Literature Circles: Selecting and Previewing Texts Posted by The Literary Maven at May 05, 2021 Labels: literature circles <div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_3CqdyZQJ8A/YJLrxOMntUI/AAAAAAAAWFE/Pk_ZjRsvHkshDMIcBMg7GlhIAqXD-RgvgCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Slide1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Running literature circles in your classroom may seem daunting. Find out how I select books to offer students and having them preview those choices." border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_3CqdyZQJ8A/YJLrxOMntUI/AAAAAAAAWFE/Pk_ZjRsvHkshDMIcBMg7GlhIAqXD-RgvgCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide1.png" title="Running literature circles in your classroom may seem daunting. Find out how I select books to offer students and having them preview those choices." /></a></div><br />The idea of running literature circles in your classroom may be a daunting one. Maybe it is your first go or maybe it didn't work out all that well in the past. This series of blog posts will detail my experiences with literature circles in hopes of making your next go at it a little easier for you, more engaging for your students, and an enjoyable experience for everyone in the classroom. This first post is about selecting books to offer to students and having them preview those choices to find which books they'd like to read.</div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div><b><u>Selecting Books to Offer</u></b></div><div>Literature circle choices usually have some thread that binds them together. The choices may be all of the same genre, from the same time period, focused on the same topic, or connected to the same theme. How many book choices you offer will largely depend on your access to books, what your school has available and/or what you are able to purchase. You may also want to think about how many different discussion groups you want to manage in your classroom. More choices will likely mean smaller groups, but you could also break up larger groups of students reading the same book.</div><div><br /></div><div>As you select books to offer as literature circle choices, you will want to consider offering a variety of difficulty levels, lengths, and protagonists. <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/" target="_blank">Common Sense Media</a> is a great resource for vetting the appropriate age level of a book if you are making a selection before you are able to read the book yourself. </div><div><br /></div><div>With class sized around 24 students, I like to offer six different choices. I don't mind having some groups that are smaller and some groups that are larger; three students is usually my minimum and six students is usually my maximum. Most of my book choices will be at grade level, but I like to have at least one choice that is below and one choice that is above grade level to meet different students' reading needs. I handle length the same way; most books will be of the same length, but I like to have at least one choice that is fairly short and one choice that is longer to meet different students' reading needs. When possible, I like to choose protagonists with a variety of ethnicities, backgrounds, and experiences</div><div><br /></div><b><u>Physical Previewing</u></b><br />If you able to have students preview physical copies of the choices of books, I put one at least one stack of book choices at each group of student desks and give the students time to preview each of the books, telling them to look at the front cover and read the details on the back (and inside flaps if it is a hardback). I also encourage students to read a few pages to see if the book grabs their interest and the writer's style and organization appeals to them. When students are finished previewing the choices, I have them rank their choices and turn them in to me.<br /><br /><b><u>Digital Previewing</u></b><br />If students are going to be previewing the book digitally, I create a Google Slides with a slide for each choice. On each slide, I provide the image of the front cover and a summary of the book. I also include a link to Amazon and show students how to use the "look inside" feature so they can read a few pages. When students are finished previewing the choices, I have them rank their choices in a Google Form to allow for easy sorting.<br /><br /><b><u>Other Considerations</u></b><br />Depending on the number of choices I am offering and the number of copies of each I have available to give out, I may have students rank all of the choices or just their top three. In addition to ranking their books, I may also ask students if there are students they do and do not want to work with, the size of the group they'd like to discuss with, and their usual role in discussions : leader, participant, or listener. Since I don't typically start the school year with literature circles, I usually have an idea of which role students take on in discussions, but it is good for students to self identify as later that can be used to help the student set goals for how they will participate in discussions. <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bywFPONJ0t8/YJLr9sIU7lI/AAAAAAAAWFM/P_a-gmokHkUeW57PNBd_PrsmyLcdgQHNACLcBGAsYHQ/s1443/Slide4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Running literature circles in your classroom may seem daunting. Find out how I select books to offer students and having them preview those choices." border="0" data-original-height="1443" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bywFPONJ0t8/YJLr9sIU7lI/AAAAAAAAWFM/P_a-gmokHkUeW57PNBd_PrsmyLcdgQHNACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide4.png" title="Running literature circles in your classroom may seem daunting. Find out how I select books to offer students and having them preview those choices." /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>
More From The Blog What I'm Reading & Teaching in May Posted by The Literary Maven at May 03, 2021 Labels: <div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b4xUnM4pul8/YJCmI908qmI/AAAAAAAAWEI/gea9pVL0z-Q4RjgcmFGZacmmhFzlEO3GwCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Slide5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="In between school benchmarks and state testing, we're reading parallel novels from the Life As We Knew It series and writing a disaster narrative." border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b4xUnM4pul8/YJCmI908qmI/AAAAAAAAWEI/gea9pVL0z-Q4RjgcmFGZacmmhFzlEO3GwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide5.png" title="In between school benchmarks and state testing, we're reading parallel novels from the Life As We Knew It series and writing a disaster narrative." /></a></div><br />After another month of virtual teaching, I thought I would feel more comfortable and settled into a routine, but instead I find myself feeling more bored and frustrated. There's only so much shaking things up I can do while still feeling connected with my in person and online students. There's also so many aspects of teaching that are just more complicated with some students at home and some in the classroom. </div><div><br /></div><div>The good news is that there's only a little over a month of the school year left. The bad news is that next year may not look much different, but I can't process that right now, so I'm trying to actively ignore it. At this point though, I've taught in person, virtually, and hybrid, so whatever next year brings can't be more challenging. I've also got a repertoire of activities and lesson materials for all three scenarios, so next year will not be me recreating the wheel, maybe just fine tuning the spokes. </div><div><br /></div><b><u>Reading in May</u></b><div>In April, I read 9 books, six of those were young adult and the other three were middle grades (and all of those were audiobooks). This is the fewest number of books I've read in a month so far this year and I can't pinpoint why. I still averaged about 2 books a week, keeping me on track to reach my goal of 104 books by the end of the year, and worked through most of the titles on my <a href="https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2021/04/what-im-reading-teaching-in-april.html" target="_blank">April TBR list</a>. However, this month I want to be more conscious of what I am spending my time doing when I could be reading. I may be able to sneak in some reading time in class during independent reading time. Here's what I am hoping to read:</div><div><div>1. <a href="https://amzn.to/3nJmOEE" target="_blank"><i>Women Who Dared: 52 Stories of Fearless Daredevils, Adventurers, and Rebels</i> by Linda Skeers</a> (children's biography)</div><div>2. <a href="https://amzn.to/3tk2Xx0" target="_blank"><i>The Radium Girls</i> by Kate Moore</a> (middle grades nonfiction)</div><div>3. <a href="https://amzn.to/3eUpzim" target="_blank"><i>Girls Who Looked Under Rocks: The Lives of Six Pioneering Naturalists</i> by Jeannine Atkins</a> (middle grades/young adult biography)</div><div>4. <a href="https://amzn.to/3uhdpqs" target="_blank"><i>What Kind of Girl</i> by Alyssa Sheinmel</a> (young adult)</div><div>5. <a href="https://amzn.to/3eRoGar" target="_blank"><i>The Obsession</i> by Jesse Q. Sutanto</a> (young adult)</div><div>6. <a href="https://amzn.to/3xHkMtj" target="_blank"><i>Yesterday is History</i> by Kosoko Jackson</a> (young adult)</div><div>7. <a href="https://amzn.to/3vy3ZHc" target="_blank"><i>Five Total Strangers</i> by Natalie D. Richards</a> (young adult)</div><div>8. <a href="https://amzn.to/2SjtSw1" target="_blank"><i>Be Dazzled</i> by Ryan La Sala</a> (young adult)</div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Teaching in May</u></b></div></div><div>May has just barely started and I know it is going to be a whirlwind. So many teaching days are lost to testing: first our school's benchmark (MAP) testing and then state standardized testing (the PSSAs). As we continued with our dealing with disaster narrative, I debated moving into a historical fiction narrative piece (students research a disaster to be at the center of their narrative) or our final novels of the year (parallel novels <i><a href="https://amzn.to/2PM4Sg5" target="_blank">Life As We Knew It</a></i> and <i><a href="https://amzn.to/2RkC8LR" target="_blank">The Dead and The Gone</a></i> by Susan Beth Pfeffer), and decided to do both at the same time. My periods are currently 80 minutes long, so we spend the first half hour dedicated to activities connected to our parallel novels, the second half hour on developing our narratives, and then the final twenty minutes of class reading.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our narratives are still in the development stages. Students picked a natural or manmade disaster to be the focus of their narrative and then researched the disaster as well as its setting. I provided students with two lists of disasters as a starting point, but they could choose other topics with my approval. Incorporating a real disaster allows students to practice their research skills at the start of the writing process and practice MLA formatting for a bibliography at the end of the writing process. Once students have a grasp of what happened during the disaster and where it occurred, they create the main character for their narrative. Students have a choice of basing the character off of a real person involved in the disaster or starting from scratch. Finally students will map out the plot of their narrative, making the connection between the disaster they researched and the character they created. Before we start drafting, we'll work on writing dialogues and hooks. After drafting, we'll work through revisions focused on adding figurative language and imagery.</div><div><br /></div><div>We just started our parallel novels last week. Both center around the disaster of an asteroid hitting the moon, knocking it closer to Earth, but have two different settings and protagonists. Miranda is a white high school sophomore living in fairly rural Southeastern Pennsylvania and Alex is a Puerto Rican high school junior living in New York City. As students started reading the first few chapters of their books, they explored nonfiction texts and media about asteroids, the relationship between the Earth and the moon, and the likelihood of a disaster like the one depicted in the novels actually occurring. Now that students are a few chapters in, they are tracking changes that have happened in the character's personal lives as a result of the disaster as well as changes that have happened in the larger world around them. Assignments like these allow students to discuss in groups of other students reading the same text, but we can also share out as a whole class and make connections between the two books. I am keeping the assignments are generic as possible so I can utilize them for both novels. Over the next two weeks, I will work in some grammar review using examples from the books. I haven't decided yet on a final project, but will try to work in something fun and creative after testing ends.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Note: </i>The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jG1GkBjyy58/YJCnODd4CAI/AAAAAAAAWEQ/pVnVGqa7CfoxbR7W_sFgQSAtIbJWDQK7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1443/Slide5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="In between school benchmarks and state testing, we're reading parallel novels from the Life As We Knew It series and writing a disaster narrative." border="0" data-original-height="1443" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jG1GkBjyy58/YJCnODd4CAI/AAAAAAAAWEQ/pVnVGqa7CfoxbR7W_sFgQSAtIbJWDQK7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide5.png" title="In between school benchmarks and state testing, we're reading parallel novels from the Life As We Knew It series and writing a disaster narrative." /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>
What I'm Reading & Teaching in April Posted by The Literary Maven at April 02, 2021 Labels: <div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YiJBoiYZynI/YGXQDLmM6_I/AAAAAAAAVp4/q--8Yn5RrPsEMnMXPPasU4WA7Pjav6KDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Slide4.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Our "dealing with disaster" unit started with a mini research project and poetry, and in April will move on to other texts and narrative writing." border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YiJBoiYZynI/YGXQDLmM6_I/AAAAAAAAVp4/q--8Yn5RrPsEMnMXPPasU4WA7Pjav6KDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide4.png" title="Our "dealing with disaster" unit started with a mini research project and poetry, and in April will move on to other texts and narrative writing." /></a></div><br />This week is my Spring Break and after a full month of hybrid teaching, I just barely made it. While I am overjoyed to no longer be spending my days alone in my classroom, it is a serious struggle to balance the needs of students in person and online. I never feel like either group is getting enough of my time and attention. Strategies I used for collaboration when my students were 100% virtual now have to be tweaked to accommodate social distancing in the classroom and avoid feedback issues from students being on Zoom in the classroom.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The stress and exhaustion of teaching this past month meant that I spent most evenings lying on the couch with a book. I read all but one title on my <a href="https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2021/02/what-im-reading-teaching-in-march.html" target="_blank">March TBR list</a> and a total of 12 titles, bringing my total reads for the year up to 32. A tough month for teaching turned into a great month for reading.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>Reading in April</u></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">In March, I read 12 books: 2 adult titles (one was a memoir), 6 young adult titles, 3 middle grade titles (all of those were audiobooks), and 1 poetry collection. The rest of this week will hopefully be filled with more reading. Here's what I'm hoping to read:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1. <a href="https://amzn.to/2QMI3Jh" target="_blank"><i>Where It All Lands</i> by Jennie Wexler</a> (young adult, available July 2021)</div><div style="text-align: left;">2. <a href="https://amzn.to/3ucB4HZ" target="_blank"><i>Within These Wicked Walls</i> by Lauren Blackwood</a> (young adult, available November 2021)</div><div style="text-align: left;">3. <a href="https://amzn.to/3md3ZsY" target="_blank"><i>Cool for the Summer</i> by Dahlia Adler</a> (young adult, available May 2021)</div><div style="text-align: left;">4. <a href="https://amzn.to/3sJd9jh" target="_blank"><i>That Way Madness Lies</i> edited by Dahlia Adler</a> (young adult)</div><div style="text-align: left;">5. <a href="https://amzn.to/39xHDgG" target="_blank"><i>Amelia Unabridged</i> by Ashley Schumacher</a> (young adult)</div><div style="text-align: left;">6. <a href="https://amzn.to/39BiJfQ" target="_blank"><i>You've Reached Sam</i> by Dustin Thao</a> (young adult, available November 2021)</div><div style="text-align: left;">7. <a href="https://amzn.to/3wfoIki" target="_blank"><i>Enduring Freedom</i> by by Trent Reedy and Jawad Arash</a> (young adult, available May 2021)</div><div style="text-align: left;">8. <a href="https://amzn.to/3rHzxs3" target="_blank"><i>The First Rule of Punk</i> by Celia C. Pérez</a> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>Teaching in April</u></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Leading up to spring break, I kicked off our final unit focused on the theme of dealing with disaster. After an introduction to man made and natural disasters as well as disaster preparedness, students chose a disaster to research and analyze its impact on humans. This is the first project of the year where I chose students groups; they did get to rank their topics and indicate if they wanted to work alone or in a group of two or three. Coordinating group work was tricky since some students were at home and some were in the classroom and that changed halfway through the week. Presenting was also tricky since my students at home often have difficult hearing my students in the classroom. My solution was to have the in person students sit right next to our classroom microphone and speak directly into it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The week that followed I had originally planned to focus on Ray Bradbury's short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," but instead decided to continue our focus on poetry (you can read all about our March Madness Poetry Tournament <a href="https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2021/02/poetry-tournament-March-Madness.html" target="_blank">here</a>) and spend the week before break focused on poetry centered around Hurricane Katrina. The poems “After the Hurricane” by Rita Williams-Garcia and "Watcher: After Katrina, 2005" by Natasha D. Trethewey both focus on events after the hurricane as their titles suggest. Since my students were born several years after the hurricane hit, I use a mini documentary featuring spoken word poet Shelton Alexander and his experience at the Superdome to help build background knowledge before digging into the poems. We discussed tone, point of view (speaker), repetition, and structure (traditional versus free verse), most of which was a review from earlier studies of poetry. Students were very engaged with the topic and next year I'll add in opportunities to learn more about the disaster.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When we return from break, we'll continue our focus on real disasters with an informational ready about the Boxing Day Tsunami titled "Mammoth Shakes and Monster Waves, Destruction in 12 Countries" by Brenda Z. Guiberson. I tried out having students create visual summaries (sketchnotes) with this reading last year and will likely do that gain this year as well as practice identifying cause and effect text structure. I'll also use a jigsaw activity to help students write a text dependent analysis since this is a longer reading. You can read more about how I use jigsaws <a href="https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2019/08/jigsaw-strategy-summarizing.html" target="_blank">here</a> and more about my process for practicing text dependent analysis <a href="https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2021/02/text-dependent-analysis-essay.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Then I'll move on to imagined disasters with "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury, focusing on personification and how setting impacts plot. I haven't explicitly taught students the part of the plot diagram so I'm hoping to work that in here this year. I also have to think about how I'll revise some of the activities I used last year with this short story. I used skits to help students understand the relationship between setting and plot and also allowed students to create a skit to summarize the story after we finished reading. I'm not quite sure how that type of movement and student interaction would work while social distancing.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Following reading that short story, I'm debating moving into a historical fiction narrative piece (students will research a disaster to be at the center of their narrative) or our final novels of the year (parallel novels <a href="https://amzn.to/39xION8" target="_blank"><i>Life As We Knew It</i></a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/3sJf0of" target="_blank"><i>The Dead and The Gone</i></a> by Susan Beth Pfeffer) or maybe both. I'd like to have students try out the format of the books (dated journal entries) for their own narratives, but might also want to to work through just the narrative writing first since it involves research as not to have to many different pieces within my lessons. I also need time to plan out this final novel unit since I only taught one of the two novels last year and need to decide how I'll handle the student choice this year.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Note: </i>The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-asQZr-1ht_g/YGXQxuipy_I/AAAAAAAAVqA/L9ioBYWEo-AJIUhpedUqGyS8j463x7FXwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1443/Slide4.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Our "dealing with disaster" unit started with a mini research project and poetry, and in April will move on to other texts and narrative writing." border="0" data-original-height="1443" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-asQZr-1ht_g/YGXQxuipy_I/AAAAAAAAVqA/L9ioBYWEo-AJIUhpedUqGyS8j463x7FXwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide4.png" title="Our "dealing with disaster" unit started with a mini research project and poetry, and in April will move on to other texts and narrative writing." /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>
What I'm Reading & Teaching in March Posted by The Literary Maven at February 28, 2021 Labels: <div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-riegp_EjAsI/YDwEnlM2YmI/AAAAAAAAVYs/38NbyOi48I83c8LZ96jdZJHQIkIV6En6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Slide3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="February seemed like one long snow day and lesson plans got shifted around quite a bit, but we finished literature circles and I read 10 more books." border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-riegp_EjAsI/YDwEnlM2YmI/AAAAAAAAVYs/38NbyOi48I83c8LZ96jdZJHQIkIV6En6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide3.png" title="February seemed like one long snow day and lesson plans got shifted around quite a bit, but we finished literature circles and I read 10 more books." /></a></div><br />February seemed like one long snow day with lots of headache about the return to in person learning. We started back in person with a hybrid model in mid February, but just had our first full week last week due to snow, parent conferences, and President's Day. Lesson plans got shifted around quite a bit as a result of the weather, but we did finish our literature circle novels on time just with fewer discussion and activities than I had originally planned.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I didn't read all of the books on my <a href="https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2021/01/what-im-reading-teaching-in-february.html" target="_blank">February TBR list</a>, but I did read 10 books keeping me on track with my goal of reading 2 books a week (and a total of 104 by the end of the year). I'm now up to 20 reads so far for 2021!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>Reading in March</u></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">In February, I read 10 books, matching pretty much what I read in January: one young adult title, two middle grades, three adult, and four audiobooks (two of those were young adult, one was middle grades, and one was a nonfiction young adult adaptation). Some of what I read was on my TBR, most of them weren't, but I am pleased with the mix. Several of the titles on this month's to be read list are repeats from the past two months, so I can work on clearing off my bookshelves. Here's what I'm hoping to read:</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>1. <a href="https://amzn.to/3ajFtRb" target="_blank"><i>Tiny Pretty Things</i> by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton</a> (young adult)</div><div>2. <a href="https://amzn.to/36wIGf0" target="_blank"><i>Black Bottle Man</i> by Craig Russell </a>(young adult)</div><div>3. <a href="https://amzn.to/39BRkuW" target="_blank"><i>We Are Lost And Found</i> by Helene Dunbar </a>(young adult)</div><div>4. <a href="https://amzn.to/3taukL8" target="_blank"><i>Dominicana</i> by Angie Cruz</a> (adult)</div><div>5. <a href="https://amzn.to/3crXrn7" target="_blank"><i>High School </i>by Tegan and Sara</a> (memoir)</div><div>6. <a href="https://amzn.to/3cs0lIF" target="_blank"><i>The Devil's Highway</i> by Luis Alberto Urrea</a> (nonfiction)</div><div>7. <a href="https://amzn.to/2ZZRYg4" target="_blank">i am the rage by Martina McGowan</a> (poetry)</div><div>8. <a href="https://amzn.to/3dUjrIj" target="_blank">Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton</a> (young adult)</div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Teaching in March</u></b></div><div>To wrap up the trimester, students will be creating an infographic based on a topic from their literature circle novels. This is my first time doing a project like this, but I think I've structured it for student success. We'll kick off the project by doing a gallery walk (digitally) of sample infographics. Students will examine the layout and design strategies, thinking about what is effective or not, and what they might want to imitate in their own. Then students will choose a topic from a list of topics connected to their literature circle novels. </div><div><br /></div><div>For each topic, I curated four sources (three readings and one video) that students can use to collect information for their infographic. Students will spend two days researching and then create a rough draft in Google Drawings or on paper. Before students create a final draft, I'll give students a day to play around with a few different tech tools and choose the one they feel most comfortable with. I'm planning on two days for creating the final draft, but will also set up a platform for students who finish earlier to share and give feedback to each other.</div><div><br /></div><div>This project will span the last week of Trimester 2 and the first week of Trimester 3, which will give me a little break from grading new student work and time to finalize student grades for Trimester 2. I made the mistake of assigning an essay at the end of Trimester 1 and had to quickly get them all graded before report cards. </div><div><br /></div><div>After finishing up the infographic project, we'll have two weeks to get started on our "Dealing WIth Disaster" unit before spring break. Last year I started with a research project, but I'm not sure how I feel about doing two projects back to back. Instead we may read a nonfiction piece focused on the Boxing Day Tsunami, "Mammoth Shakes and Monster Waves," and Ray Bradbury's short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," which was a big hit with students last year. I'll also kick off the unit with an introduction to the types of disaster, both weather related and accidental/caused by humans.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Note: </i>The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8alkwsc45k/YDwExONRBlI/AAAAAAAAVYw/7PqReeR5K6wESWVtdc6d5L783F-sgfpcgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1443/Slide3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="February seemed like one long snow day and lesson plans got shifted around quite a bit, but we finished literature circles and I read 10 more books." border="0" data-original-height="1443" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8alkwsc45k/YDwExONRBlI/AAAAAAAAVYw/7PqReeR5K6wESWVtdc6d5L783F-sgfpcgCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide3.png" title="February seemed like one long snow day and lesson plans got shifted around quite a bit, but we finished literature circles and I read 10 more books." /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div></div>
Everything You Need to Host a March Madness Poetry Tournament Posted by The Literary Maven at February 28, 2021 Labels: poetry <div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zzIWmP9AvzM/YDvpDstkP1I/AAAAAAAAVX0/JNIqmIUe_McjQv78sVHhqtY55idhRiODgCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Slide1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hosting a March Madness Poetry Tournament is a great way to read and reread poetry as students examine elements and pick favorites." border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zzIWmP9AvzM/YDvpDstkP1I/AAAAAAAAVX0/JNIqmIUe_McjQv78sVHhqtY55idhRiODgCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide1.png" title="Hosting a March Madness Poetry Tournament is a great way to read and reread poetry as students examine elements and pick favorites." /></a></div><br />Ever since I generated <a href="https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2017/04/comparing-poems-poetry-tournament.html" target="_blank">this list of 32 poetry pairings</a>, I have wanted to try out a March Madness Poetry Tournament in my own classroom and finally got my act together last year. I printed out packets of my 32 pairings for students to share and posted a giant bracket to fill in as we went along. I began each class with students reading a few poems, examining a selected element, and voting on their favorites. Click <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qnFpmYsLQhRUMfZM2ImoVw0DGWFCIcwzG2WjBHrQzsA/copy" target="_blank">here</a> to make a copy of the Google Slides I intended to use at the start of each class.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Unfortunately schools closed last year in the middle of the month due to the coronavirus and our March Madness Tournament had to get a reset when learning resumed online in April. All of our poem examinations and voting had to shift to online activities.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This year my school is operating on a hybrid schedule with certain groups of students in certain days of the week while other students opt to remain fully virtual, so our poetry tournament will remain virtual although I am bringing back my giant bracket.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Getting Started</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The first thing to decide is how many poems you want to include in your tournament. I go for the full 64 to be true to the NCAA tournament, but know some teachers narrow that down to 32 or even just 16. On day one of the tournament, I have students read through all 64 poems and do an initial vote of their favorites the 64 poems are paired by similar topic and many include links to readings of the poem (by the poet if possible). Click <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1U97wsOHFtqsXUHYQ9lYDU1-QQKp80qfiZr1ybZTWt9Y/copy" target="_blank">here</a> to make a copy of the Google Slides with the 64 poems and click <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1OcUaU1_gSua-wxNrH4UaUEP9L7uS50jU8k1Jnmez0tg/copy" target="_blank">here</a> to make a copy of the Google Form for the initial voting. I have a very wide bulletin board in my classroom that I use to hang up my bracket and update daily. Click <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1g0KIDWm6jqdKVFJ997B-4a4jWwIaOMPmkutn1vXBjFY/copy" target="_blank">here</a> to make a copy of the Google Slides with the printable bracket and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17917870261388521/" target="_blank">here</a> to see it the highlight video on Instagram that shows it all together.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taking A Closer Look</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Once we've narrowed the original 64 down to 32, we start to take a closer look at the poems, rereading 4 a day and spending about a week focused on different elements: tone, language, making connections, theme, and the importance of titles. Many of the elements are ones we've learned earlier in the year, so I do a quick mini-lesson to review. Click <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1gg4AUEa_d6v3VSk8d_RFczRLSL1zaKJW2G-f_XhC9ms/copy" target="_blank">here</a> to make a copy of the Google Slides with the mini-lessons.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">First up is tone. We review that tone is the author’s attitude toward a subject, or how the author feels about who or what they are writing about. I give the students a list of 25+ words they could use to describe the tone of the poem. As we read or listen to the poems each day that week, I ask students to give examples of words in each poem that help to reveal the tone. Students record the tone of each poem and then vote for their favorite of each pair in a Google Form. Click <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1zJs-n5dTGS8WFMzkGHMxOHtQPgoYOA4qYt-2qCbx7Bg/copy" target="_blank">here</a> to make a copy of that Google Form (you will have to fill in the poem titles and match up numbers based on your own students' previous voting).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Next up is language. We review that authors use figurative language and descriptive language to bring their poems to life and create images in their readers’ minds. I provide definitions of similes, metaphor, personification, and imagery for students. As we read or listen to the poems each day that week, I ask students to give examples of figurative language or imagery in each poem. Students record the types of language used in each poem and then vote for their favorite of each pair in a Google Form. Click <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1IKt98QW0n2Yohi69UR1ui9rtGnnpYRy6I5QwFrww4sw/copy" target="_blank">here</a> to make a copy of that Google Form (you will have to fill in the poem titles and match up numbers based on your own students' previous voting).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OSF7T_lO1CI/YDvpNe3Q4FI/AAAAAAAAVX4/SHpm8Qn4P-ghQ2ohkO3gVemZIxcM2jS-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Slide2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hosting a March Madness Poetry Tournament is a great way to read and reread poetry as students examine elements and pick favorites." border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OSF7T_lO1CI/YDvpNe3Q4FI/AAAAAAAAVX4/SHpm8Qn4P-ghQ2ohkO3gVemZIxcM2jS-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide2.png" title="Hosting a March Madness Poetry Tournament is a great way to read and reread poetry as students examine elements and pick favorites." /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Then we move on to making connections. I reassure students that poetry can be challenging to read and understand. Making connections is a strategy they can use to help find meaning in any text by connecting it to their background knowledge. I review the three different types of connections they might make with a text: text to self, text to text, and text to world. As we read or listen to the poems each day that week, I ask students to give examples of connections they can make with the poems. Students record those connections and then vote for their favorite of each pair in a Google Form. Click <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1RzrHB21HlWKbx0dP2EYu6fFI0mjKUHv0ZFojf7EYKps/copy" target="_blank">here</a> to make a copy of that Google Form (you will have to fill in the poem titles and match up numbers based on your own students' previous voting).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">After that, we dip our toes into theme. I tell students that themes in poetry can be quite obvious, but that isn’t always the case. Sometimes the theme doesn’t make itself clear and is instead up to the reader. I encourage them to read aloud the poem as that often helps with understanding the theme. I give students a list of 25+ “big ideas” or topics that can help to determine the theme of a poem (note: I do teach my students that theme is a statement, not just one word, and that these topics are just a starting point for theme). As we read or listen to the poems each day, I ask students to give examples of "big ideas" they find in the poems. Students record those "big ideas" and then vote for their favorite of each pair in a Google Form. Click <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19I23uVklO8xq7gIxyGRI0Z1MxgJr56c8p-T6SUykeNo/copy" target="_blank">here</a> to make a copy of that Google Form (you will have to fill in the poem titles and match up numbers based on your own students' previous voting).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Finally, we examine the importance of titles. I remind students that authors choose their words for a reason, especially in poetry when an author is using so few words to express their ideas. The title of a poem might be the most important word choice of all because it's the first thing they see and can shape the way they understand the poem. I provide students with some questions to help them decide why the poet chose a particular title for their poem. As we read or listen to the poems each day, I ask students to give reasons why they think the authors chose the titles of the poems. Students record those reasons and then vote for their favorite of each pair in a Google Form. Click <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZeO9k1i-hjlLcS9Ci8wFgE1as3hZjw6hykMxu_uMApk/copy" target="_blank">here</a> to make a copy of that Google Form (you will have to fill in the poem titles and match up numbers based on your own students' previous voting).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Wrapping Up The Tournament</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The final vote asks students to chose their favorite of the last two poems standing. I ask them to provide reasons why they chose that poem and ask them to give reasons connected to the elements we've examined: tone, language, making connections, theme, and the importance of titles. I also ask them to share their favorite of the initial 64 poems. Click <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/10Jgv4XdAs9RdFEjD50dTCukbiQrCquwza1ASF1KwdLo/copy" target="_blank">here</a> to make a copy of that Google Form (you will have to fill in the poem titles and match up numbers based on your own students' previous voting). The next day in class, I reveal the winner of the tournament and we give it one last read or listen to celebrate.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">You can find all of my resources for the March Madness Poetry Tournament <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sP2Zgo5pBSzuIpFtSt-dEWCT51v653Eh?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a> and all of my other resources for teaching poetry <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Literary-Maven/Category/Poetry-8978?utm_source=The%20Literary%20Maven&utm_campaign=March%20Madness%20Poetry%20Tournament" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yqBTa3cSMsQ/YDvzbbCBShI/AAAAAAAAVYM/uu8drAyGWa8JNMFSsrhrLQfHaVQMZGgIQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1443/Slide1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hosting a March Madness Poetry Tournament is a great way to read and reread poetry as students examine elements and pick favorites." border="0" data-original-height="1443" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yqBTa3cSMsQ/YDvzbbCBShI/AAAAAAAAVYM/uu8drAyGWa8JNMFSsrhrLQfHaVQMZGgIQCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide1.png" title="Hosting a March Madness Poetry Tournament is a great way to read and reread poetry as students examine elements and pick favorites." /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>
Teaching Symbolism to Middle & High School Students Posted by The Literary Maven at February 21, 2021 Labels: literary elements, symbolism <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QApSAJXZPuY/YATsnrf4PvI/AAAAAAAAU3Q/O27yhgE7LGQABVt2-npzbBwqBVfB63CAACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Slide6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Use these ideas for teaching symbolism to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QApSAJXZPuY/YATsnrf4PvI/AAAAAAAAU3Q/O27yhgE7LGQABVt2-npzbBwqBVfB63CAACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide6.png" title="Use these ideas for teaching symbolism to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>While symbolism is a higher level concept that some students can struggle with, it is also such an engaging concept to teach because symbolism is all around us: in songs, movies, commercials and on posters and billboards. I detailed the many ways I introduce and reinforce symbolism in <a href="https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2018/01/teaching-literary-elements-symbolism.html" target="_blank">this previous blog post</a> and you can find even more ideas below.</div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><b><u>Build Students' Background Knowledge</u></b><br />Symbolism can be a fun literary conversation, but students don't always understand the concept. To ensure that students are able to analyze symbols, you will want to explain colors, everyday gestures, common symbols, intangible symbols, and weather. With these tips for talking about symbolism, teachers can find a successful way for talking about symbolism with secondary students. You can read more about these tips <a href="https://languageartsclassroom.com/2013/12/teaching-symbolism-for-literary-analysis.html" target="_blank">here</a> and as extra help, I've included a free download of 101 activities for literary analysis. . . with an entire section devoted to symbolism.<br /><i>*Recommended by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/elaclassroom/" target="_blank">Lauralee, Language Arts Classroom</a></i><div><i><br /></i><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-biHbW3dXZK8/YATtSpp5eUI/AAAAAAAAU3g/038Bf9uGpbEpX11sCq1sGyfItCsmcQB4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/LitPic3%2B-%2BLauralee%2BMoss%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Use these ideas for teaching symbolism to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2005" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-biHbW3dXZK8/YATtSpp5eUI/AAAAAAAAU3g/038Bf9uGpbEpX11sCq1sGyfItCsmcQB4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/LitPic3%2B-%2BLauralee%2BMoss%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="Use these ideas for teaching symbolism to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." /></a><br /><br /><b><u>Play Symbolic Pictionary</u></b><br />Before playing the game, you will need to create a slideshow with an abstract noun on each slide (you could also use concrete nouns, specially people or places). Some ideas include determination, power, speed, intelligence, violence, and peace. To play, first break your students up into teams and make sure each team has drawing supplies (whiteboard and markers, paper and crayons, etc). Once a word is revealed, teams begin discussing and drawing a possible symbol. After the allotted amount of team, each team reveals the image that they have drawn and points are awarded. You can read more about the rules of play <a href="https://theartofeducation.edu/2016/10/19/introduce-symbolism-form-game/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><b><u>Introduce The Symbolic Arc To Create Layers Of Understanding</u></b><br />The first arch of the symbolism arc is filled with an object's concrete details (what is looks, smells, sounds, tastes, feels like). The second arch of the symbolism arc is filled with an object's abstract traits, the associations we make with the object because of society, culture, tradition, etc. In the third and final arch of the symbolism arc, students make connections between the concrete details and the abstract traits to determine a possible symbolic meaning. You can read more about this strategy <a href="https://teachnouvelle.com/teaching-symbolism-candy/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><b><u>Use Music Videos To Look For Symbolism</u></b><br />Before students dig into printed texts to look for symbolism, start them off with symbols they can actually see. While there are so many choices for music videos, it is often best to use something students are already familiar with (and obviously school appropriate), Musical numbers from Disney movies work well. This <a href="https://litlearnact.wordpress.com/2016/01/29/frozen-let-it-go-and-teach-symbolism/" target="_blank">blog post from Lit LearnAct</a> describes using "Let It Go" from Frozen to note important objects, describe their purpose or function, and then consider a possible symbolic meaning.<br /><br /><b><u>Keep An Eye Out For Objects Of Importance</u></b><br />When you do begin to look for symbols in printed texts have students look for references to concrete objects, especially objects named in titles, and consider whether they could be symbols. Students should also pay special attention to objects or places that are repeated or described in detail. When analyzing a short story or part of a novel or play, assign each student or group of students a page number and ask them to list any objects mentioned. Ask students to share out what they found to create a class list, tallying the number of times an object is mentioned. Beginning with the most frequent mention work down the list discussing the meaning this object might carry with it.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WQrxNqE0OGw/YATs_W6nz9I/AAAAAAAAU3Y/YJcN-eDucfQqgz2W15ziHMeOh4ZxySv_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1443/Slide7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Use these ideas for teaching symbolism to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." border="0" data-original-height="1443" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WQrxNqE0OGw/YATs_W6nz9I/AAAAAAAAU3Y/YJcN-eDucfQqgz2W15ziHMeOh4ZxySv_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide7.png" title="Use these ideas for teaching symbolism to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." /></a></div></div></div>
Teaching Theme to Middle & High School Students Posted by The Literary Maven at February 14, 2021 Labels: literary elements, theme <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mpRKdZLzwKA/YASSp1y4OMI/AAAAAAAAU2U/VZkAloVOnoENXCw4F3Ao1Y1jxIyTC3ngACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Slide4.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Use these ideas for teaching theme to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mpRKdZLzwKA/YASSp1y4OMI/AAAAAAAAU2U/VZkAloVOnoENXCw4F3Ao1Y1jxIyTC3ngACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide4.png" title="Use these ideas for teaching theme to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." /></a></div><br />While theme is a concept I like to teach early and often each year, students first must have a strong understanding of the other literary elements that play into it. The events in the plot, the conflict that develops, and the actions and reactions of characters all help to reveal the theme of a text. I detailed the many ways I introduce and reinforce theme in <a href="https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2017/11/teaching-literary-elements-theme.html" target="_blank">this previous blog post</a> and you can find even more ideas below.<br /><br /><b><u>Define What Theme Is (And Is Not)</u></b><br />Before beginning to analyze theme in a text, be sure that students have a solid grasp on what a theme is and is not. When you ask students to define theme, their response may really be a definition of main idea, a topic, or a moral (and depending on the source of their online search, the definition they find may not match what you are teaching). This <a href="https://secondaryenglishcoffeeshop.blogspot.com/2016/11/teaching-theme-tips-and-resources.html" target="_blank">blog post from Secondary English Coffee Shop</a> includes a graphic that clearly defines each term and gives examples of each from "Little Red Riding Hood." You could have students repeat the differentiation of the chart with examples from other fairy tales or well known stories.<br /><br /><b><u>Give Students Multiple Opportunities to Process And Practice</u></b><br />Determining the theme of a text definitely requires some high order thinking skills and some students may not "get it" at first. Allow students to review the definition of theme and how to find one with videos like the ones in this <a href="https://teachingelawithjoy.com/5-best-videos-for-teaching-theme/" target="_blank">blog post from Teaching ELA With Joy Sexton</a>. Sometimes hearing someone else explain it in a slightly different way will help it click for a student. Then practice using stories are familiar with, fairy tales or stories you've previously read as a class, or use short films like the ones made by Pixar. <br /><br /><b><u>Try Out Thematic Triads</u></b><br />When students are trying to craft their theme into a sentence or a thematic statement. I start with a list of "big ideas" like love, hate, honesty, deception, pride, beauty, etc. and have students select as many big ideas as they see connecting to the text we are examining. Then I ask students to share out the most important three ideas present in the text. We make a list as a class, tallying up the times each idea is mentioned. Then I model how we can connect those three big ideas into a sentence, and voila! we have a theme. Students practice coming up with a theme using the top two or three big ideas they selected. Often what they come up with is a variation of what I modeled, which leads to discussion about how there is no one theme statement. This <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/article/handy-strategy-teaching-theme" target="_blank">Edutopia article</a> discusses the same strategy.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y5WEmwutsb0/YATu8iPDMhI/AAAAAAAAU30/rKimfr-AHagPoDwlKqgx-z5CkmE4XzVpgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Theme%253F.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Use these ideas for teaching theme to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y5WEmwutsb0/YATu8iPDMhI/AAAAAAAAU30/rKimfr-AHagPoDwlKqgx-z5CkmE4XzVpgCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Theme%253F.jpg" title="Use these ideas for teaching theme to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Analyze Using Graphic Organizers</u></b><br />Many components of a story fit into explaining a story's theme. Secondary students might be able to articulate a story's theme, but they can't always explain how characters, the plot structure, a motif (and more!) contribute to the development of that theme. With a variety of literary <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Digital-or-Print-Literary-Graphic-Organizers-Bundle-for-Literary-Analysis-3236080" target="_blank">graphic organizers</a>, a teacher can highlight certain sections and examine details with students. As students flesh out ideas about the story, they'll realize the influence of other components on the story's theme. <br /><i>*Recommended by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/elaclassroom/" target="_blank">Lauralee, Language Arts Classroom</a></i><br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HLW_NJBtfv4/YATuj4yYb4I/AAAAAAAAU3s/QzlEJmmmCBYeZCF0NkP0clRhfnqMNPyEwCLcBGAsYHQ/s900/Analyzing%2BTheme%253B%2BOne%2BPagers%2B-%2BReading%2Band%2BWriting%2BHaven.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Use these ideas for teaching theme to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HLW_NJBtfv4/YATuj4yYb4I/AAAAAAAAU3s/QzlEJmmmCBYeZCF0NkP0clRhfnqMNPyEwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Analyzing%2BTheme%253B%2BOne%2BPagers%2B-%2BReading%2Band%2BWriting%2BHaven.jpeg" title="Use these ideas for teaching theme to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." /></a><br /><br /><b><u>Synthesize Literary Elements In A One Pager </u></b><br />When I think about literary elements, it’s hard to imagine teaching them in isolation. Yes, I introduce concepts (setting, plot, theme) separately, but in order for students to truly GET literary elements, they have to be able to analyze how authors use all of them to create dissonance and harmony in a text. I use one pagers to help students practice and apply this idea of extending thinking and seeing the connections between literary elements. With distance learning, I recommend using <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Scaffolded-One-Pager-Activity-Bundle-for-Fiction-and-Nonfiction-4755115" target="_blank">digital one pagers</a> to chunk the process for students. It’s less overwhelming and allows us more time to provide meaningful feedback. How does setting impact the theme? How does a character’s development help to shape the plot and drive the conflict, which, in turn, develop the theme? Understanding theme is a process of synthesis, and literary one pagers are a perfect vehicle for that type of thinking. <br /><i>*Recommended by <a href="https://www.readingandwritinghaven.com/digital-one-pagers-how-to-harness-the-power-of-technology/" target="_blank">Melissa from Reading and Writing Haven</a></i><div><i><br /></i></div><div>You can find all of my resources for teaching theme <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Literary-Maven/Category/-Skill-Theme-242374?utm_source=The%20Literary%20Maven&utm_campaign=Teaching%20Theme%20to%20MS%20%26%20HS" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tNUITf0pBJw/YASS0DPB58I/AAAAAAAAU2Y/GLlcMw33_VcIhNo47-fooRRIkRUEOGSNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1443/Slide5.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Use these ideas for teaching theme to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." border="0" data-original-height="1443" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tNUITf0pBJw/YASS0DPB58I/AAAAAAAAU2Y/GLlcMw33_VcIhNo47-fooRRIkRUEOGSNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Slide5.png" title="Use these ideas for teaching theme to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama." /></a></div></div></div></div>
