Engaging Activities and
Projects for Literature
By Jill Jenkins
In the old days, teachers used to
assign a short story or a number of chapters in a novel and expect everyone to
prepare for a discussion, a quiz or a multiple choice test. It was not a very effective method of
teaching literature and as time went on it became less effective. Fewer
students completed their reading so discussions became impossible, quiz scores
dropped and test scores became abominable. As a result, teachers began developing
more creating methods of reaching the reluctant readers and the struggling
students. Some that I have found
effective during my forty years of teaching include: The Literary Spreadsheet,
the Dice Discussions, The Cartoon Strip Test, the Learning Journals and a
creative project.
The Literary
Spreadsheet
If you are lucky enough to teach in
a high-tech schools that has Smart Boards, this is an activity that you can
project on the board and through discussion complete it as a class. If you are lucky enough to have lap top lab
or IPad lab, this could be a drag and drop activity, but if you are in low
budget school, buy a lot of glue sticks and scissors at your local dollar store
and let the students really cut and paste this activity. Give each student a spreadsheet that looks
like this or project it with you are in a high tech school. Better yet, put the
chart on the board and put the lists on laminated sentence strips and
distribute them to the students. Have the students place them correctly on the
chart.
Characters
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Role
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Name Implies
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Quote
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Picture
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Bill Sikes
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Bull's eye
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Charlotte
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Doctor
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Mr. Bumble
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Mr. Gamfield
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Mr. Sowerberry
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Mrs. Mann
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Mrs. Sowerberry
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Mrs. Thingummy
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Nancy
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Noah Claypole
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Oliver Twist
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Oliver’s mother
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The Artful Dodger
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The Gentleman in the white waistcoat
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Have that students select information
from each of the following lists and place it in the appropriate place on the
chart.
Roles
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The nurse at Oliver’s birth
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The doctor at Oliver’s birth
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The foster mother
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The Beadle
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The chimney sweep
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An official at the workhouse
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The undertaker
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The undertaker’s wife
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The undertaker’s maid
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The undertaker’s assistant
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Oliver’s mother
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Bill Sikes' Girlfriend
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The house burglar
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Bill's dog
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Fagin's pickpocket
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Name Implies
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A thin woman with no teeth
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All Over Twist
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Acts like a man
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He’s a fat bumble bee with a bad sting
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He plays a bad game
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He appears to be a sour berry, but he is really a sweet berry.
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She is a sow
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She is a Char Woman with ah Harlot hidden inside
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He brings the flood. He
is the clay of the earth
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She is a fancy lady with a nanny hidden inside
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He is psychotic
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He is the target of Bill's aggression
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He escapes after picking pockets
Quotes
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“Lor bless her heart, no! when she has lived as long as I
have, sir, and had thirteen children of her own, and all of ‘em dead except
two, an d them in the wurkus with me, she’ll know better than to take on in
that way, bless her dear heart…”
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“The old story. . . no wedding ring, I see.”
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“Please, sir, I want
some more.”
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“Why I’m olbliged to keep a little of in the house, to put in
the blessed infant’ Daffy when they ain’t well . . .”
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“Oliver . . .Do you know this here voice, Oliver?... Ain’t you
afraid of it, sir? Ain’t you
trembling while I speak?
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. He would make a
delightful mute, my dear.”
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“I am nobody: don’t consult me, pray. I don’t want to intrude
upon your secrets.”
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“Oh, you little wretch! Oh, you little un-grate-ful mur-de-rous
hor-rid villain!”
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“Work’us, how’s your mother?”
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'Let me see the child,
and die.'
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"When such as me,
who have no certain roof but the coffin-lid, and no friend in sickness or
death but the hospital nurse, set our rotten hearts on any man, and let him
fill the place that parents, home, and friends filled once, or that has
been a blank through all our wretched lives, who can hope to cure us?"
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'if you speak a word
when you're out o'doors with me, except when I speak to you, that loading
will be in your head without notice. So, if you do make up your mind
to speak without leave, say your prayers first.'
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'I suppose you don't
even know what a prig is?'
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Obviously you could use this activity with any book and you
could select different categories. (Charles Dickens is famous for choosing
character names that reveal something about the character.) Although this activity benefits all students
reading any piece of literature, it is especially useful for pieces of
literature with a great many characters.
I have used this activity with E.S.L. students, special education
students, regular students and honors students and it seems to benefit the
understanding of all groups, but especially the struggling students. I have
used it as an assessment and as a group activity to help those who are having a
difficult time. It does increase
students’ understanding of who the characters are and what role do they play in
the story.
The Dice Discussion
I originally saw this idea on http://readthinkwrite.org, but now I see it is available through Scholastic Education. If you don’t want to purchase the
dice, create dice out of card board and put your students into groups of
four. Each group has two dice. On each dice you write the following: I predict, this reminds me of, the reason he
did this, this character’s flaw is, and this character’s strength is. On the second dice list the names of six
characters from the story. Each student
rolls the dice and answers the combination of character and verb to the
group.
Another version of this activity is to give each student a set
of dice with 12 questions written on them.
For example, if my students were discussing Oliver Twist by Charles
Dickens and rolled the dice, the students choose between the two questions he
rolled to answer to the group. If the
student rolled: Noah Claypole is both a
bully and coward. What behaviors can you
identify prove his is both a bully and coward.
Think about how he treated Oliver and Charlotte. Think about how he behaved when he claimed to
be Morris Bolter. The second dice
asks: If honorable behavior means you
behave in a manner that helps another even if it harms you, whose behavior is
more honorable: Rose, Nancy or Mr. Brownlow? The student selects one the two questions and
presents his answer to the group.
Cartoon Strip Tests
Cartoon
Strip Tests works well as both an interactive activity and an assessment. I have used it as both. It’s effective with plot heavy novels like The
Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Odyssey, Percy Jackson
and Lightening Thief or even The Hunger Games. You can either have your students
fold their paper into squares or you can give them a paper with the squares
already created. If you have the benefit
of a high-tech school there are cartoon creation application and programs
available. The form I give my student
looks like this:
“The Story of
Cicones”
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“The Story of the
Lotus Eaters”
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“The Story of the
Cyclops”
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“The Story of the
Cyclops”
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“The Story of the
Bag of Winds”
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The Monster
Cannibals”
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“The Story of
Scylla and Charbyllis”
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“The Story of the
Cattle of Helios”
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The student simply
creates a cartoon strip retelling the story.
Some very artistic students can create amazing artistic creations;
others simply tell the story. Regardless, the students get a clear picture of
what happened in the story. You can just
give them a blank piece of paper and let them decipher what is important, but I
found that most students have poor “crap-detectors” so they have difficulty
selecting the important parts. Both methods have benefits. Students who are more visually oriented get a
summary that helps them member the details of a complicated plot.
The Learning Journal
The Learning Journal works really well when combine with the
Discussion Dice Activity. Students who
get an opportunity to read, talk and then write have better retention than
those who do just one or two of the activities.
I know many teachers use learning logs so students can jot down what
they learn at the end of each period and they are excellent tools, but I find
that if I give them a question that requires the student to review through the
reading material and find details from the story to support their answer, they
recall the book in greater detail when I give them an assessment on the
reading. As a result questions like
those I asked on the dice are more effective tools to increase the students’
comprehension: Noah Claypole is both a bully and coward. What behaviors can you identify prove his is
both a bully and coward. Think about how
he treated Oliver and Charlotte. Think
about how he behaved when he claimed to be Morris Bolter. If honorable behavior means you behave in a
manner that helps another even if it harms you, whose behavior is more
honorable: Rose, Nancy or Mr. Brownlow? Students are asked to write the question and
answer in at least one page. This will
reinforce what they learned in the reading and the discussion. The physical act of writing makes the
learning more permanent.
The Term Project
The term project
allows the teacher to expand learning beyond the material in the novel. For example, the term project below on Oliver Twist requires
student to apply the social problems introduced in the novel to a third world
country where poverty couples with these other social problems. The student then learns the interrelated
aspect of poverty and other social issues. Furthermore, since the student is
required to collect data and interpret it in graphs on their visual aide, the
students develop skills in numeracy and can understand the interconnection of
various school subjects. The term projects on Romeo and Juliet allows
the student to develop a greater understanding of the historic time
period. Furthermore presenting these
term project to the class means that student researching develops the greatest
understanding, but the student observing all increasing his/her
understanding. The term project is a
creative outlet so it makes learning more enjoyable; as a result, it creates
students who are more likely to read independently after they leave school. The
term project on The Odyssey
helps reinforce the structure of the epic poem. Since the term
project can be either a group project, it helps students learn to work
cooperatively. Other projects include an individual project to meet the needs
of the less social students. Students
should be give choices and should incorporate a creative use of
technology. Some term projects that I have
found successful include the following:
Term Project from The Odyssey
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A
project for Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist: Research a social
problem presented in the novel. Write a
three to five minute speech on your research and present it with a chart that
graphs the data that you discovered. Research a foreign country that is
currently experiencing a high level of poverty among its citizens.
- Read a book about the poverty in
the country and complete either a “Tops Report” or a book report on it. (100
points)
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Write a five-paragraph
essay
on the country answering the following questions: (100 points)
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What
are the causes of poverty in the country?
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Lack
of natural resources
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What
are the effects of poverty in the country?
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High mortality rate for children
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Teenage pregnancy
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Child labor
- Drug and/or alcohol abuse
- How can we help solve the problem?
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Present
your findings to the class in a 3-5 minute speech.
Include the following on your poster
Create
a poster as a visual aid that includes:
Three
pictures or photographs
Three
graphs comparing the country’s statistics to the same issues within the United
States of America
¨
Homelessness
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High mortality rate for children
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Teenage pregnancy
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Low education levels
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High crime rates
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Poor health care
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Child labor
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Drug and/or alcohol abuse
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Hunger
Term Projects for Romeo and Juliet
- Ø Create a
three-dimensional model of the Globe Theater, Please do not make it from
anything editable. I do not like
visitors, e.g. mice ants etc. Label the
areas.
- Ø Memorize and perform
either Romeo’s famous soliloquy from ACT II
“What light through yonder window breaks….” Or Juliet’s from the same act:
“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo…” or if you prefer ACT IV and Act V,
choose Juliet’s soliloquy before she takes the portion or Romeo’s before he
takes the credit.
- Ø Write and present a
three to five minute speech using a visual aide. Consider one for the following
topics: weapons used during the period,
clothing worn during the period, Shakespeare’s life, or games and amusements
during that time.
- Ø Find a partner and
memorize and perform a scene from Romeo
and Juliet. Your choices include the balcony scene, Juliet trying to
persuade the nurse to her what Romeo said, Friar Lawrence’s scene when he tells
Romeo that he will marry him to Juliet or when he tells him to stop weeping and
be a man, or the fight scene in ACT III.
Remember to wear a costume, memorize it block it and use props. Create a television news poison. Remember you
must memorize it, block it and wear a costume for full program that discusses
at least five events from the play.
Term Projects for The Odyssey
:
- In a group
of three to five students, create a story of an epic hero of your own. The hero must be helped by one of the gods,
have some magical power and defeat a horrible monster or an enemy with magical
powers while on a long journey home. Present it to the class as an I-Movie, a Power Point Presentation, a Google Presentation, or as a book.
Conclusion
These are just four activities that can
increase student comprehension. Any of
them can be adapted to any piece of literature or age group. These interactive
activities make literature more accessible to E.S.L. students, reluctant
readers and struggling students in general.
They also enhance the experience for honors students.