Learning Literature Elements
The Hands-on Literary Answer and Question Project
When they have just finished a satisfying book, most gifted children do not go running up to their teachers and proclaim that it was such a great read they feel highly motivated to write a book report or build a diorama depicting a crucial scene from the plot. Books offer many kinds of effects for gifted students; they can be a release from the every day routine, they can zoom students off to far away places with strange sounding names, and they can help students work through emotional issues as they observe characters resolve their own conflicts. In many cases, the students have an emotional as well as intellectual response to the stories, and the thought of having to complete a classroom exercise that somehow proves they understand the story seems a bit redundant.
From the teacher’s standpoint, however, there are still requirements that need to be met and business that must be completed. One way to address this ostensible stalemate is to create an assignment that allows the gifted students the opportunity to carry forward what they have learned in a creative and hands-on fashion. For the purposes of illustration, the example below focuses on learning and drilling the elements of literature, and can be applied using any recently completed story.
Everyone Takes a Piece of the Puzzle
Each student will choose one element of literature, or one character from the story. This mixture can also include plot points from the story or any other literary area needed for the assignment. Some of the more important literary elements to consider include setting (atmosphere and background; point of view (omniscient, first person, narrator, etc.); irony (verbal, situational, dramatic); the use of caricatures; the introduction of types, archetypes, or stereotypes if any are used; how the author uses connotation and denotation and figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, personification, or anthropomorphism; characterization, or how the characters are developed as either ‘flat’ or ‘round’ characters, and why; how the dialogue flows; the theme and central ideas of story; the use of foreshadowing; if symbolism is employed; and other elements such as the use of hyperbole, understatement, paradox, or oxymoron.
Once they have researched their topics, each student should make a brief presentation about the literary element, a character from the story, or a plot point and then check for understanding that the other students comprehend their element.
Play the Game!
Students should then submit five answers about their topic on a sheet of paper. Each ordered answer should be more difficult than the preceding answer, as the answers will advance in the game from being worth 100 to 500 points. Each answer should be labeled in order as being worth from 100 to 500 points. The answers should have the correct questions written below them so the game can proceed much like the popular television quiz game show.
Once all the answers and questions have been submitted, students can begin the game. ‘Contestants’ can compete five at a time with the teacher reading four sets of answers from the categories that had been written on the board. Teachers will keep some sets of answers and questions for the double point round and the final answer and question. Scorekeepers should record the students’ point totals as they slap their desk or table to ‘ring in’ and be called on the give the correct question to the answer that was given. Contestants will win or lose points if they present the correct or incorrect question to the answers.
The top five students after the first round can then progress to a double point round with the top two going to the final round where there will be one final answer read, to which each remaining contestant will write down one final question. It must be in the form of a question. If a contestant correctly ‘questions the answer,’ he or she will gain the points; if not, he or she losses the points. The contestant who has the most points after the final round will win
Learning Objectives
Individual students will display their understanding of literature terms and elements of the novel by preparing a two to five minute lesson presentation on an assigned topic area. Each student will then ‘teach’ his or her topic to the class. Students will also submit a written version of their presentations. These presentations will take place before the game. During the game, students will demonstrate their understanding of the topics by taking part in a hands-on oral answer and question exchange.
