There is nothing more exciting than introducing students to a great piece of literature. On the contrary, there is nothing more disappointing than students’ lack of enthusiasm for a book they really love. Unfortunately, your fervor for a novel doesn’t always translate into cheers and applause from your students. Reading a novel requires a lot of investment. Even novels with heavy action plots take a while to gain momentum. How can you quickly increase students’ interest at the beginning of a new book? Here are six surefire ways to get your class excited about a new novel.
PLOT PARTS. Divide the students into groups. Assign each group a page from a different part of the novel. After they have read the page, have students write a paragraph that describes the plot of the novel. To do this, students will have to use context clues extracted from their excerpt. Ask students to choose a representative from each group to present their plot summaries. Compare the plot summaries and review these summaries at the end of the novel. Asking students to make guesses about the plot of the novel will spark their interest in the book and help them extract information from context clues.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS. Ask students to read the first page of the text silently. Next, ask for a volunteer to read the first page out loud. Then have students write down as many things as possible that they learned from the first page. Next, ask students to write down three questions they have based on their reading of the first page. This activity will help students read context clues and teach them to locate text evidence when making generalizations about a novel.
COVER. Read a summary of the novel from the back cover, inside flaps, or from an Internet source. If you prefer to leave the novel a mystery, read an excerpt from a selected part of the book. You can also print this summary or excerpt for students to refer to. Next, ask students to design a cover page based on the information obtained from the abstract or abstract. Allow students to explain their cover design. If you are reading a novel that is divided into parts, have students design a cover at the end of each part of the novel. Revisit the cover designs at the end of the novel and ask students to write a paragraph about their understanding of the novel. This activity will help students trace the ways their comprehension developed throughout the reading.
MAIN SUBJECT. Although students read novels throughout their education, very few are taught the importance of titles, copyrights, and acknowledgments. The pages that contain this information are called “preliminary matter.” In small groups, ask students to explore the main theme of the novel. Instruct students to list 10 things they learned from these pages. In a more open-ended version of this activity, you can ask students to answer the following questions: What does the main theme tell you about what will and will not be in this novel? What does the opening subject tell you about the novel’s plot and themes? A good explanation of the main topic can be found on the Vox Clarus Press website. Simply search for “Vox Clarus Front Matter”.
LAST LINES. Instruct students to read the last sentence or last paragraph of the novel silently. Then ask someone to read these last few lines aloud. From these last lines, ask students to draw a comic strip showing the plot of the novel. Each frame of the comic strip must contain narrative and dialogue. The last frame of the comic strip should be based on the information obtained from the last lines of the novel. Thinking about the ending of the novel will whet students’ appetite for the actual plot.
START AND END. Have students read both the first and last sentences of the novel. Then have students build a poem, paragraph, or story using the first and last sentences of the novel as the first and last sentences of their writing. Your students’ writing should summarize what they think the plot of the novel will be. Review these summaries in the middle and at the end of the reading. In a reflective paragraph, ask students to compare their initial impressions with the actual plot and themes of the novel.
When starting a new novel, consider using one of the activities above in your classroom. These activities provide a new lens through which to view your new novel. Starting your novel study in a unique and unpredictable way will reinforce your students’ interest and engagement.
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