Could I Have Some Fries With That? Serving Up Novels in Social Studies

“How many are in your dinner party?”

“Three.”

“We have a lovely seat with a view for you. Right this way..…”

“.....Are you ready to order?”

“Um, yes. I’d like to try some Iqbal.”

Introducing books to students takes on a whole different feel when doing so in an unexpected way.  

In our geography classes, we read books to help bring the story of geography and people to the students. The story presented in a novel helps students to be empathetic and to bring the world more to life.  They become exposed to different experiences in the world and better realize the advantages in their own lives.

To hook the students and start them off on the right foot in their reading, I present the books to the students in the form of a book buffet. I transform my classroom into Restaurant 144.

The students are greeted at the door by the Restaurant 144 sign and are asked how many in their dining party. As soft jazz music greets their ears, they are escorted across the room to a table adorned with a tablecloth and tea lights. They take their seats, menus are distributed, and the diners are told that a server will be over shortly to take their orders.

The menus have photos of certain books with a brief introduction to each book. Students look through the menu to make a choice. When the server returns, orders are taken, and the books are served - on plates, of course. The server informs the diners that they can return their choice to the “kitchen” if it is not to their liking and they can make another selection. (Our assistant principal was even able to come in as a guest server.)

To further develop the atmosphere, when a student asked if he could go get some water, I broke out a pitcher of water and cups and served water to those students in need of a drink.

The restaurant ambiance heightened students’ interest. Behavior was also enhanced, as students acted more formally with courtesy, pleases, and thank yous, just as if they were in a restaurant. As the day proceeded and different classes came to the doorway, I could see that word of mouth had already amplified other students' anticipation.

And reading.

All students were engaged in reading the book of their choice. Even reluctant readers became absorbed with their choice. The unique environment and their ability to choose worked together to hook the students.

After all the students chose a book and had read several pages to confirm the book as the right choice for themselves, I organized students into groups that had chosen the same book. Together they looked over the guiding questions and made a reading schedule for themselves based on the three discussion dates that I set. On these dates, each group would hold their own Socratic seminar-like discussion which focused on the guiding questions and other questions or thoughts any of the readers wanted to bring forth to the group.

Most students, even reluctant readers, were very engaged in reading their books and involved on the discussion dates. The effort to pull off this hook was minimal, but the results impressive.  The students had fun being introduced to a variety of books. They had the opportunity to choose, try, and choose a different book if necessary. And I had fun as well, interacting with students in a different way, and seeing them highly engaged in reading.

Restaurant 144 was a great success.

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If you have had success creating an unexpected hook for students or transforming your classroom to engage students, or if this post has generated some thoughts of your own, please share in the comments. I would appreciate hearing from you.

Getting Students Engaged with Literature via Commericials

Wanting to help out my team's ELA with the students practicing some literary analysis, I turned to Jon Corippo's Lit Circles: Rebooted for the 4 C's and Common Core. (See his slide share here.)

Corippo's approach focuses on short, engaging bursts of student activities and repetition.  He encourages giving a time limit to students to make it like a game show and get their positive adrenaline pumping. Collaboration is also encouraged. With his lit circles approach he starts small and works toward student choice of reading material.

So, taking his lead, I started small like he suggests - with commercials. He uses those for the short bursts, to engage students, and to get in many repetitions so students can get more and more comfortable with their literacy skills.

His lit circles structure looks at four components: summarizing, conflict, characterization, and wishes (Wishes requires students to analyze and predict and to justify their responses, providing the ever-important "why".). You could change the components to stress skills you want your students to hone.

Different types of conflict for students to consider are presented in the 
Google Drawing. (SmartBoard tells students which block to work on
 based on where they sit in the group.)

I provided students with an overview and directions for each component.  I decided each student would work on each component - you could structure that in different ways and organize small group conversations, but I wanted the group to see each others' work to expose them to others' ideas and have conversations as they did the work.  So, I made a Google Drawing for each component.  Students made copies, shared, and began their work. 

But not until they started laughing while watching the commercial, of course.

I chose to use the Hyundai Kids Football commercial that aired during a Super Bowl. (You can see it here.)

Students were easily and quickly engaged.  

As we talked about their work, they needed some tweaks here and there, but, hey, that's what practice is for. Overall, the task was accessible to a wide range of students, and the commercial made it seem far less like work.

I have since had them practice with the original Geico caveman commercial and the Doritos dog commercial from the 2016 Super Bowl.  Both successfully engaged the students and had them practicing their literary analysis skills. It was also so easy to extend their thinking during discussion about concepts such as inciting incident and climax.

As the students got familiar with the format, they were able to complete the components more quickly, more accurately, and more insightfully.  Practice allowed them to push their thinking more.

This approach is definitely one I will share with the ELA teachers in the building. It is engaging and flexible and allows students to practice essential skills - while having some fun, too!

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If you have had success engaging students in literary analysis, or if this post has generated some thoughts of your own, please share in the comments. I would appreciate hearing from you.