivate your students.

9 Strategies for Engaging Reluctant Readers

Always Plan on Differentiating

If you haven’t planned for a potential problem, it is much harder to solve “in the moment.” This is why we, as teachers, spend a lot of time working on differentiating. You might be used to doing this with activities and writing expectations, but what about the text itself? Spend time looking at the text you’ll be reading and preemptively make plans to make it work with your students’ varying needs.

Keep It Short

Do your students need to read the whole text? Oftentimes you can flip through a textbook and see short snippets of longer works so students just “taste” the text before diving into the discussion. Interested students can dive deeper by reading a whole text, or you can offer enrichment activities for students who want to read more.

But if you can, pull the most meaningful excerpts and have the class work with those. Bite-size pieces are easier to work with, and students may feel more motivated seeing a shorter section of text rather than a novel.

Give Them Different Tasks

I don’t believe all my students need to do the exact same assignment to do the same work. It doesn’t make sense for my advanced students to breeze through an activity that takes some struggling students twice as long with twice as much work to complete. I have no issue grouping my students and, occasionally, giving them different assignments to work on.

A really great way to encourage reluctant readers is not to have them read the book at all. That’s right. Create a “Special Task Force” of students who will be working on the extra supplemental material for the class. Rather than the whole class reading an article accompanying the text, have your special group read ahead and present the material for everyone. This can be particularly helpful with period pieces with unfamiliar vocabulary or works with complex plots and discussions your reluctant readers may not be ready for. If you make this part of your reading groups the whole year, you can swap which students are in this particular group as you get to texts of varying levels.

Create Cheat Sheets

I’m not saying rely on Spark Notes. However, we know students refer to it, so use the concept to your advantage.

Students that can’t understand the material aren’t going to get far with any reading or assignments. I like to create Cheat Sheets (which can benefit all my students). These might include important vocabulary, especially if students need to understand period or subject-related vocab. You can also include fast facts about characters, relationships, or major plot points.

Make them cute and cut to fit the book so students can tuck it into it and refer to it as they read.

Find Something Similar

Oftentimes I don’t think it’s necessarily about reading this book title. It’s about the concepts, the characters, the lessons learned. So if we can read a more modern work and get the same things out of it, why not? I really don’t see a problem with having students read adaptations, modern retellings, and other period pieces that are easier to read when it comes to my reluctant readers. Even my advanced students might enjoy the change of pace. I also find that modern works tend to have a faster pace, which usually automatically gives me more engagement.

Don’t Overlook the Book

The way your books and text look is going to make a difference. If you clonk a big, dusty novel on the desk of your reluctant readers, how well do you think they’ll listen? Flip through your text and look at the layout. Is the font really crowded? Is it printed too small? What kind of distractions are there (footnotes, images, copied notes from years gone by)? Is it broken up effectively?

I had a teacher in high school who liked having us take notes on the pages. So she would make copies of these articles but they were printed very small so that we had margins around the text to write. It was a great activity in theory, but even an avid reader like myself dreaded getting the packets of tiny words.

Read for Fun

Teaching your students that reading can be enjoyable is really the lifelong skill we want to see. If you work on a particularly long or difficult novel, let students work in literature circles with some choice reads. Find a set of contemporary novels that fit in with the unit’s theme. Or, establish a set “free read” day that your students look forward to. For many years, that was Friday in my classroom. We loved taking a break and heading to the library as a class, or just having a quiet hour in the classroom to read whatever we wanted. I was able to establish a really good relationship with students as they gave me suggestions on what to read, and I made sure to read their suggestions and give them my honest review. It’s a great way to model reading different genres and how to have a real discussion about what you read.

It’s important to note as well that free reading doesn’t have to mean novels. I often saw my reluctant readers bring in magazines on interesting topics, and I was completely fine with that. Reading is reading. I’ve even had a student come in with a stack of cookbooks looking to build a meal for an upcoming Home Ec assignment.

Get Social

Have students work on social sharing what they read. Give students ownership of the information they know. It doesn’t always have to be you as the teacher leading instruction, discussion, and lecture. Let peers lead the way. Your more advanced students might lead a discussion topic in groups while a reluctant reader helps take the notes (so they can listen and write the information as well as participate without feeling on the spot with answering). Groups with varying reading levels create a valuable experience for all students.

Make It Mobile

Reading is mostly a passive activity – so what can you do to provide movement? Download an audiobook and have students walk laps outside or down the hallways. Do you have flexible seating options so students can move around wherever they are most comfortable? Do you have a box of fidgets students can grab as they read? All of these are great ways to get some movement with reading.

What are the best activities you’ve found for encouraging your reluctant readers? Have you tried any from this list? I love outside-the-box ideas and adding to my own toolbox of things to use in my classroom. Share your best suggestions here or over on Facebook and Instagram.

My Favorite Book for Reluctant Readers

My absolute favorite book to teach in a class filled with reluctant readers is Jason Reynolds’ novel Long Way Down. Every single time I teach this novel, students who claim they hate books and hate reading absolutely love it. They are completely engaged in the story.

You can check out my unit for teaching Long Way Down here. Also, be sure to check out my blog post about 25 ideas for teaching Long Way Down!

Bring modern novels into your classroom with creative contemporary works with these novels to pair with Jane Eyre. We often hold tight to the curriculum we have used for years, but many modern titles are just as worthy of our classroom time. I have been creating a series of posts related to modern pairings to classic literature. Read on to see my suggestions for Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. 

Classic Focus

Jane becomes an orphan at a young age, and never quite feels like she fits in. Her courage is tested again and again as she finds herself up against unfair circumstances and societal standards. She finds a job caring for a young ward for a brooding Edward Rochester. Jane finds herself drawn to him, even though he is clearly harboring a secret.  

This novel comes across as very “ho-hum”. It isn’t necessarily action-packed. It doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles that students can find in modern films and novels. But some deep themes are relatable if they are willing to push through the details and find the story within. Themes such as the quest for love versus having autonomy, what it means to be part of a society with social classes (and if we are still part of this structure today), gender relations, questioning what is home, where we belong, and how to deal with uncertainty. 

Modern Novels to Pair with Jane Eyre

I have found many retellings of Jane Eyre, so if you aren’t interested in any of these, trust me, there are plenty more. This post contains affiliate links.

Re Jane by Patricia Park

This Jane is half-Korean, half-American, and an orphan. She’s been trying to escape from Queens from her strict uncle’s rules and following the traditional principle of nunchi (a combination of impeccable manners, hierarchy, and obligation). Finding an au pair job, Jane finds herself in a whole new lifestyle. Unfortunately, a family death interrupts her new life, and she travels to Seoul, bringing to the surface her inner struggle to balance the two cultures and accept who she is. 

Jane by Aline Brosh McKenna

This reimagined classic follows Jane, a young girl growing up in a broken home and dreaming of an art school in NYC. Although she succeeds in obtaining this dream, she finds herself out of place in the big city. After taking a job nannying, she finds herself falling for her father. Jane will have to decide what kind of life she will want to lead. This is a really great option to spice things up in the classroom because it is a graphic novel. 

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

This novel pairs Southern charm and domestic suspense. A broke dog-walker named Jane arrives at the gated community of Thornfield Estates, located in Birmingham, Alabama. It’s the kind of place where no one notices if Jane swipes a few knick-knacks here and there. 

Recently widowed, Eddie Rochester is the neighborhood’s most mysterious resident. Jane sees an opportunity. He’s rich, handsome, and single. But he also could offer a protection she’s never had before. Trouble is, the further she explores her feelings for Eddie, the more she worries about measuring up to his former wife and her own past catching up to her. 

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey 

Gemma’s widower father drowns at sea, so she is taken in by her uncle. She moves from Iceland to Scotland to live with him and his family. Though her uncle is kind, her aunt is resentful. After receiving a scholarship to a private school, Gemma believes she’s found the perfect solution to sets out to a new home. Gemma later takes an au pair job on a remote set of islands. Mr. Sinclair, the ward to his niece, is intriguing. Flying from the islands to London whenever he pleases, a seemingly luxurious life, and being single, he is easy to fall for. This story is set primarily in Scotland and Iceland in the 1950s and 1960s. A unique spin on the classic for sure.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

This isn’t so much a retelling as it is an expansion on a character from the original Jane Eyre. The novel brings to light the “madwoman in the attic”. Following the life of Antoinette Cosway, we learn about a young woman who is essentially sold into her marriage of Mr. Rochester. As we view the events of her life, it causes us to understand that perhaps anyone can be driven to madness given the right circumstances. 

Do you have any favorite modern retellings for Jane Eyre that your students love? What activities help solidify broader concepts and themes with your students? Share here or check out Facebook and Instagram for more ideas!

Looking for more? Be sure to read my blog post about modern pairings with Macbeth!

Do you need suggestions for modern novels to pair with Macbeth? If so, I’ve got you covered! Shakespeare’s Macbeth is still one of his most wildly popular plays. I’m not saying we are all sitting around reading Macbeth, but we see countless retellings in novels and film today. Almost any story with unethical and unchecked ambition or guilt-spun paranoia has ties to the plot.

If you’re looking for something with a modern spin as you wrap up a Macbeth unit, read on to see my favorites. Let’s start with an overview of the play.

Teaching Macbeth with a Classic Focus

Brave and respected, Macbeth sits one night around his fire when three witches visit him. In their prophecy, they foretell he would become the king of Scotland. Skeptical at first, he is urged on by his ruthless wife. The single-minded ambition leads him down a path of paranoia, tyranny, madness, and murder.

4 Modern Novels to Pair with Macbeth

Modern Pairings

Macbeth tells a tale that mostly centers on the dangers of corrupted power and unchecked ambition. Despite being well-loved as a courageous general, he is brought up against his natural inclinations to serve to commit evil deeds. The desire to have power and advancement supersedes whatever good intentions he had. In addition, we see the consequences of the ambition Macbeth can’t enjoy and how it plays into his eventual paranoia. Almost any work that centers on unobtainable ambition or the dealings of a guilty conscious work for a pairing.This post contains affiliate links.

 Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

This is probably my favorite pairing. It’s less about the gore of a Macbeth retelling and centers more on common themes I feel students can relate to that we can also see in the play. As told in verse, Will is set on avenging his brother. Heading out of his apartment with a weapon in his waistband, he loads the elevator and hits the down arrow. The elevator stops on the next floor, and their friend Buck gets on. As they chat about Will’s plan, Will remembers – Buck is dead. The next floor brings a childhood friend who asks what he will do if he misses. This childhood friend was hit by stray bullets on the playground when they were eight. As he gets to each floor, time is an illusion, and Will is confronted with people from his past.

The propensity for violence and our choices is a central themes in both Long Way Down and Macbeth. It’s interesting to compare Will to Macbeth and consider how each person is set on “what is owed” to them and the expectations of their position. This makes an excellent class read but also works as an independent student project.

You can check out my Long Way Down unit here.

The War Works Hard by Dunya Mikhail

While not a novel, this poetry collection would fit perfectly into a Macbeth unit. Dunya Mikhail is an exiled Iraqi woman. She has written a beautiful book centered on revolution and the human spirit. As students read through the horrendous actions of Macbeth, taking time to consider “everyone else” would be a great juxtaposition. Mikhail aims to derail the glorification of war. And, while not a typical “novel” for class reading, it would make a great addition to your class library or to pull excerpts as you navigate the play.

I also find poetry lends itself to more creative projects for students. Consider having students write their own forms of poetry, write responses to Mikhail’s work, create visual representations to a class read, or select their own excerpts.

Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin

Elle and her three friends have an untouchable power other girls only dream of. The world is their oyster until Elle’s sweet sixteen. The golden boys choose her as their next target. Too bad they picked the wrong girl. Set on vengeance, Elle plots to destroy each of the boys.

While this novel is a perfect combination of a bloody Macbeth retelling mixed with Cruel Intentions – it’s dark and violent and delves into sometimes unrealistic vengeful plots. I can think of many students who would absolutely love the American Horror Story vibes and would probably offer it as a choice read rather than a whole-class project.

As I Descended by Robin Talley

Maria and Lily are the power couple of their school – even if no one else sees it. Unfortunately, golden child Delilah is a superstar at their school. She runs it all. Maria and Lily will stop at nothing to get what they want – to unseat Delilah from her distinguished Kingsley Prize – a full scholarship that would ensure Maria and Lily stay together. This is an LGBT fantasy/horror that will blur feuds and fatalities.

This novel is definitely Shakespeare-inspired, and I love the abundance of representation in the characters. Again, I would maybe consider this a choice-read option for those students who may not enjoy the “icky” side of Macbeth retellings.

Other Novels

There’s no shortage of Shakespeare adaptations. Macbeth is a fairly deadly story, and often the retellings try to up the ante in story-telling gore. Another direction you might consider is to look at retellings from other characters such as The Third Witch by Rebecca Reisert or Lady Macbeth by Susan Fraser King. Have students consider writing from another character from the play, or an imaginary character who is swept up in the events.

Do you have favorite modern tellings for Macbeth that your students love? What activities help solidify broader concepts and themes with your students? Share here or check out Facebook and Instagram for more ideas!

 If you do a quick Google search of literature read in high school – you get a pretty skimpy list. 

And that skimpy list is probably full of outdated and poor representations of diversity. 

The thing is, we know this is a problem, and yet almost all of the curriculum and unit studies out there are still centered on these same books. I bet if I did a poll, most of us would check off the same list of books no matter where we live or what decade we attended high school. Consider this: how many books do you teach in your classroom that you read as a student yourself? Shouldn’t that bother us?

Before anyone gets too hot and bothered about it, I do love the classics. I still think Canterbury Tales is some of the
dirtiest and most hilarious short stories you can read. Shakespeare bleeds into so much of our modern pop culture I think it makes a great foundation for students to understand what it means to be a “classic” author who understood the true themes of humanity. His plays were the Avengers films of the day. 

So I’m not saying out with it all. But we should make a better effort to establish better connections with the students we teach. 

Why is it important?

At the end of the day, it’s really not about my students remembering that one time I made them read Of Mice and Men. Or that we spent months analyzing To Kill a Mockingbird. Education should be about connecting to the world around us, to the other citizens that make up our communities, to be functional in society, and to learning where the information is when we don’t have an answer. If I want my students to connect to what they read so we can discuss the broader themes and motifs that will lead them to become better people – they need to connect with characters and authors who are like them. 

When I think about my own education, particularly in my freshman and sophomore years when we had to read whole-class works – the only thing that comes to mind as something I read that wasn’t written by a dead, old, white man is TheHouse on Mango Street. It wasn’t until I could take electives as an upperclassman and in college that I was exposed to other authors and characters who didn’t fit the “white man canon.” Even novels such as Frankenstein, written by a woman, are written through a lens of inequality for women authors. 

All that to say – I don’t want my students to have to hunt around a work and try to feel a connection. I don’t want them to shut down in class when we read something because another dead white guy wrote it. What a shame that I need to go out of my way to find works for my students to connect to or that we have to have a whole separate elective to find novels that my students will relate to. It’s important because our students are important. Our curriculum needs to be filled with both mirrors and windows in order to provide our students with a rich literature base. 

How do you incorporate diversity into the curriculum?

I absolutely understand feeling like your hands are tied. Some of us have more freedom to tweak the curriculum than others. And, unfortunately, we sometimes face backlash on our choices. Hopefully, you can find something from this list that will help you incorporate reading diversity.

Don’t Just Teach What You Know

One problem is that we teach what we read in high school. We sort of perpetuate the problem by falling back on what we are familiar with. So even though you’re excited for a novel that you read (and maybe loved) when you were a student, doesn’t mean it’s the “best” novel for the moment.

Diversity Is Not a Checklist

Whenever I’m looking to add a novel or author to my curriculum, I ensure I am thorough in my selection. Students notice if you haven’t bothered to read a work. So don’t plunk a few books on your class library shelf and call it good. Bring attention to these novels. Specifically, look to offer them to students when they ask for book recommendations. Consider why your classics were included, and look for novels that fit that bill.

Be Critical of Classics

I think we can agree that none of us are saying, “Ban the classics!” Not in the same way that many contemporary and representative works are every day. If you find yourself in a bind of adding new pieces to your curriculum, then try to look at your current curriculum with a critical eye. Discuss with your students the representation of characters. Were people of color included? How were they represented? Did they have agency? Does the novel truly represent whatever theme you’re analyzing if not everyone is represented?

Create a Diverse Library

If you don’t have a class library, I highly recommend finding the space to do so. I used to have a small bookshelf to swap books from the school library that fit our unit. Students could supplement their own reading during free reads or check out the books they were more interested in. Even in my smallest of classrooms, I had a spot on top of the file cabinet of my personal books I recommended to students. Fill those with diverse authors and themes for students to have access.

Literature Circles

Rather than focus on a whole-class read of options, try literature circles. They are a great way to promote independence, and I like that students have options to pick what speaks to them. There are so many ways you can go about this, but you might find novels that center around a similar theme, a retelling of a “classic”, or just a collection of novels you think they will enjoy. Students select what they would most like to read, and you sort them into groups to read the novel. You can also include your classics in the lineup.  

Find Retellings

If you aren’t sure where to start with diversifying your reading lists, start with retellings. Novels that are retold or updated for a modern era often include the same themes for discussions, but they also often have better representation. Look up retellings or modern novels to pair with whatever classic works you typically cover, and start reading what comes up. In many cases, I can reuse my thematic questions from previous lesson plans, so it doesn’t quite feel like I’m starting over. 

What about your classroom? How do you incorporate reading diversity into your classroom? What have been your favorite lessons and novels to include? Do you feel like you come up against problems when you try to change the curriculum? Chat with the group on Facebook or Instagram or comment below. 

Give modern spins to classic reads. While the classics are classics, they are also outdated and there are so many modern titles that are worthy of classroom time, so I’ve been creating a paired list of modern novels to classic works. Read on to see my suggestions for The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

Classic Focus

Angst and alienation prevail in this novel. The Catcher in the Rye has become a timeless coming-of-age story focusing on Holden Caulfield and the process of leaving childhood behind. 

When students begin their study of this novel, I focus on a few major themes that I can mirror in my modern selections. Dealing with a phony world, and navigating the end of childhood are two central ideas, but there’s also alienation and the general angst Holden feels.

Modern Pairings

There are many options for this novel. That’s one of the best reasons to still teach classics; we still use them as inspiration! Depending on your class culture, the skill level of your students, and their general interests, you have options to bring to the table. Like any read, remember to vet the content and make your best judgment as to what you will offer students. Here are a few of my favorites. 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 

I think Charlie Kelmeckis is one of the best characters to use as a modern example for Holden Caulfield. The Perks of Being a Wallflower circles around passivity and passion in the high school world.

There are many common themes between the two novels. Both are inner-musings of the main character, and both focus on the angsty teenage life of those who feel alienated.  

Kindness for Weakness by Shawn Goodman

How do people who care survive if your world believes that kindness is weakness? This novel follows a fifteen-year-old boy from an abusive home. He desperately seeks his older brother’s love and approval, leading him to push drugs and suffer the consequences. 

There are a few connections, the desire to feel belonging and not fitting in being central. Students might also discuss those things we desire (such as love, success, and belonging) that we struggle with understanding or obtaining. Holden, for example, says the only person to understand him is his sister. The young man in this novel similarly strives to have his brother’s approval. 

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez

Julia struggles with the “perfect Mexican daughter” role after her sister, the true perfect Mexican daughter, passes away tragically. Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away for college or even move from their parents’ home. As Julia tries to fill the gap her sister left behind, she copes with her own grief as well as her mother’s, as well as grappling with the reality that her sister might not have been as perfect as she seemed. 

In addition to a common theme about the adult or “real world” being disappointing and difficult to navigate, students may also notice similarities between Julia and Holden. Both are the “black sheep” of the family, dealing with becoming their own person as well as the backlash from family when they don’t fit the mold. 

Do you have favorite modern tellings for The Catcher in the Rye that your students love? What activities help solidify broader concepts and themes with your students? Share here or check out Facebook and Instagram for more ideas!

Do you take time to focus on teaching speaking and listening skills? A lot of lessons and activities often focus on literature, reading, spelling, and writing. Sometimes the speaking and listening skills get lumped into lessons, or we realize we’ve really been lax on the speaking skills the first time we have students give a presentation.

However, students need to have dedicated opportunities to practice speaking and listening. Read on for activities you can incorporate into your classroom.

6 Strategies for Teaching Speaking and Listening

Create Anchor Charts

Have a lesson on appropriate ways to have an academic discussion and conversation. Make sure students are also contributing to the list created with the anchor chart. This is also a good way to develop classroom culture, as everyone will be on the same page regarding conversation expectations.

You can have varying anchor charts to help in all parts of the discussion, such as paraphrasing what someone says for understanding, asking for a rephrasing, honoring revisions, building upon a previous statement, and asking for reasoning. You can do this by giving students sentence frames to refer to.

How to Teach Speaking and Listening: Teach Active Listening

First, I never assume students know the skills I want them to use. Even if they “should” know or were expected to glean the information in the previous year. It may not be a long, dedicated lesson, but it’s important to assess where students are at for all skills. This includes listening.

I like to have a discussion with students about listening, and what it looks like. This might be a bellringer where they come to write what shows you’re listening. Or I might have a student volunteer to show the class what a terrible listener looks like. Some of my outgoing students really love to ham it up.

Basically, I want my students to show me they know what active listening looks like. For me, that includes having their phones put away, making eye contact, asking follow-up questions, not interrupting, and being able to paraphrase what was said. We also might include mirror emotions, and not shifting conversations to whatever you want to talk about. It’s not just about teaching active listening for lectures and presentations, but for all types of conversation.

How to Teach Speaking and Listening: Teach Active Listening

Plan More Listening Activities

Rather than reading an article to introduce a topic to your students, listen to one. The more students practice listening, the better. Use sites like Listenwise.com and NPR to find audio that matches your content area. As students listen, they can take notes, make sketch notes, or just listen. In my classroom, I like to model listening twice. On the second listen, students will always pick up more information.

How to Teach Speaking and Listening: Teach Active Listening

Practice Disagreeing

Students are not always going to agree or see eye-to-eye, and that is essential for fostering healthy classroom discussions. I think it is important to teach students that they do not always have to agree, but they need to be respectful. Teaching students how to disagree with one another respectfully is important. One way to prepare for disagreements is to have a discussion early on and give students the proper etiquette for disagreeing in a conversation.

You also might consider having students practice with light-hearted topics. This way, students have already had practice disagreeing in conversation before they are heated or react emotionally to another topic. Create a list of topics like whether the toilet paper roll gets put over or under, if dogs or cats are better pets, crunchy vs. smooth peanut butter, etc. It can bring a lot of laughs and eases the tension of practicing disagreeing by removing the emotional drive that often can spring up when students are confronted with differing views.

How to Teach Speaking and Listening: Teach Active Listening

Set Student Goals

As a class or individually, give students clear direction on the particular skills they need to develop. If you notice your class has an issue with interrupting each other, create a hand signal or a reward for decreasing interruptions. Individual students might have speaking goals, such as decreasing their “fillers” when giving a presentation, or making more eye contact. Giving students one or two goals makes improvement more manageable.

How to Teach Speaking and Listening: Teach Active Listening

Play Listening Games

Keep activities light-hearted with games to practice listening. Don’t overthink it. Do a couple of rounds of Telephone. You can even purposefully create a scenario for students to practice some of those bad habits with listening and speaking. For example, tell students they need to mumble and see how much the phrase changes.

You can also do a following directions game where students work in pairs or small groups and have to give directions to build a small object or recreate a drawing. A really fun version of this is to have students write directions for a simple task like making a sandwich, and then you follow it exactly or make crazy assumptions that mess up the whole thing. It’s a great lesson on being clear in your expectations and explicit with your words.

One of my favorite speaking and listening activities to try is an escape room. I have a listening skills test prep escape room that is hands-on, engaging, and fun. It requires students to listen to an audio file and solve specific tasks relating to the audio file.

What have been your favorite activities for teaching speaking and listening skills? Do you have designated lessons you incorporate to help students strengthen their skills? Don’t forget to share your ideas and tips here in the comments!

Looking for fun and engaging end of novel activities for middle school and high school? I’ve got you covered! Continue reading to learn about five activities you can do at the end of a class novel! These culminating project ideas are sure to bring some creative thinking to your classroom!

Getting to the end of a novel is exciting. I love when all of our ideas and discussions come together. I feel like we can have “meaty” conversations and the students see there was a method to my madness. However, if you’re tired of passing out an end-of-novel exam or essays, consider one of those activities.

End of Novel Activities

Socratic Seminar

Facilitating a Socratic Seminar in the classroom is a great way to discuss, review, and analyze literature. Students partake in discussions and voice their own questions and opinions. Socratic Seminars can be used for any novel.

You can accommodate by breaking your class up into smaller group sizes, so if you have a large class or vastly differening abilities, you can create better opportunities for students to have open discussions.

This Socratic Seminar resource is great for teachers who are looking to assess a student’s understanding of literary analysis.

Comic Strip Analysis

A comic strip analysis activity for the end of a novel is not only a way to bring artistry to your classroom, but you also challenge students to think concisely. Students will need to know the text well enough to abbreviate for a comic strip.

I find this to be an excellent option for students to reflect on a novel. Don’t think this is just a few drawings. Have students include direct quotes from the novel as their dialogue, cite the information, focus on one aspect of literary analysis, etc. You can also help your students who may balk at a drawing requirement by having students use the computer to create graphics.

A fun way to bring this assignment into the 21st century is to assign students a digital comic strip by using Canva!

Podcast Chat

Instead of having a large group chat, put students together in groups of two or three for a podcast chat. Students who may have difficulty asserting themselves into the conversation may benefit from this small-group style project. Have students create a clever name and catchy introduction followed by the “meat” of the podcast.

Students can discuss key elements, be candid with their opinions, and include personal connections. You can also create a list of other discussion topics that you would like for them to include, such as author information, a relevant quiz or challenge, and connections to other literature, history, or current events.

You can broaden this activity by having students to listen to each other’s podcasts and respond with peer evaluations.

Collaborative Posters

The sky is really the limit with collaborative posts. At the end of a novel, you can select what type of posters you want students to complete. This is a great opportunity to focus on any elements you’d like students to work on, without dedicating specific study like an essay or quiz. For example, you may have students who need to work on their research skills. You can have students work on posters involving historical references, or author biography. You can also have students review literary analysis through collaborative posters as well.

When finished, give your students opportunity to participate in a gallery walk. It’s great if you’ve had students work on different tasks, such as analyzing symbols or discussing types of conflict. Students can use this opportunity to review and study for any potential end of novel test you may decide to complete, or it works as a standalone activity.

If you are looking for some inspiration, these short story review posters can be modified for novels.

Design Projects

Another creative idea is for students to create some type of design with the novel as their inspiration. Students might design a museum for historical novels, complete with relevant exhibits and writing tour information. A lighter novel might inspire a theme park.

Students can create “lands” for the park inspired by characters or major plot points. A novel with multiple settings might have a map created of the travels, or a brochure if it is a land unfamiliar to the students. This is an interesting activity to try if you’re looking for students to have a new take on using the information gleaned from novels.

There is certainly a need for students to work on writing, and I have given my fair share of tests before. But, I also love giving my students creative opportunities to share what they know. I also like keeping them on their toes, wondering what activity I have in store for them next.

Still Planning Your Novel Unit? Check out this resource!

Engage your students all year long with this Novel Activity Pack that includes 32 different activities you can use for any novel (it also works for short stories too)! This secondary ELA resource is filled with 32 novel activities that you can use before, during, and after reading any novel!

These novel activities are perfect for a class novel study, independent reading projects, lit circles, and more! This resource includes multiple teacher instruction pages to help you seamlessly integrate these novel activities in your classroom, and it is organized into four sections: pre-reading, while reading, differentiated writing tasks, and after reading.

Classic literature is classic for a reason. There are themes that resonate across generations and timeless characters. The trouble is, students hear those classic titles and freeze up at the prospect of reading something “so old”. Instead of fighting them on it, I have paired modern novels to some of those classic works to help bridge that gap. Read on to see my suggestions for modern pairings to Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

Classic Focus

Lord of the Flies tells the story of a group of young boys who become deserted on an island. Although they begin with creating rules and organization with no adult help, they eventually collapse into brutality.

When my students begin their study of this novel, I tend to focus on a few major themes that I can mirror in my modern selections. Civilization vs. lawlessness is one of the biggest ideas of the novel. It drives most of the instincts of the boys on the island. Loss of innocence is another biggie, as well as the dangers of mob mentalities, and if mankind is inherently evil.

This novel is also considered an allegory, meaning the characters and objects are symbolic in and of themselves. I think that actually helps my students track themes, because they can easily recognize the characters and their roles as themes develop.

 
When I teach this novel, I use this 5-week Lord of the Flies Unit and I also try to gamify the unit for more excitement.

Modern Pairings

There are many options for this novel. That’s one of the best reasons to still teach classics, we still use them as inspiration! Depending on your class culture, the skill level of your students, and their general interests, you have options to bring to the table. Here are a few of my favorites.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Some people might think this is an overdone and overused example. Students who struggle with making connections to text may benefit from reading a novel after having seen a film, reading something they already know, etc.

Katniss Everdeen makes a heroic decision to take her sister’s place in the deadly Hunger Games. Survival is in her nature, but she must truly fight to the death and make smart decisions if she will beat the odds.

This is an interesting pairing when you compare the idea of civilization and savagery in particular. Especially since the nation of Panem is considered a “civilization” with a ruthless and horrible tradition, and the boys in Lord of the Flies were considered uncivilized when presented with no form of government or rules.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

A very interesting parallel to not only Lord of the Flies but also to the recent pandemic. Hetty has been living in her quarantined island school for girls for eighteen months. Teachers died one by one from a horrible virus. Students were then infected. The girls live cut off from the world, fending for themselves, and waiting for a cure they were promised.

This is an interesting option for students to discuss various forms of loss of innocence, not only as a gender-bender version of Lord of the Flies, but also as an opportunity to discuss loss of innocence during our recent quarantines. Students can benefit from discussing their own life events as a connection point to the novel, and solidify some of these key themes.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

A ravaged, barren landscape stretches forth as a father and son walk alone towards the coast. McCarthy writes about a hopeless world where the two main characters only have each other. It’s a torrid tale of humanity’s propensity for evil, which pairs well with Lord of the Flies. It can be quite dark in some places, but mature readers may enjoy the opportunity to read something with more macabre.

In spite of these darker scenes, or maybe because of, The Road is a great read with Lord of the Flies. Students can compare the darker tones of humanity when civilization is taken away. Students can also compare character’s struggles and perseverance.

Do you have favorite modern tellings for Lord of the Flies that your students love? What activities help solidify broader concepts and themes with your students? Share here or check out Facebook and Instagram for more ideas!

Even though most secondary ELA students have a plethora of English classes to choose from, at some point or another they probably are reading “classic” literature. And while I love that students can choose to take courses such as Contemporary English or Creative Writing, I still want them to see the power and timelessness of those classic works. Check out some of these tips for teaching these classics to modern readers.

1. Make it fast and friendly

We live in a high-speed world. Sometimes I am more concerned with students getting the “gist” of a work rather than reading the entirety of a novel. No matter what I do, some students are just not going to find Victorian-era literature tantalizing. Instead, we might read passages and discuss connotations, or try to mimic writing style, or I’ll have them search for examples that make the novel fit into its genre. Think about what you want students to get out of the experience of reading the novel, play, or collection, and decide if it would be better suited as a “highlight” study.

2. Pair with what they know

There are many classic pieces of literature that pair well with modern works. Especially if you read some of those “timeless” classics like Romeo and Juliet or Frankenstein. We have many options we can pair together. Look for modern tales with similar themes. You don’t have to strictly find adaptations of the same work (though there are plenty of options available). You can have interesting conversations with students about what makes themes timeless, how a theme or moral may change across generations, or what makes a work outdated.

3. Assess through conversation

Speaking of conversations, consider nixing assessments via quizzes and tests. While writing skills is certainly important, so is the ability to have a conversation. Take classic literature study as an opportunity to introduce Socratic Seminars so that you can focus on conversation-based assessments. You may also try Literature Circles (try these Task Cards for quick assessment options) so students can either work in small groups to complete the work or select their own preference when reading literature.

4. Use what they know

Students today are socially saturated with visual components. Just take a look at social media platforms. Pictures and videos prevail. Lean into the culture (within reason). Shakespearean works, for example, are full of scandal, sordid mockery of the times, and universal themes. Students can create “social media” accounts for characters, following the story and summarizing its parts through “posts”. You may also try having students write TMZ-style tell-alls with newspaper articles and gossip columns.

5. Let them recast the classics

Maybe students just aren’t connecting how you would hope. Instead, try letting them revamp the classics to something that would catch their attention. What modern telling of Animal Farm would they connect with more? If Oliver Twist doesn’t seem relevant, what if they retold it from the perspective of a child in foster care? Moby Dick can be a retelling of a ruthless CEO stopping at nothing to improve his business. Let creativity shine and let students tell you what makes a literary work valuable to them.

If you’re searching to connect students to the classics, let me know if any of these ideas worked in your classroom. Or, comment below with lessons and activities you found successful in bridging the gap between classic literature and modern readers.