by PRP Group, on 09/05/2024
As a former teacher and current teacher trainer, I have seen first-hand how challenging it can be to create English language arts (ELA) lessons that deeply engage students. While novels are engrossing for some students, teachers who use a variety of texts and media sources engage more students and address a broader range of topics and reading standards.
Supplementing novels with a variety of informational texts and primary sources that offer historical and modern context helps students make sense of the novels’ settings and characters as they connect the literature to the larger world. These connections make students more interested in the stories they read, enhancing their overall classroom engagement. If you then encourage students to research topics that interest them, they’ll be even more motivated to read and write–and they may even have some fun.