Before I really dive into summer teacher mode, I love taking a little time to reflect on my ELA activities. As much as I want to just abandon all thoughts of my class, thinking about the best interactive ELA activities helps me prep for next year. And, August me will be thankful! So how do I determine the best English 10 activities that I have? I am thinking about two things. One did this make my life easier? Or, two did this day stand out to me in some way? And the best activities did both! And the ones that did both are on my top five list. So, keep reading below to see which of my ELA enrichment activities made the cut this year!
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Reflecting on My English 10 Activities
What New ELA Activities Went Well This Year
Before I share the top five ELA activities that I am using again next year, I love taking time to reflect on the things that went well that I tried that were new this year. These activities are my honorable mentions and still deserve some praise.
In-Class Timed Paragraph Writing
To prepare my students for the standardized test at the end of the semester, my students wrote timed paragraphs almost every week. We wanted to focus on building stamina and speed. And the students could learn stamina and speed, both of which are helpful skills for any test. The other part that I added this year was making the paragraphs handwritten. With the use of AI, students are tempted to have an app written for them. But, when they get to the standardized test, they don’t have that available. While going back to pen and paper is not anyone’s favorite, it was a good accountability tool for them.
Changing my short story to “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”
I teach World Literature for English 10 Honors and I was searching for a new short story to teach. I found “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It is a beautiful story about a village that finds a man with enormous wings and treats him poorly because he is different. The language is elevated and the story is well told and holds your interest. Plus, I am able to review all the literary elements of this one story. If you are looking for a new short story to teach, this is the one for you!
Gamifying My Novel Unit
This year I returned to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for my novel study. As part of the unit, every student was paired off in a district and forced to compete. All the activities that I would normally do now had a points value. It was incredibly fun! And while I am looking to change the novel for next year, I want to continue to gamify the unit. When we are in a book for so many weeks, creating a competition is the best way to keep students engaged.
What ELA Activities Tanked This Year
A true reflection also means taking some time to discover what I need to change for next year. Here are some things that did not go so well.
Slam Poetry Poem
I love teaching my students about slam poetry. And having them analyze a slam poem using my T SWIFT Poetry Analysis method. I thought that using a statical slam poem would make it more fun. I chose “Family Matters” performed by Kobe Bryant. Turns out 90 sitcom humor is for this millennial teacher and not for my students. Even providing background on Steve Urkel and the sitcom Family Matters, my students didn’t love it like I did. You know when you are the only one laughing at the jokes that it’s time for something new.
Literary Elements Review
We always start off the year with short stories and review the literary elements. However, once again this year that felt heavy and boring to start. We read a story together and then go over each defined literary element. Then, students have to find an example in the text and analyze it. While the skill for sure needs to stay, the method needs an upgrade. Identifying and analyzing it over and over again is not great. So, I am going to spend some time this summer changing those lessons.
Paragraph Prompts
While I love having my students write paragraphs, I did not love the prompts that I used. Most of the prompts focused on identifying themes. While my students became great at that skill, it wasn’t what they needed. As I mentioned before, these skills are to prepare them for the standardized test. While I never want to teach to the test, I do want the students to have exposure to the types of questions they could see. And my paragraph prompts just aren’t doing that. We need more variety and more two-part prompts for next year. Back to the drawing board, I go!
Now that you know what my class looked like this year, let’s get to the 5 ELA activities I will definitely be using next year.
Five Fun ELA Activities I Will Be Using Again Next Year
ELA Activities #1: Character Autopsy
Dressing up as surgeons and drawing a human body? Why of course that’s going to catch my students’ attention! When we study characterization in the drama The Tragedy of Othello by William Shakespeare, my students have the chance to become surgeons as they dissect the character traits of a character from their story. First, students receive a letter from the hospital director asking them to perform surgery. There are resources for surgical team assignments and surgery signups as well. My character autopsy includes 12 different body part prompts that focus on characterization and require the use of text evidence. This activity is by far the fan favorite of the year.
If you want to learn more about how I perform these surgeries, check out my blog post: How A Character Autopsy Template Creates Excitement in Your High School Classroom.
And if you want this resource for yourself, check out my Character Autopsy Project.
ELA Activities #2: Taylor Swift The Tortured Poets Department Poetry Analysis
If you don’t already know, I love Taylor Swift. And, I love adding her to my classroom every step of the way. So when Taylor Swift released her newest album The Tortured Poets Department, I was screaming with excitement. I created a custom listening party just for this album. But, I wanted to be able to use these activities again and again. So, I focused on poetry analysis and inferencing so that could happen.
First, my students evaluated the tone and style of the album as a whole. Then we met The Tortured Poets Department where they will complete the T SWIFT poetry analysis method on a poem from a selection of poets. Next, my students analyzed the “Fortnight” music video as well as completed their own fortnight challenge. Then we worked on building our vocabulary skills with words from the album. Finally, students placed the Tortured Poets department songs into the 5 stages of heartbreak. It was such a fun day for my students and this teacher swiftie!
If you want more details on each of these activities, check out my blog post: The Tortured Poets Department Activity: How to Teach Taylor Swift.
And if you want to snag this resource for yourself, check it out: The Tortured Poets Department Activities.
ELA Activities #3: Poetry One Pager
One of my favorite projects this year was my poetry one pager. By the time we get to poetry, my students are burnt out on analysis. And writing lessons. Poetry falls right after our first major essay. So, you can imagine that students need a change. With poetry, I decided that my final assessment would be a poem project, not a writing assignment. It was a refreshing change for my students.
For this final assessment, my students created a poem project sketch note to demonstrate their understanding of a poem. Students have a chance to showcase their knowledge of theme, imagery, mood, tone, and so much more. Plus, they had the chance to be creative and crafty. I’m talking glitter, stickers, and colored paper crafty! And, they had a blast. Plus, I ended up with beautiful projects to display.
If you want some help getting started with this project, I have some great suggestions. Check out my blog post: The Ultimate Poetry Analysis Project In 5 Easy Steps
And, if you want to grab my Poem Project resource, you can click HERE.
ELA Activities #4: Taylor Swift Rhetorical Analysis
You didn’t think there would be just one Taylor Swift activity on my list, did you? My second favorite Tay Tay activity, comes from Taylor Swift’s NYU’s Class of 2022 Commencement Speech. To start off this day, my room is blasing “22” by Taylor Swift when my students walk in. Add to the fact that I am wearing a “22” themed shirt as well. And, my students know it’s going to be a party.
Now, how does this tie into our learning? When this lesson comes up, we have been studying the SPACE CAT acronym for rhetorical analysis. And on this day, we are analyzing Taylor’s Swift commencement speech to NYU. Which if you haven’t guessed, references her song “22” a few times. We listen to this speech together and look for the speaker, purpose, audience, context, and exigence of the speech. Then students get into groups and look for rhetorical choices, rhetorical appeals, and tone together. Because Taylor is an engaging speaker and relevant in their lives, they have no trouble analyzing this speech.
If you want to check out more details on how I use this speech in my classroom, check out my blog post: How This Ultimate SPACE CAT Example Will Actually Improve Your Students’ Writing
And if you want the SPACE CAT Rhetorical Analysis resource for yourself, click HERE.
ELA Activities #5: Book Spines: Independent Reading Book Log
Finally, my last ELA activity that I am bringing back next year is my book spine templates. After years of constant struggle with independent reading, I have found a simple solution. Make independent reading a competition and a goal. I challenged my students to each read 1600 pages this semester (100 pages average a week). And I made the prize worth it: if everyone hits their goal, I will bring in Chick-fil-A.
But you know what piece I tossed out the window: the accountability. There are no book reports, no daily reading logs, and no reading quizzes. All students need to do is come see me when they finish a book and I enter it into my Reading Challenge Google Sheet. It does the math for me so I don’t have to add anything. As ELA teachers, you know us and math don’t always mix. The only thing that I have students do is create a book spine book review for me. My students receive a printed book spine and add all the essential novel information, a 5-star rating, and an image of the novel. Plus, students have a chance to show off their creativity by decorating the spine as well. Then, as each book spine is completed, students can add them to my bookshelf bulletin board display in my room. Reading is no longer complicated in my classroom!
If you want more details about how these reading book logs work in my classroom, check out my blog post: How to Refresh Your Independent Reading Ideas That High School Students Will Love.
And if you want my Book Spine Template PDF, click HERE.
More ELA Teaching Resources
12 Exciting Ideas for a Book Project for High School Students
Taylor Swift Lesson Plan: How to Use Taylor Swift Songs as Poetry
Top Three Novel Unit Activities That Will Make Your Unit Exciting
Thanks for letting me take the time to share my top 5 ELA activities with you. I hope you can steal all my ideas. And, make next year so much easier. Once you have these five activities planned, you will definitely be ready to start your summer teacher mode! And if you want that extra credit teacher bonus: check out my Back to School Bundle. Have everything you need for those first few days of school ready to go!
If you found this blog post to be helpful and you want to see more like it, go check out the rest of my blog posts at www.theteacherrewrite.com. And on Instagram @theteacherrewrite. I focus on all the ELA resources, tips, and tricks that you need to make your life easier. Without having to rewrite your curriculum Let me do all the hard work for you! I hope to see you over there! And as always, remember to think smart, not hard. So steal my top 5 ELA activities and let’s get started.
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