Engaging students in reading

Jeffrey D. Wilhelm provides many creative ways he has incorporated into his classroom with the goal of engaging his students in reading in chapters 3 and 4 of his book, "You Gotta BE the Book."

The ones I really liked and will tuck away for potential future lesson plans are Role-Playing, Postcards and Missing Scene Scripts.

Role-Playing is an active way to get students engaged with the characters and themes of the book, especially those who have difficulties becoming engaged. By becoming a character they can suddenly form that connection of reader-character, forming the start of a bond.

Kind of related to Role-Playing is the use of Missing Scene Scripts which Wilhelm (2008) described, "After identifying scenes that were suggested but left out of the text, students wrote and produced vignettes that filled these gaps, elaborated on story events, or explored alternate story possibilities," (p. 134).

What a great way to encourage students to actively participate in class and with the reading! They can even do this via a video project.

I also loved the Postcards idea. I'd have my students choose a scene that stuck out to them from a chapter and draw what they envisioned and then on the back state why they chose that scene. By doing that, I feel like I'd get a glimpse into what they, as readers, find important.

Here's a link to a video some high school students made for the book, "Of Mice and Men" that I thought was great. They created a trailer for the book--another great idea for a creative way to connect to the book and show their engagement as readers.