Now that the school year has finally finished, I’ve been able to reflect back on the school year and figure out what has been the most engaging classroom activities for the 2024-2025 school year.
One thing that I try to keep in mind when I’m teaching and reflecting on activities is that it isn’t realistic to have every single day and lesson to be the most amazing and core memory type of lesson. In my English classroom, we have days that we just listen to the audiobook or have writing days. I think it’s important to have those days too, as they work with students that like to have more relaxing days or can be after one of those big engaging classroom activities to decompress.
In the post…
What I taught this year:
This school year, I taught Sophomore English and AP Literature, so I had a wide range of skill and age within my classroom this year. But it has been lots of fun this year and reflecting on the year, I really feel that this school year was just really amazing and I had a lot of fun this year, and that wasn’t just because of the engaging classroom activities. I just had awesome students, had fun planning my units, and had two student teachers (as mentioned in the next section!)
Student Teachers:
Yes, that’s right – that is plural because this year I had TWO student teachers. I had one to begin the school year and then I ended the year with one as well. While I can acknowledge that having a student teacher is quite a bit of work – and a different type of teaching – I always feel that having a student teacher is beneficial to experienced teachers for tons of reasons. If you’re thinking about having a student teacher, read my post about how having a student teacher makes you a better teacher.
Engaging Classroom Activities:
The Hate U Give
I know – this is a whole unit. But my sophomores were absolutely OBSESSED with this book. It’s a phenomenal read for students and it touches on topics that resonate with them and the world that they live in. I had students finishing the book early and reading ahead throughout the unit. In their end of the year reflection letter, over 75% of students shared that their favorite thing that we did this year was read The Hate U Give.
I also love that reading THUG opens the door to Angie Thomas’ other books – Concrete Rose and On the Come Up. I would argue that Concrete Rose is better than The Hate U Give. I recommend that book so much, that the copy in my classroom library literally fell apart – so I need to buy a new copy.
Multicultural Mythology
This is another unit that I do with my sophomore class and they absolutely love it. Kids love mythology and this unit allows them to explore different cultures. Because it’s in the beginning of the school year, my summative assessment is having them reflect on their identity and I knew this unit was a winner when I had several of my Multilingual students sharing that being able to speak multiple languages was a super power of theirs *cue happy tears*
Poetry Madness
Another unit being sold as one of my most engaging classroom activities, but this one is for AP Literature! This one is so fun for students, but also, a lot of prep for me as the teacher. It happens during March – just like March Madness – and students become representatives for a poet of their choice. Then, they prepare through analyzing 5 poems and then have head-to-head competitions in front of a panel of judges, who then vote on who is the best poet.
It’s one of my favorite units that I do, as that is when I get to see just how much my AP Literature students have grown over the course of the year. In previous years, I’ve always asked for staff members in the building to volunteer as judges, but this year, I reached out to our school board and our superintendent to come – and they came! It was amazing that they came into the classroom and got to see what I’m doing with my advanced students. Plus gave the students some extra motivation to be prepared!
Literary Device Scavenger Hunt
Another one of my most engaging classroom activities was my literary device scavenger hunt. I brought in several children’s books for students to read through and find various examples of literary devices. I did this as the vocabulary test for my AP Literature students – but it’s also a great way to review literary devices.
Question Trails
I learned about question trails from Abby at Write on With Miss G and it’s a great way to do multiple-choice assignments. It’s taken me a while to figure out how to set them up, but she has tons of pre-made ones that you can buy as well!
Horse Race
When it comes to quizzes and reviews, I love a good horse race. I first found out about the horse race activity from Gina at Lit & More. I’ve used it most often in my AP Literature classes, but it would be great with any grade level. All it takes is to have a slide with some horses on a table (I throw in a unicorn on there too!) and the goal is to get your team’s horse across the line! I feel this is one of the most engaging classroom activities to get students reviewing for multiple choice tests.
Hexagonal Thinking
Hexagonal thinking is such a great way to get students to think about how things connect – whether it be in history, through topics, or through a process. It’s also a great practice for students to write and explain their reasoning on why something connects. This is one of my favorite ways to assess student learning!
Reading Days
Our district has early release days every week and on those shorter class days, I make them reading days! I call them DEAR – Drop Everything And Read – and my students LOVE them. In fact, when they come in on Wednesdays and it isn’t a reading day, they are so disappointed. I just want students to be reading and I tell them that. It can be a textbook, graphic novel, our class novel, whatever. However, it is NOT a work day. They have to be reading the entire class period. With these reading days, students have shared that the reading days allowed them to start to enjoy reading more. And for this English teacher, that is such a win!