ACTIVITIES THAT PROMOTE DISCUSSION
Student-generated Whole Class Discussions
Fishbowl
Informal Writing as the Basis
for Discussion
Mock
Trial
Talk
Show Format
Text
Rendering
Read-Write-Think:
The Pros and Cons of Discussion
NC
Learn: Concept Chairs / A Format for Classroom Discussion
Task-Oriented Small Group Activities
Graphic or Material Productions
Board Game
Body
Biography
Chalk
Talk
Coat of Arms
Concept Map
Four-Square
Activity
Graphic Organizers
KWL (Know-Will/Want-Learned)
Mandala
Memory
Box
Planning
a Movie Based on the Text
Political
Cartoon
Sociogram
Webquest
Read-Write-Think:
Behind the Masks: Exploring Culture and Self Through Art and Poetry
Read-Write-Think:
Bio-graph: Graphing Life Events
Read-Write-Think:
Designing Effective Poster Presentations
Read-Write-Think:
Designing Museum Exhibits for The Grapes of Wrath: A Multigenre Project
Read-Write-Think:
Graffiti Wall: Discussing and Responding to Literature Using Graphics
Read-Write-Think:
Having My Say: A Multigenre Autobiography Project
Read-Write-Thinnk:
I've Got the Literacy Blues (mural)
Read-Write-Think:
It’s My Life: Multimodal Autobiography Project
Read-Write-Think:
Judging a Book by its Cover: The Art and Imagery of The Great Gatsby
Read-Write-Think:
Literary Scrapbooks Online: An Electronic Reader-Response Project
Read-Write-Think:
Love of War in Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story”
(collage)
Read-Write-Think:
Music and Me: Visual Representations of Lyrics to Popular Music
Read-Write-Think:
Outside In: Finding A Character’s Heart Through Art
Read-Write-Think:
Short Story Fair: Responding to Short Stories in Multiple Media and Genres
Read-Write-Think:
Weaving the Multigenre Web
Read-Write-Think:
Book Report Alternative: Comic Strips and Cartoon Squares
Read-Write-Think:
Book Report Alternative: Hooking a Reader with a Book Cover
Read-Write-Think:
Book Report Alternative: Summary, Symbol, and Analysis in Bookmarks
Read-Write-Think:
Book Report Alternative: Creating Careers for Characters
Read-Write-Think:
Book Reviews, Annotation, and Web Technology
Read-Write-Think:
Cover to Cover: Comparing Books to Movies
Read-Write-Think:
Digital Reflections: Expressing Understanding of Content Through Photography
Read-Write-Think:
Doodle Splash: Using Graphics to Discuss Literature
Read-Write-Think:
Graphic Life Map
Read-Write-Think:
I've Got It Covered! Creating Magazine Covers to Summarize Texts
Read-Write-Think:
Mind Pictures: Strategies That Enhance Mental Imagery While Reading
Read-Write-Think:
On a Musical Note: Exploring Reading Strategies by Creating a Soundtrack
Read-Write-Think:
Painting Poetry: Using Visual Representation as a Response to Literature
Read-Write-Think:
Story Character Homepage
Read-Write-Think:
Using the Four-Square Strategy to Define and Identify Poetic Terms
Read-Write-Think:
You Know the Movie Is Coming—Now What?
Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute: His Story, Her Story, Our Story / Narrating History
Through Art
Learn NC:
Alternative discussion formats: Monuments and memorials
Learn NC:
Alternative discussion formats: Museum exhibit design
Learn NC: Marketing Song
of Roland--the Movie
Learn NC: Turning the Century
(movie display)
Learn NC: Replica of a Period
Newspaper/World Literature
Learn NC: Literature-based
newspaper: Their Eyes were Watching God
Learn NC: English Historical
Newsletter Project
Learn NC: The Great Chaucer
Challenge: A cooperative learning game to review the Prologue
Learn NC: Looking Back -
An Art/English/History Interdisciplinary unit
National
Endowment for the Humanities: Trekking to Timbuktu—Student Version
Collaborative
Writing
Found
Poem
Read-Write-Think:
Found Poems/Parallel Poems
Parody
of Author
Rewriting
Narrative from New Character's Perspective
Student-created
Study Guides
Read-Write-Think:
Brochures: Writing for Audience and Purpose
Read-Write-Think:
Developing Characterization in Raymond Carver’s “A Small, Good Thing”
Read-Write-Think:
Exploring Literature through Letter-Writing Groups
Read-Write-Think:
Help Wanted: Writing Professional Resumes (adapt for literary characters)
Read-Write-Think:
Lights, Camera, Action...Music: Critiquing Films Using Sight and Sound
Read-Write-Think:
Making Connections to Myth and Folktale: The Many Ways to Rainy Mountain
Read-Write-Think:
Poetry Circles: Generative Writing Loops Help Students Craft Verse
Read-Write-Think:
Poetry: Sound and Sense
Read-Write-Think:
Preparing a Character for a New Job: Character Analysis through Job Placement
Read-Write-Think:
Style: Translating Stylistic Choices from Hawthorne to Hemingway and Back Again
Read-Write-Think:
Book Report Alternative: Character and Author Business Cards
Read-Write-Think:
Book Report Alternative: Creating a Childhood for a Character
Read-Write-Think:
Travel Brochures: Highlighting the Setting of a Story
Read-Write-Think:
Writing Alternative Plots for Robert C. O’Brien’s Z for Zachariah
Read-Write-Think:
Analyzing Character in Hamlet through Epitaphs
Learn
NC: Alternative discussion formats: A public relations campaign
Learn
NC: Singing the Song of Life
Performances Teacher-Designed Discussion-Generating
Tasks Video Games
Freeze Frames
Oral Interpretation
of Literature
Read-Write-Think:
The Reading Performance: Understanding Fluency Through Oral Interpretation
Read-Write-Think:
Audio Broadcasts and Podcasts: Oral Storytelling and Dramatization
Read-Write-Think:
MyTube: Changing the World With Video Public Service Announcements
Read-Write-Thinnk:
Novel News: Broadcast Coverage of Character, Conflict, Resolution, and Setting
Read-Write-Think:
Pairing Fiction With Poetry and Performance
Read-Write-Think:
The Ten-Minute Play: Encouraging Original Response to Challenging Texts
Read-Write-Think:
Unlocking the Underlying Symbolism and Themes of a Dramatic Work
Read-Write-Think:
Developing Story Structure With Paper-Bag Skits
Read-Write-Think:
Entering History: Nikki Giovanni and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Read-Write-Think:
In the Poet's Shoes: Performing Poetry and Building Meaning
Read-Write-Think:
Lights, Camera, Action: Interviewing a Book Character
Read-Write-Think:
Literary Characters on Trial: Combining Persuasion and Literary Analysis
Read-Write-Think:
Press Conference for Bud, Not Buddy
Read-Write-Think:
The Peace Journey: Using Process Drama in the Classroom
Read-Write-Think:
Audio Broadcasts and Podcasts: Oral Storytelling and Dramatization
Read-Write-Think:
A Biography Study: Using Role-Play to Explore Authors' Lives
Learn
NC: Alternative discussion formats: History and literature on trial
Learn
NC: Alternative discussion formats: The talk show
Learn
NC: Tableaux Tour of Texts
Learn
NC: To Kill A Mockingbird role-play: A Maycomb pig pickin'
Learn
NC: Oedipus the King Reader's Theatre
Learn
NC: The Trial of Hamlet
Anticipation
Guides
Second
Life
Where My Ladies At
Single-session Discussions
Jigsaw
Discussion
Webs
Long-term Discussions
Book
Clubs
Literature
Circles
Read-Write-Think:
Girls Read: Online Literature Circles
Read-Write-Think:
Give Them a Hand: Promoting Positive Interaction in Literature Circles
Read-Write-Think:
Literature Circle Roles Reframed: Reading as a Film Crew