Fun Classroom Activities for Teaching Literature

https://suite.io/carol-rzadkiewicz/4f4t20v

This website speaks about the importance of teaching Literature through fun and creative activities, and suggests some visual and interactive ways to teach Literature. Its main point focuses on allowing Literature and the books studied to have a special meaning to the students, so that they can truly understand and consequently retain what they learn in/through the books. However most of the strategies are carried out through group work and mini projects which means that assessment would take place over a sustained period of time and in formal and informal situations. 

The group projects proposed in this website involve creating written pieces (e.g. newspapers, advertisements, board games, websites, book jackets) which present through another channel the events and characters in the text. The newspaper example: the newspaper produced by a group of students may headline a major event of the novel/play, or report smaller events (past or planned for the future, e.g. a wedding next week) that take place in the setting of the text. In the article, they may incorporate descriptions of the weather/setting, report the event, and even get ‘interviews’ with the main and supporting characters of the novel. This assignment would require students to be familiar with the significant events of the novel (and the timeline in which they occur: they cannot write about an unplanned event that hasn’t occurred, unless they report about them after the whole novel ends). Students would also have to know the character traits and the habits of the characters in the novel, to be able to accurately portray them and their responses in the article. Each article may be presented for discussion with the class for their accuracy (with regard to the novel) and logical sense. 

[Extending this idea: they may also feature ‘opinion’ pieces (as a voice representing a community) from themselves (outside of the textual world) or a minor character from the text about the events in the text]

Assessment: The newspaper project would show up the students’ knowledge and familiarity with the text content (in terms of what happened and who are involved). More than that, their reports of the events and the characters would reveal how they perceive the characters (i.e. the quotes they extract from the text to represent those characters) through how they choose to orientate them. The opinion articles, as opposed to the factual reports, would be more similar to personal responses to the text – a disguised and implicit exam question. The newspaper published for the class to read may generate critical discussion (and informal peer assessment) over not only the accuracy of the reports but also the various responses to the text. The assessment possibilities range from text content knowledge to logical sensible personal responses (and defense) to effective word choice in the articles. Furthermore, assessment need not take place only at the end with the final newspaper edit, but also in the drafts of the newspaper and during the class discussion. 

The website also suggests that the class can design a book jacket for their text, with the synopsis of the novel printed on the inner fold, along with the author’s photograph and bio. A short write-up providing the rationale for their choice of design and information provided (e.g. significant or interesting facts about the author which may aid understanding of the novel, the publisher, and more) may be completed with more enthusiasm. Furthermore, in thinking up the design of the book cover, students will be motivated to consider what the message of the text is, and what the text means to them, and how to best convey it using visual art. For example, one of the book covers of To Kill A Mockingbird features a swing next to a tree with falling leaves, which may signify that this is a book about growing up and seeing the world clearly for all its injustice and depravity. 

Assessment: This book jacket activity equips students with background knowledge about the author and perhaps even the social background of the text composition. Assessment would mainly be concentrated of the final presentation of book jacket and rationale, but discussion always allows room for informal assessment and clarifying/shaping of ideas.