Here’s part two for planning an engaging novel unit. It features the final five stages of my process. Be sure to check out the prequel to this post if you haven’t yet!
Socratic Seminars
As a follow-up to planning rigorous activities, I highly encourage you to incorporate a Socratic seminar into your engaging novel unit.
I did this most recently with my advanced sophomores after they finished reading Antigone. As preparation, they had to generate at least 8 thought-provoking, open-ended questions they wanted to discuss.
I then explained: “In an ideal world, I’ll say ‘Go’ and won’t have to say anything again until ‘Sorry, we are out of time and have to wrap things up.’” Essentially, this means the discussion should be entirely student-led with little to no teacher “interference.”
I was blown away at the quality and depth of the discussion. The power dynamic was entirely shifted from teacher to student. They were polite, curious, and perceptive. And I was blown away.
Here’s what I used to prepare my students for this discussion.
Use Reading Journals in an Engaging Novel Unit
Reading journals are another great addition to an engaging novel unit. When I build mind, I like to do so with the whole unit in mind. I prepare all the pages and staple them together for each student.
In my academic classes (as opposed to my advanced classes) where comprehension is a key goal, we complete about one page of the journal per class. I vary how we do this: independently, as a large group, with a partner. And I collect journals each day to assess students’ work.
Admittedly, this much grading can be time-consuming. Oftentimes I collect journals daily at the start of the year while we’re building our routine and learning how to meet expectations. But as the year progresses and students develop skills, I back off a bit. Sometimes that means collecting journals once a week or even at the end of the unit only.
Here’s a reading journal I used with an Across Five Aprils unit.
Gallery Walk
When planning my engaging novel unit, I look for ways to get students up and moving. A gallery walk is perfect for this.
Successful gallery walks for me have included posters with engaging quotes from the text. Students move around the room (either “free range” or with a set time limit) and discuss those quotes. I often post discussion questions to facilitate the conversations.
I’ve also had students complete gallery walks to observe their classmates’ work. I love to have students create posters, usually ones that delve deeply into characterization or setting. I allot a set time to prepare the poster and then build in time for students to see their classmates’ work. This is a cool way to foster accountability (it’s embarrassing to create a lame poster) and student learning (they learn so much just by reading what their peers did).
A gallery walk I love to use each year is this one for the characters in Julius Caesar.
Class Google Slides Presentation
Speaking of accountability, I look to incorporate it whenever possible in an engaging novel unit. I really like the idea of students learning a lot by doing relatively little work. This harkens back to my previous post about my previewing jigsaw activities.
With this task, I’ll create a class presentation (and make enough copies of it for duplicate classes). Each person or pair is assigned a slide. Their objective is to fill that slide with engaging information and design it to be visually appealing.
At the end of the work period, I share the presentation on my projector for everyone to see. Depending on the class, I’ll read the slides (modifying or adding any information, as needed) or have the students do so.
In the past month, I’ve done this twice with two different classes. I had my sophomores participate in a Greek Mythology Google Slides presentation (my bundle is linked here). And I had my seniors track all the places Holden Caulfield went in Catcher.
Plan a Meaningful Assessment for your Engaging Novel Unit
The final piece of an engaging novel unit is for students to show what they know. For me, I avoid traditional forms of assessment as often as possible. Don’t get me wrong: we write essays and I certainly see the value. But traditional exams (multiple choice, true/false, open-ended response) are pretty much out the window for me unless it’s a quick reading quiz.
So what do I do instead?
I try to offer as much voice and choice as I can in a menu of project options. Though the project options definitely change per text, the basic premise remains the same. I try to target as many learning styles and interests as I can so everyone can find at least one inspiring idea.
My Catcher in the Rye project options are probably my best example of this right now. From psychology to art to analytical thinking, I like to think my seniors have a ton of possibilities at their fingertips.
And I have a creative but still formal way of assessing what they learned in the novel.
Concluding Thoughts
I hope you’ve found at least one helpful idea here between these two sister posts. As long as you keep your students’ needs and interests in mind, you’re sure to succeed.
How do you plan an engaging novel unit? Let me know in the comments!
