Ms. Q: Keeping Novels Going

Your mini research idea is a great one, as it should sustain student interest in the novel and introduce research, which will be covered more in depth later in the year. Can you remind me of your plan for the mini research project?

I have used many different techniques to keep a story going and interesting. Here is a short list of things I have used in the past:

1. Show a video clip of an important, foreshadowing, or mysterious scene. For Huck Finn I have showed the clip where the fight occurs between the two farm families, where Huck's friend dies and he has to confront his idea of society's ideal of right and wrong again. I stop is just after the boy dies, so the students are literally on the edge of their seats.
2. Have students get into pairs after the first few chapters have been read. Each partner chooses a character and then these "characters" journal back and forth to each other throughout the remaining reading. Students predict, infer, question (both the characters and the author).
3. Bring in outside resources--stop reading the novel for a day or two and bring in something from history or today that relates and have a discussion about it, how it relates to novel, and what it might signify for the outcome of the novel.

These are just a few of the ideas I use to keep the reading interesting.