The final stretch before winter break is always a unique season in the ELA classroom. Students are buzzing with anticipation, schedules get interrupted by assemblies and spirit days, and we teachers are doing our best to keep learning meaningful without burning out. These last two weeks don’t have to feel like a slog or a free-for-all. With the right activities, you can keep your students engaged, creative, and focused while still protecting your own sanity.

Here are five engaging, high-impact ELA activities, perfect for Grades 7–10, that will carry you smoothly into winter break while still hitting essential skills.

1. Make Poetry Fun with Blackout Poetry

Blackout poetry is one of my favorite pre-break activities because it is quiet, creative, and naturally differentiated. Even your most reluctant writers get excited when you hand out book pages and markers. Blackout poetry taps into analysis, theme, diction, and connotation, but students feel like they’re creating art.

If you want an easy, ready-to-go option, my Blackout Poetry Lesson & Unit includes editable templates, modeled analysis, poetry writing scaffolds, and options for both print and digital instruction. Many teachers use it as a two-day mini-unit or as a calming activity after a test or assembly.

Why it works in December:

• Creative and artsy (a win for restless students)
• Minimal teacher prep
• Meaningful literary analysis disguised as a fun project

2. Build a Literary Theme Park (Yes, Really!)

If you’re looking for a collaborative, high-energy project that channels student excitement productively, you will love the Literary Theme Park Project. Students choose a novel or short story and transform key literary elements, theme, conflict, characterization, and symbolism into rides, restaurants, shows, and attractions.

This project naturally encourages deeper textual analysis because students must justify each design decision with textual evidence. It’s creativity with an academic purpose.

You can run this project over 3–5 class periods, and it is AMAZING for classes that need something hands-on and imaginative right before break.

Why it works in December:

• High student buy-in
• Encourages movement, collaboration, and creativity
• Requires in-depth textual understanding (but feels like play!)

3. Survive the Snowstorm: Escape the Yeti!

When your students are extra wiggly or your classes feel extra long, an escape room is the perfect way to keep the energy up and review essential skills. My Winter ELA Escape Room: Escape the Yeti is a collaborative challenge where students work together to solve puzzles, answer ELA questions, and ultimately avoid becoming the Yeti’s next snack.

This activity reviews grammar, reading comprehension, figurative language, writing skills, and more, without feeling like a traditional worksheet. You can complete it in one or two days, and because students work in small groups, you can circulate and support rather than lead the whole time.

Why it works in December:

• Students move, collaborate, and problem-solve
• Perfect for shortened periods or block days
• Built-in review before benchmark assessments

4. A Thoughtful Winter Classic: The Gift of the Magi Close Read

If you still need to squeeze in a meaningful literary analysis lesson before break, The Gift of the Magi is perfect. It’s short, accessible, and thematically rich. This short story is ideal for teaching irony, symbolism, theme, and character motivation.

A structured close-reading assignment helps students dig deeper into O. Henry’s craft without overwhelming them. My Gift of the Magi Close Read includes text-dependent questions, scaffolded analysis tasks, and both print and digital options, making it easy to use with any schedule.

Why it works in December:

• Short text + high-level literary analysis
• Seasonal without feeling cheesy
• Easy to complete in 1–2 class periods

5. Review Literary Elements with an Escape Room

If you want something academically focused but still student-approved, a classic Literary Elements Escape Room is an ideal option. Students work together to solve puzzles tied to conflict, plot, characterization, theme, setting, symbolism, and more. Because literary elements spiral throughout the year, this is a perfect mid-year comprehension check.

It’s high-energy but easy for you to manage. The students drive the activity, and you facilitate.

Why it works in December:

• Engaging review without extra grading
• Ready-to-go print or digital options
• Strengthens foundational literary analysis skills

Final Tips for the Home Stretch

Even with the best activities, these last two weeks can be a lot. Here are a few reminders as you head toward winter break:

• Give yourself permission to keep things simple.
  Not every lesson needs to be a masterpiece right now, and that’s okay.
• Lean into creativity and collaboration.
  Students are more engaged when they’re building, solving, designing, or creating.
• Choose activities that feel fun for YOU, too.
  If you’re excited to teach it, your students will be excited to learn it.

You deserve a peaceful, joyful countdown to winter break. If you try one of these activities, I’d love to hear how it goes. Tag me on Instagram @thedaringenglishteacher!

Helping students build resilience, confidence, and self-awareness is just as important as teaching academic content. That’s why incorporating growth mindset and SEL activities and social-emotional learning (SEL) lessons into your classroom can be a game-changer. If you’ve been looking for ready-to-use resources that encourage students to reflect on their learning, embrace challenges, and develop healthier attitudes toward mistakes, my Growth Mindset and SEL Activities for the Secondary Classroom resource is designed just for you.

Why Growth Mindset Matters in Secondary Education

As middle and high school teachers know, the teen years is a time when students often doubt their abilities. Many believe that intelligence and talent are fixed traits rather than skills that can grow with effort. Teaching students about the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset empowers them to see mistakes as opportunities for growth rather than setbacks.

Pairing this with social-emotional learning (SEL)—skills like self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship building, and responsible decision-making—helps students thrive not only academically but also personally. For ideas on how to incorporate a growth mindset in your classroom, check out this blog post: 5 Ways to Incorporate a Growth Mindset in the Classroom.

What’s Included in This Resource:

This comprehensive packet includes over 60 pages of activities, handouts, and reflections you can use all year long. Some highlights include:

• Student Self-Assessments and Surveys: Tools that help students reflect on their mindset, strengths, and goals.
• Fixed vs. Growth Mindset Handouts: Clear visuals and explanations to help students understand the difference.
• Exit Tickets & Reflection Sheets: Perfect for formative assessment and daily mindset check-ins.
• Redo Slips: Encouraging students to revise work with purpose instead of seeing mistakes as failure.
• Vocabulary and Coloring Activities: Engaging ways to introduce growth mindset and SEL terms while promoting mindfulness.
• Mindfulness & Gratitude Activities: Including the Emotion Wheel, Gratitude Jar, and mindfulness drawing.
• Collaborative Projects: Such as a classroom quilt or poster project that builds community while reinforcing SEL skills.
• Narrative Essay Assignment with Rubric: A deeper writing activity that allows students to reflect on growth, resilience, and perseverance.

Every activity is created with secondary students in mind—age-appropriate, reflective, and designed to spark meaningful classroom conversations.

How to Use These Growth Mindset and SEL Activities in Your Classroom

These growth mindset and SEL activities are flexible and can be used throughout the year. Teachers have used them:

• As back-to-school icebreakers to set a positive tone.
• For Mindful Mondays or weekly SEL check-ins.
• After major assessments or projects to encourage student reflection.
• During end-of-unit reflections to track growth over time.
• As decorative classroom projects like the Growth Mindset Quilt to create a positive learning environment.

Add these Growth Mindset and SEL Activities to your Classroom Today!

Create and embrace a growth mindset in your secondary classroom with these engaging growth mindset and SEL classroom resources and activities. These growth mindset activities were created especially for middle school and high school students, and they can be used all year long to reinforce a growth mindset in the classroom.

Introduce your students to a growth mindset with the growth mindset student survey and reflection activity. From there, have your students complete an assortment of the included growth mindset activities. Throughout the school year, use the growth mindset resources like the assignment reflections and exit tickets to reinforce a growth mindset.

You can purchase these growth mindset and SEL activities here!

Teachers like you said…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Angela Watson says, “Fantastic resource! This is the best growth mindset product I’ve seen for the secondary level, and I’ve done a LOT of searching. Thanks for a great product that will make a huge difference in students’ motivation and engagement!.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jenny V. says, “Teaching students about growth mindset is really essential. Even high achieving students can stumble, and they can be perfectionists. Understanding that mistakes are a learning opportunity is important. These activities really demonstrate that well- like think alouds.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Nicole T. says, “My students loved these! This was a way for them to look at their day and be able to change their own negative thinking into positive thoughts. This activity has really allowed my students to become more open in class and hold not only themselves but each other accountable for how they present themselves around school.”

If you are looking for a beginning-of-the-year lesson for your high school English classroom, I’ve got just the idea for you! At the start of this school year, I had my honors sophomores read a short story and respond to a writing prompt (without discussing the story or having any formal writing instruction for the year) to attain a baseline writing assessment.

In addition to establishing a baseline for my students’ abilities, I also plan on holding onto their work until the end of the school year. Toward the end of the year, I’ll pass back their work so the students can see just how much their writing has grown in our classroom.

Before, during, and after this activity, I reassured my students that this was a baseline. I told them that I was scoring their writing, but that it wouldn’t appear in the gradebook. I reaffirmed to them that we would revisit and review the story, go over some writing strategies, and have an opportunity to revise the paragraphs. I wanted to help my students avoid excessive worry and stress about their first writing assignment of the new school year.

My First Academic Activity in High School English: A Baseline Writing Assessment

To start with, I had my students read Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” I printed the story on a single page of paper (double-sided) and found an audio version of the story for my students to listen to as they followed along with the text. Before reading, we also went over when the story was published because knowing when a story was written helps gain a better understanding of it.

I instructed my students to have a piece of lined paper out as they read, and I paused the story twice for students to jot down any thoughts they had. The only guidance I gave them was to write down characters, significant events, and thoughts and feelings. However, when I paused the story for a second time, I also asked them to write down any changes or shifts they noticed.

Once we were done with the story, I could tell that some students understood the ironic ending and some didn’t. I assured the students that we would discuss the story later, but for now, I wanted them to respond to the prompt without discussing the story. Since these are honors sophomore students who are on track for AP Lang and AP Lit, this helped show them what they will encounter in the future.

Once we were done, I presented students with this writing prompt: How does Kate Chopin’s use of irony in the ending of “The Story of an Hour” contribute to the development of a central theme in the story? Use specific evidence from the text to support your analysis.

I provided my students with about 30 minutes of class time to write their response using only the guidance on the slide. Many students finished their responses, while a few did not.

I collected their work regardless, and I scored their paragraphs on a modified version of the AP Lit FRQ2 rubric.

The In-Class Revision Process: Improving the Baseline Writing

After scoring all of their paragraphs, I planned a day to return the work, review the story, explain the rubric, and go over some fundamental writing instruction.

First, I reviewed the story with the class, and I had students share their examples of irony they found in the story. (During a previous day, I had the students work together in small groups to develop a working theme for the story.)

Then, I reviewed the rubric with students. I also explained how a 3/6 isn’t a bad score. Overall, I had several 3/6 scores, but most were a 1/6 or 2/6. Again, I used this as an opportunity to reassure my students that this is the beginning of the year and we are establishing a baseline.

Then, I went over two essential elements: how to write a thesis statement and how to embed evidence. These were mini-lessons with just verbal instruction and sentence frames, but they provided a good starting point for students to begin improving their writing. I also provided them with several sentence frames to choose from for the thesis statement and embedding evidence.

Thesis Statement Sentence Frames:

• Kate Chopin’s use of ____ at the end of “The Story of an Hour” reveals the theme ______.
• Through the _______ ending, Chopin emphasizes how _________, which supports the theme of __________.
• ________ serves as ironic commentary that reinforces the theme of __________________.
• Chopin uses _______ in the final line to _____________, suggesting that __________________.
• By ending the story with ___________, Chopin develops the theme that ________________.

Embedding Evidence and Analysis Sentence Frames:

• This idea is shown when ______________, revealing _________________.
• Chopin emphasizes this theme through the line, “_____,” which shows _____________.
• The irony is clear (in/when) ___________________, contrasting _________________.
• Chopin’s use of the phrase “___” highlights _______________________.

After collecting the paragraphs, I quickly reviewed the students’ starting point and their revised writing. Immediately, I noticed a massive difference in their writing. Primarily, almost every student had a solid thesis statement in their revised paragraph. Furthermore, I also noticed that students had a better understanding of the story, and many students used two pieces of evidence from the story compared to just one.

If you are reading this blog post thinking, “Wow! This is just the kind of writing instruction I need for my class,” I invite you to check out this affiliate link to my book, “Building Strong Writers.” In my English teacher PD book, I break down even more writing strategies to help you help your students become strong, confident writers.

Moving Forward with Meaningful Writing Instruction

In moving forward this school year, I plan to build off of this activity to help my students grow into strong writers. For the upcoming writing assignments, I will do the following to make sure students are ready to respond academically to a prompt:

• Review the story
• Conduct group brainstorming and discussion in class
• Break down the prompt with students
• Ensure students know what elements are needed for their thesis statement
• Provide students with thesis statement sentence frames
• Provide students with evidence and analysis sentence frames

As we progress through the year, I will slowly remove some of the scaffolds. In particular, I plan to remove all of the thesis statement sentence frames by the end of the first quarter. However, this is for an honors-level class. For a general ed class, I would keep the thesis statement sentence frames for the entire first semester.

I will also go into more in-depth writing lessons that will benefit my students and help them grow as writers. In particular, I will teach them the four lessons in my Writing Spotlight Lesson Series.

• Writing About Quotes
• Writing in the Present Tense
• Writing in the Literary Present
• Using Ellipses and Brackets

Each of these lessons provides students with focused writing instruction to improve a particular aspect of writing. Once students complete the entire lesson series and synthesize the knowledge gained from all four lessons, their literary analysis writing improves tremendously.

For additional writing instruction, in particular, for on-level and below-level students, be sure to check out this blog post about teaching students essay writing.

Interested in reading more? Check out these additional blog posts for more ideas!

• 5 Tips for Teaching Thesis Statement Writing: Teaching How to Write a Thesis Statement

• Teaching Figurative Language: 5 Engaging Ways to Teach Figurative Language

• 5 tips for teaching vocabulary in secondary ELA

As ELA teachers, we’re always looking for fresh ways to help students dive deeper into literature, especially with ways that go beyond the standard five-paragraph essay or chapter quiz. That’s exactly why I created my Theme Park Literary Analysis Project. This is a creative, engaging, and rigorous assessment that invites students to interact with literature in a totally new way.

This project has quickly become one of my favorite go-to final assessments for novels, plays, and even short stories. Whenever I finish a novel, I usually assign two major summative assessments: a standard novel test and a fun, collaborative project. Together, these two forms of assessment help me see what my students know. And this literary analysis amusement park project fits the bill for an engaging, collaborative, summative project!

What Is the Theme Park Literary Analysis Project?

In this project-based assignment, students work in small collaborative groups to design an amusement park based entirely on a piece of literature. Yes, a theme park! They will be having so much fun as the brainstorm and plan for this project that they won’t even realize they are learning and showing their understanding!

Each group creates an entire literary theme park from the ground up: they name the park, create a park logo, design themed lands based on the story’s settings and conflicts, create rides and attractions inspired by major plot points, develop character meet-and-greet experiences, and even design food and souvenir items that represent key symbols or motifs in the text.

Students then create a park map, which is something they will absolutely love, and “pitch” their park to a group of potential investors (you, the teacher and their fellow classmates!) in a short, persuasive digital presentation.

It’s a perfect blend of literary analysis, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. Your students will actually be excited to do it.

Why This Novel Project Works

Here’s the magic: students engage deeply with theme, symbolism, characterization, conflict, and setting, which are all of the essential literary elements we want them to analyze. However, they’re doing it in a way that feels more like design thinking than test prep.

And because the project includes both overview and in-depth planning pages (and a completely editable student assignment page), you can easily differentiate how you. You can assign only the core components, or let students go all in and complete every detailed page. The resource is flexible and adaptable for grades 7–10, but also comprehensive enough to use in honors, AP Lit, and IB classes as a creative companion to deeper analysis.

Even better? This project gets students off screens. It encourages real collaboration and face-to-face interaction. That’s right! Students can complete all of the initial planning and brainstorming without any technology so you know the students are the ones doing the work!

Built-In Literary Analysis (That Doesn’t Feel Like Work)

One of the most powerful parts of this project is that students are constantly referencing the text. Every single element from the roller coasters to the souvenir stands must be based in textual evidence and include clear connections to the story. This helps you see just how much your students understand the text!

For example:

• A spooky, dark ride might symbolize the protagonist’s internal conflict.
• A food stand might serve items that reflect a key motif from the story.
• Themed lands might represent major settings or contrasting worldviews in the book.

Students have to justify their creative decisions with analysis, pulling quotes, paraphrasing events, and explaining the deeper meaning. It’s literary interpretation in disguise. It’s not just a fun, cutesy project. It is based in the standards and rooted in rigor!

Use It for Lit Circles, Too!

This project is also an excellent choice for literature circles. After students finish their group novels, have them complete this project together to synthesize their understanding. You’ll see thoughtful conversation, organic collaboration, and some incredible creativity.

What’s Included

The Theme Park Literary Analysis Project includes:

• A teacher guide and student assignment sheet
• Pages for brainstorming and planning park features
• Detailed templates for themed lands, rides, characters, and more
• A rubric for grading
• A digital version for Google Docs
• Optional extension ideas (think brochures, dioramas, gallery walks!)

Let Your Students Take the Lead

One of the things I love most about this project is that it puts students in charge of their learning while also reinforcing college and career readiness skills. They’re not just answering questions or responding to prompts; they’re building something meaningful from the ground up. Plus, they’ll have to put together a proposal and a pitch and present their theme parks to the class! What a fun day of group presentations!

So if you’re looking for a fresh, fun, and standards-aligned way to assess literary understanding, I highly recommend giving this project a try. You’ll be amazed at what your students create. Also, if you are looking for more creative projects, check out this literary analysis square project!

We’ve all been there—the class period feels sluggish, students are zoning out, and your perfectly planned lesson just isn’t landing the way you hoped. Whether it’s the day after a long weekend or just a typical Tuesday, every teacher needs a few go-to strategies to energize classroom lessons and increase student engagement fast.

Teachers often find themselves searching for new techniques to invigorate their lessons. To truly captivate students, educators must adapt their teaching styles to accommodate varying energy levels and learning preferences. This post will explore effective strategies to energize lessons, ensuring that each student feels engaged and valued.

The good news? You don’t need to start from scratch or overhaul your curriculum to boost student engagement. These three classroom engagement strategies are easy to implement, adaptable for any subject, and perfect for middle school ELA and high school English classrooms.

By integrating these strategies, educators can create a vibrant learning atmosphere that propels student participation and enthusiasm. Engaging students requires creativity and a willingness to experiment with new ideas and methods. In the following sections, we will delve into specific techniques that can breathe new life into your classroom.

1. Add Sticky Notes for Increased Engagement and Literary Analysis

One of the fastest ways to spark energy in the classroom is with sticky note activities. Something about handing students a stack of colorful sticky notes makes the lesson feel hands-on, collaborative, and just a little more fun. Plus, it’s an excellent tool for interactive ELA activities.

Sticky notes serve as an engaging medium for students to express their thoughts and opinions as they work through complex texts. When students are able to physically interact with the material, it fosters a deeper understanding and connection to the content.

In my classroom, I love using sticky notes to boost literary analysis skills. Whenever I hand out the sticky notes, I immediately see a boost in student engagement. Students can annotate text, track character development, or analyze themes—all while interacting with the text and each other.

For instance, after reading a passage, students can jot down their thoughts or questions on sticky notes and place them in relevant sections of the text. This visual representation of their ideas allows for a collaborative discussion, fostering a sense of community and shared learning.

📌 Ready to try it? These sticky note literary activities are perfect for getting started with this engaging method:

• Literary Analysis with Sticky Notes – Short Story Unit
• To Kill a Mockingbird Sticky Note Literary Analysis Activity

Looking for more about teaching literary analysis? Check out this blog post: Teaching Literary Analysis: Improve Your Student’s Literary Analysis with the OPTIC Strategy and Art

2. Use Station-Based Activities to Energize Classwork

If your students are dragging their feet through independent work time, station-based activities can completely transform the learning environment. Rotating through stations adds movement, breaks big tasks into manageable chunks, increases student engagement, and promotes collaboration—three things that naturally boost student engagement.

Whether you’re teaching writing skills, starting the school year, or reviewing content, station-based learning is a flexible, high-engagement option. These work especially well in middle and high school ELA classrooms where routines and student ownership matter.

I love using stations at the beginning of the school year, for peer editing during my essay writing unit, and with literary analysis activities.

💡 Try these easy-to-use station activities to liven up your classroom:

• Back-to-School Stations – First Day and First Week of School Activities
• Peer Editing Stations – Revision and Editing Checklists

3. Use Bell Ringers to Increase Daily Engagement

If you’re not using bell ringers yet, you’re missing one of the simplest and most powerful ways to boost classroom engagement. Bell ringers create a consistent routine that signals “it’s time to learn” from the moment students walk in the door. They also provide meaningful, skill-based practice that sets the tone for the rest of the class.

I love using bell ringers for daily writing, grammar review, and growth mindset journaling. They’re short, effective, and require minimal prep—perfect for busy secondary ELA teachers looking to keep students focused from the first five minutes.

🔔 Add structure and energy to your daily routine with these engaging bell ringer sets:

• Sentence Combining Bell Ringers – Daily Writing for the Year
• Growth Mindset Bell Ringers – 60 Writing Prompts & Journal Activities

Whether you’re teaching literary analysis, launching your first week of school, or trying to refocus a restless class, these quick and effective strategies can help energize your classroom and keep students engaged all year long.

By adding sticky note activities, rotating through classwork stations, and starting strong with purposeful bell ringers, you’ll create a dynamic and student-centered learning environment your students will actually look forward to.

At the start of a new school year (and quite frankly, all year long, too) one of my top priorities is building a strong, supportive classroom community. As teachers, we often teach a wide range of students with diverse backgrounds, interests, and personalities. One of the easiest and most effective ways to build connection, spark conversation, and help students feel comfortable in our classrooms is by engaging them in friendly, low-stakes discussions. For this task, I use “Would You Rather” slides in the beginning of the school year and for fun Friday attendance questions.

Whether you’re looking for an engaging bell ringer, a brain break, or a community-building activity, these Would You Rather slides are the perfect addition to your classroom routine!

Building Classroom Community: Why “Would You Rather” Questions Work

“Would You Rather” questions are quick, low-prep, and incredibly engaging. Because they come in both Google Slides and Canva presentation formats, they are versatile and easy to use! They encourage students to make choices, share opinions, and listen to others—all essential components of a collaborative classroom.

Even the most reluctant students often can’t resist picking a side when the options are things like, “Would you rather discover a new underwater species or discover a new planet?”

These kinds of fun and engaging creative prompts give students a chance to share their thinking, hear from their classmates, and find common ground with classmates they may not otherwise interact with.

And as we know, when students feel safe, seen, and connected, they’re far more likely to participate, take academic risks, and grow when the material becomes more challenging.

Would You Rather Attendance Questions

To make this classroom discussion and community building strategy even more seamless, I created a ready-to-go “Would You Rather” resource that’s perfect for back-to-school and for the entire school year.

This Would You Rather classroom resource includes 50 student-friendly Would You Rather questions designed specifically with secondary students in mind.

✅ Age-appropriate
✅ No prep required
✅ Perfect for middle and high school
✅ Great for whole class, small groups, or even writing prompts

Use them during the first week of school, as a Friday bell ringer, or when your class needs a quick reset.

Building Classroom Community: How I Use Them in My ELA Classroom

There are so many different ways to use this resource in your classroom. I like to use one every Friday as a fun Friday attendance question. I also like to share a couple of slides whenever I switch the seating around in my classroom so that my students can get to know each other and become more comfortable in their new groups.

Here is how you can use these slides in your classroom:

• Bell Ringer Activity: As students walk in, I project a “Would You Rather” question on the board. It sets a positive, low-stress tone for the class and gives students something fun to talk about with their table groups.
• Class Discussion Practice: I’ll have students move to one side of the room or the other based on their choice. Then, I’ll invite a few students to explain their reasoning. It’s a low-stakes way to build speaking and listening skills.
• Writing Prompts: I sometimes take it a step further and have students write a short paragraph defending their choice. It’s a fun and creative way to sneak in some argument writing practice.

Building Classroom Community One Question at a Time

The truth is, building a positive classroom culture doesn’t always require elaborate lessons or detailed activities. Sometimes, it’s the simple routines—like taking two minutes share and discuss quirky and silly answers to questions that have nothing to do with the class content.

By using “Would You Rather” questions consistently, you’ll help students bond, learn about one another, and feel like they belong. And when students feel like they belong, they’re more likely to engage in meaningful learning.

So if you’re looking for an easy, effective, and engaging way to build community in your classroom, try adding “Would You Rather” slides to your weekly routine. And if you want to save time, grab my ready-made resource here. It’s one small change that can make a big difference.

You can also grab this Classroom Community Bundle that contains four sets of community-building attendance questions to last you the entire school year! This bundle also includes thoughtful this or that questions. Also, if you are looking for more back-to-school activities for your secondary ELA classroom, check out this blog post: 15 Back-to-School Activities for Secondary ELA.

In today’s era of the increasingly more prominent AI-generated student essay, teaching students how to write is more challenging than ever! And while AI will most certainly be an integral part of Gen-Z and Generation Alpha’s educational and professional careers, middle school and high school teachers across the globe are finding new ways to teach writing to ensure that students have the necessary skills for effective communication and critical thinking.

One way that I’ve adjusted my instruction because of AI is by focusing on more in-class writing either with paper and pencil or a lockdown browser. You can read more about how I address AI in this blog post. However, simply assigning writing is not enough to make sure our students are learning how to improve their writing skills –they also need explicit writing instruction and a variety of practice activities to help them practice their writing. That is where the in-class collaborative essay comes in! This post contains affiliate links.

Recently, I assigned my students an in-class collaborative essay on paper. While I’ve facilitated collaborative paragraphs and essays before, I needed to adapt my instructional strategies this time to do my best to AI-proof the activity. In retrospect, this was a highly effective activity, and I feel my students did well and improved in their writing abilities. If you find this strategy helpful, be sure to check out my secondary ELA teacher professional development book: Building Strong Writers: Strategies and Scaffolds for Teaching Writing in Secondary ELA.

Teaching Writing: Why Assign a Collaborative Essay

Assigning a collaborative essay in the middle school ELA and high school English classroom is a highly effective assignment that provides students with real-time opportunities for brainstorming, organizing, and drafting an essay. In their peer groups, students work together to organize their thoughts and ideas and form the sentences that will eventually comprise their essays.

By working in a group to do this, students actively participate in the writing process while also making small, self-edits to improve their writing as they go. Collaborative writing is also beneficial for students because it provides them with the opportunity to observe the thought process and writing process of their peers.

Teaching Writing: How to Set up a Collaborative Essay

In the past, I’ve had students work collaboratively in a shared Google Doc for their writing before. And while that was a great way to facilitate collaborative essays in the past, with today’s temptation of a done-for-you essay generated by AI is just too much for students. I cannot even tell you how many times I walk around my classroom and see ChatGPT open on my students’ Chromebooks. I wanted to completely eliminate the temptation, so I went with an all paper approach.

For this essay prompt, I had my students write a four paragraph essay: introduction, body paragraph 1, body paragraph 2, and conclusion. For each paragraph, I had them write on a separate piece of paper to maximize in-class productivity and engagement. If a group was sharing just one or two pieces of paper, more students would be observers rather than active participants.

I had students choose their own groups for this assignment, and I had them form groups of four. I instructed them to all work together on the introduction and thesis statement. They were to start there before moving on. This step was absolutely vital for the brainstorming and outlining portion of the essay: the student groups could not begin the body paragraphs until they had a solid thesis statement to guide them.

From there, I instructed the group of four to break up into partners. Each pair of partners within the group was tasked with writing one body paragraph together, and they had to organize their body paragraphs to align with the same order as the thesis statement.

As students wrapped up their body paragraphs, they wrote a quick conclusion restating the thesis statement and commenting on the passage’s impact on the audience. I only gave students one class period to do this. However, we prepped for a bit the day before to help speed up the process.

Since I didn’t have perfect groups of four students, some groups chose to work on groups of three. For those groups, one student worked on a body paragraph independently, and I instructed the groups to have the independent writer to choose the body paragraph they wanted to write. Generally, I noticed my stronger writers took on this role.

To help students understand the process, I also illustrated what the collaborative essay would look like on the whiteboard.

Teaching Writing: Strategies to Use for a Collaborative Essay

In addition to having the students work on the essay collaboratively, I also provided each group of students with a paper that had the prompt (since they didn’t have Chromebooks open and their phones were stored away at the front of the classroom in this cell phone holder). On the paper with the prompt, I also provided students with several sentence frames to use that loosely matched prompt.

The provided sentence frames were written in both the third person and in the literary present. In the days leading up to this activity, I also provided my students with direct instruction where I showed them color-coded versions of these sentence frames to emphasize the third person and literary present.

This is where backward planning comes into play. I knew where I was going with the final writing assignment, and I designed my instruction around that. In regard to how I graded this essay, it was all class participation where students received points for completing the process. I ultimately graded an individual essay after this process.

Back to setting up my strategies, at the beginning of class as I reviewed the sentence frames with students, we also discussed additional strong verbs students could use in their essays. They then wrote their essays as I circled throughout the room offering individualized feedback and instruction. My students stapled their papers and turned in their essays at the end of our 55-ish minute class.

Teaching Writing: Using Peer Review with a Collaborative Essay

After this process, I didn’t just want to stop here. On one of the following days, I had students complete a peer review activity where they returned to their original groups. For students who were absent on the writing day, I had them join existing groups. I distributed the essays to a new group, and I also gave them a copy of the rubric.

I instructed students to not only grade the essay on the rubric, but to also provide bullet-point explanations as to why they assigned the score that they did. I also instructed the students to mark up the essays with different ways to improve the writing. I wasn’t so much concerned with spelling and grammar, but I wanted them to focus on how to improve the content of the essay.

After the student groups worked with the essays for about 20 minutes, student groups then returned the essays to their original owners. At that time, my student groups then reviewed the feedback from their peers. And let me tell you, they are much harsher critics on themselves and each other than I am on them! It always seems to be that way, but that is okay because when students look at other papers with a critical eye, they in turn become more aware of their own writing!

Teaching Writing: Incorporating the Collaborative Essay in a Writing Unit

While collaborative essay writing might seem like a great idea because there is less to grade, the benefits extend far beyond that! After collecting the peer-reviewed essays, I then graded the essays on the rubric and also provided on-paper comments. Usually, I have 35 students per class, so this is too much to do for every essay, but since there were fewer papers, I was able to provide this level of detailed feedback to my students.

My students then applied these layers of feedback to their own writing for the final writing assessment of the unit. Again, this is where backward planning is so keen. I planned this whole collaborative essay with the final essay in mind. Both prompts were similar, and each prompt required students to demonstrate similar skills. For their individual essay (which was also in-class and only during one class period), students could either write a four-paragraph essay or a three-paragraph essay. I emphasized that I would rather have them write an essay with one body paragraph that was stronger and went into more analysis rather then an essay with two body paragraphs that were more surface level.

The Collaborative Essay Writing Details

I facilitated this activity in an honors sophomore English class during our Night unit. This was the class’ first experience with rhetorical analysis, and in particular, working with the AP Language FRQ2 rubric. And while I completed this activity with an honors-level sophomore class, I’ve also done with with general English students as well! You can read more about my collaborative paragraph poster activity in this blog post.

Prompt: In chapters 3-4, Elie discusses the inhumanity of the concentration camps. Write an essay that analyzes the effectiveness of Wiesel’s use of rhetorical strategies to describe the inhumane conditions that contribute to the message of these chapters. You can focus on tone, diction, imagery, repetition, parallelism, anaphora, syntax, or another rhetorical strategy.

Students chose one rhetorical strategy for the first body paragraph and chose another for the second body paragraph.

Resources for Teaching Essay Writing

Essay Writing Teaching Unit – Teach your students how to write an essay! This comprehensive essay writing bundle includes teaching resources and lessons for every part of an essay. Plus, it includes digital resources!

Essay Writing Skills Unit – Help your students improve their writing by focusing on one specific aspect of writing at a time. These Writing Spotlight Mini-Units help students improve their writing by focusing on specific skills to enhance writing!

Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night is a powerful and harrowing account of his experiences during the Holocaust. As a high school English teacher, I teach this book at the sophomore level, so my students are roughly the same age as Elie in his memoir. If you are teaching Night this year, keep reading to learn about two powerful activities to incorporate into your unit!

Teaching Night in a high school English classroom provides an opportunity to explore themes of identity, dehumanization, morality, and the consequences of hatred. However, it is also crucial to provide students with historical context to help students can understand not only the longstanding antisemitism in Europe, but also the breakdown of Germany’s government, and its rise to fascism.   

Facing History and Ourselves is a great resource for teachers who are teaching Night. The organization offers an extensive collection of resources that help educators teach Night with sensitivity and depth. Also, it is important to note that this is NOT a paid endorsement at all.

Below are two activities that integrate Facing History’s materials into your curriculum while fostering student engagement and critical thinking. You can access these materials for free by signing up for a free Facing History and Ourselves account!

Teaching Night: Introduce Students to Antisemitism from the Enlightenment to WWI

Before starting Night, it is important for students to understand the long-standing history or antisemitism. It helps to have students explore the historical context of antisemitism before World War I so they can understand that the anti-Jewish hatred wasn’t a new concept. I like to do this before students begin reading chapter 1. 

Facing History and Ourselves has a great, 11-minute video that helps students see this!

• Activity: Have students create a KWL chart about what they know about antisemitism, especially before WWII and WWI.
• Play the VIDEO for students. As students watch the video, have them complete the KWL chart with information they learned from the video.
• Discussion Question: Why is understanding historical context important when reading memoirs like Night?

Teaching Night: Learning about the Breakdown of Democracy

Since sophomores are also concurrently enrolled in World History classes, teaching Night and its historical context go hand-in-hand with cross-curriculular learning. Students will easily see the value of what they read in English class in their social studies class and vice versa.

Once students start reading Night, I like to incorporate nonfiction reading top help supplement students’ understanding of pre-WWII Germany.

• Activity: To do this, I assign a jigsaw activity. I have students read one of the five below articles. They read the article, take notes, become experts in the subject.
• Then, after about 15 minutes of engaging independently with the article, students then move about the room to talk with other students about their articles. In total, they speak with three other students. While moving around, students use their notes to explain the article to their peers, and then their peers use the notes they took to explain their articles. 
• For the notes, I encourage students to take bullet-point notes, jot down quotes, and even illustarte what they see in the articles. 
• At the end of the activity, I have students evaluate whether Germany had a healthy democracy during the pre-WWII era.
• Discussion Question: What made it possible for the Nazis to transform Germany into a Dictatorship?

Jigsaw Readings:

• Law and Disorder
• Attitudes Toward Life and Death
• The Myth of a Jewish Conspiracy
• Youth and Belonging in a Weimar Republic
• A New Economic Crisis
• Hard Times Return (I assigned this reading to every student)

Teaching Night 5-Week Night Unit

My five-week Night teaching unit includes a variety of activities and resources to help you implement teaching Night into your curriculum. This unit is designed to help students deeply engage with the memoir while developing essential analytical and comprehension skills. This 5-week unit plan provides pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading activities to ensure a well-rounded study of the text.

Key Features of the Night Unit

✔ Holocaust/Night Introductory Group Research Project – Establish historical and social context before reading.
✔ Bell Ringers – Thought-provoking prompts to spark discussions and critical thinking.
✔ Interactive Comprehension Bookmarks – Foldable bookmarks with comprehension questions, vocabulary, and space for notes.
✔ Comprehensive Assessments – Includes chapter quizzes, quick quizzes, and a final test (now available in Google Forms).
✔ 5-Week Pacing Guide – A structured plan to help guide instruction.

Teaching Night: End of Unit One-Pager Assignment

As my students wrap up their Night unit, I like to assign a Night One-Pager Assignment! This one-pager asks students to come up with big picture questions, identify and explain key quotes, include three illustrations and more! You can learn more about this assignment by reading this blog post: Night One Pager: Assigning a One-Pager Project as a Culminating Project.

Teaching literary analysis can be challenging, especially when students struggle to interpret themes, symbols, and deeper meanings in texts. One of the most challenging aspects of teaching students how to go beyond basic comprehension and recall.

One powerful strategy that can bridge this gap is the OPTIC strategy, traditionally used for analyzing art and visual texts. However, incorporating the OPTIC strategy in your middle school ELA or high school English class can be highly effective in helping students with analysis.

Another great reason to incorporate the OPTIC strategy into your classroom is that quite a bit of art was in fact inspired from the novels we read in our classrooms. 

By integrating art with the OPTIC strategy, teachers can help students develop stronger analytical skills that translate seamlessly into literary analysis. It will be a fun and engaging lesson when you are teaching literary analysis. Analyzing art helps with the process of literary analysis.

What is the OPTIC Strategy?

OPTIC is an acronym that stands for:

• O – Overview: Summarize what you see in the image.
• P – Parts: Identify key elements, figures, or details.
• T – Title/Text: Consider the title and any text within or accompanying the image.
• I – Interrelationships: Examine how different parts connect to convey meaning.
• C – Conclusion: Determine the overall message or theme of the visual.

This structured approach encourages students to break down an image methodically, similar to how they would analyze a poem, short story, or novel. I like to think of it as providing students with extra tools for literary analysis.

How to Use the OPTIC Strategy in ELA with Art

When introducing students to the OPTIC strategy for the first time, I use the instructional presentation in my Visual Literacy Activities – OPTIC Strategy for Visual and Literary Analysis Teaching resource. This visual analysis teaching unit includes everything you’ll need to incorporate the OPTIC strategy into your classroom. 

Here’s how you can apply the OPTIC strategy effectively in your high school English classroom for teaching literary analysis:

1. Begin with a Work of Art
   Choose an image, painting, or illustration related to a literary theme. Works like Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, Frida Kahlo’s The Two Fridas, or an illustration from The Great Gatsby can serve as compelling discussion starters.
2. Model the OPTIC Process
   Display the image and guide students through each OPTIC step. Encourage them to take notes and discuss their observations.
3. Connect Art to Literature
   Once students are comfortable using OPTIC with visual texts, transition to literary analysis. For example:
   • Compare Hopper’s Nighthawks to themes of isolation in modernist literature.
   • Analyze Kahlo’s The Two Fridas alongside duality in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
   • Use a Great Gatsby illustration to explore the novel’s themes of decadence and disillusionment.
4. Encourage Independent Practice
   Assign students a literary passage along with a related visual. Have them apply OPTIC independently and present their findings in small groups or as a written response.
5. Extend to Writing Assignments
   Ask students to use the OPTIC framework to outline literary analysis essays, reinforcing structured thinking and clear argumentation.

Why OPTIC Helps with Teaching Literary Analysis

• Improves Critical Thinking: Encourages deeper observation and interpretation.
• Builds Analytical Skills: Transfers visual analysis skills to text analysis.
• Engages Different Learning Styles: Visual learners benefit from the structured approach.
• Encourages Cross-Disciplinary Connections: Links literature to art, history, and culture.

Teaching Literary Analysis: Incorporate the OPTIC strategy!

Help your students improve their visual literacy, visual analysis, and literary analysis skills with the visual literacy OPTIC analysis unit! This visual analysis unit is the perfect way to engage students and help them learn new strategies that will improve their analysis skills!

You and your students will LOVE this resource because it is a fun, engaging, and out-of-the-box unit for your ELA class! Students will learn about the OPTIC analysis strategy and will learn how to explore topics in more depth! It is a great way to help students improve their literary analysis skills.

Looking for more literary analysis fun? Try a literary analysis create square project!

By incorporating the OPTIC strategy and visual art into your ELA classroom, you can make teaching literary analysis more engaging and accessible. Students will develop sharper analytical skills that not only enhance their reading comprehension but also prepare them for more sophisticated critical thinking in college and beyond. Try it in your next lesson and watch your students’ understanding of literature deepen!