Literature Response Lesson Plans

An essential literacy skill lesson I like to include in my first few weeks of instruction is how to appropriately respond to literature. My sixth grade students tend to write what they think is the "right answer", or the answer I want to read. My goal in having students respond to what they are reading in class, or at home, is to draw on and expand upon personal connections to the text in order to strengthen their overall comprehension. I tell students each school year that I want to read their honest thoughts, reactions, and questions in their responses. In order to teach this concept, I use a picture book that students can easily connect to, and direct them through a few activities in which they are given opportunities to respond.

As previously stated, I begin this lesson by reading a book that students can easily connect their personal experiences to. I read aloud Patricia Polacco's "When Lightning Comes in a Jar". It's a story about a family reunion that takes place in the Midwest. The pictures and descriptions always inspire students to raise their hands to share similar life stories. Before reading the story, I provide each student with a Post-It so that students can jot down any thoughts, feelings, or memories that they would like to write about in more detail during response time. As I read the picture book, pencils begin to move, hands go up in the air, and students begin to tell stories about their own family gatherings and memories. After a few students have shared their personal stories, I then ask the class to write about one of the items on their Post-It note. After they have had enough time to write, I ask  students to share their responses. This is an enjoyable activity that personally connects to students' lives.

In addition to providing an opportunity for students to respond to literature with personal experiences, other activities geared toward responding to specific parts of the text are also included in the first few weeks of instruction. After reading a book such as Polacco's "When Lightening Comes in a Jar", I ask students to think about a character that they identified with, and write that character a letter. I encourage students to share what their similarities and differences are in comparison to the character, as well as ask the character questions, and provide advice to a conflict presented in the story.  I have also asked students to draw the setting of a story and change something about it. On the back of their drawing, or on a separate sheet of paper, students respond to how the story would have been different in that newly-created setting (e.g., characters' actions, conflicts, resolutions). A modification I have made to the setting response activity is to have students create short dramas and act them out in front of the class. Students in the audience write a short response at the end of each performance comparing and contrasting the student-created dramas to the original story. In summary, responding to literature can be a means of strengthening comprehension skills by helping students tap into personal experiences and expand their prior knowledge. The lessons that follow give teachers the tools to do this.

Literary Response Lessons:

The Tale-Tell Hearts of Writers: After reading a short story or poem by Edgar Allan Poe, as well as an article about him, students learn to respond to an author's word choice and reader's interpretation of a piece of writing. As an individual project, students choose an author to study, and create a visual representation of that author based on criteria outlined in this lesson.

Salvaged Pages: Writing a Response to Literature: This lesson uses the Holocaust as the topic of study in order to respond from different perspectives on this time in history. Although this lesson is based on the book "Night", by Elie Wiesel, there are many books and topics that could fit into this literature response structure (e.g., dust bowl, slavery, Westward Expansion, or immigration). This also would make a great integrated unit with a history/social studies teacher.

Illustrating Literature: After reading "Walk Two Moons" students are divided into pairs in order to illustrate an important scene in the book. Accompanying each illustrated scene is a response that discusses the importance of the scene depicted, character's qualities, and how the chosen scene connects to other characters in the novel. Again, this basic response structure could be used with any novel or short story.

Literature Letters: After reading a short story or novel, students analyze the characters by writing a letter as a character in the story to another. This lesson provides a prewriting handout to help students organize ideas and direct their thinking.