Project-based learning seems to be better suited to science class or history class, but it can also be done in your novel units.

That seems counter-intuitive. After all, in project-based units of study, reading is a means to an end, not an end in itself. When you use your novel units to teach reading, you’d think that reading would be the primary focus--but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, your students will probably read better if the focus isn’t on the doing of the reading.

Think outside the box.

What is it you really want to accomplish in your novel unit? What are the reasons for reading this book? In most cases, you want to practice multiple skills: reading comprehension, analytical reading, writing, research, vocabulary work, critical thinking, communication, cooperative working, and perhaps skills in creating presentations, public speaking, interviewing--to name a few possibilities. In addition, you want students to learn about the elements of fiction and consider the many ideas presented in the content of the book.

You can accomplish all of this if you just think outside the box. Consider the novel you want to do and boil down into its essence what you really want students to “get” from it. What is the central theme, the central conflict, the main point of reading it? What’s the crux of the situation in the book? Work backwards from that to devise a project, a scenario for students to work through--for which they will have to read the novel (and probably several other things) to gain information to complete.

Relate the project to the novel.

In order to complete the project, students will have to know what a particular character did in a similar situation or how a character solved a related problem. Students may need to analyze relationships between characters to come up with information they can apply to their projects. What the information IS totally depends on the book.

Here are some examples of what I mean:

Be mindful of your requirements and objectives.

Each of the possible projects noted above may not seem like much of a project, but the value of the project depends on how you set it up. If you set it up being mindful of your ELA objectives and outline your requirements carefully, any of these projects could be very involved and worthwhile. For example:

●Investigating whether or not the local judicial system is fair might require not only reading about cases that have happened recently but perhaps going to the court to see how it all works, like Scout and Jem did. Students would take notes about each of the parties involved: prosecution, defense, judge, jury, audience. Students would reflect on the statements and actions of each of the parties and come to a conclusion as to whether each acted/spoke appropriately and whether a just decision was made. You could ask specific questions in your rubric, comparing the trial(s) you students see with Tom Robinson’s trial. You could ask how Scout and Jem would have felt seeing the trial your students watched. You might ask if the prosecutor was like Atticus. There are a lot of possibilities.

●To know if anything happens in our society today like what happened to Hester, students need to know what happened to Hester. Do people have children out of wedlock? Is there shame in that anymore? Whom do we ostracize? In what ways is that like what happened to Hester? When students try to create rules (laws) to prevent this kind of behavior, they’ll see that it can’t be legislated. So then they’ll have to look for other ways to solve the problem. This will be a challenge. You can ask for comparisons Hester’s townspeople to townspeople today. Students should discuss who was at fault in Hester’s situation and who is to blame (at fault) today for the situation of those who are outcasts.

●To create their own Egypt game, students need to know what the Egypt game is in the book. What did the girls do? What props did they have? What skits and things did they do? What was the point of the Egypt game? In some ways, your students will develop relationships somewhat like the girls did--and that could be compared/contrasted. A multitude of discussions and writing or research assignments could relate to this project.

In all cases, the reading of the book becomes secondary to solving the problem, answering the question, or creating something. Your exact requirements will also depend on what skills your students need to practice. Writing assignments, oral presentations, research assignments, interviewing--whatever skills you deem necessary--become a part of the project rather than individual, unrelated assignments. Each has a purpose in helping to fulfill the project.

Make many avenues of assessment.

Of course, you’ll want to make sure each student has read the book. Make assessing this easy. If you & your students have access to an on-line quizzing system, use that. Another option would be to simply have a little oral conference with each student while the groups are working on their projects. Talk about the book with your students to assess their comprehension. It’s subjective but probably more accurate than a multiple-choice test.

Research or writing assignments, journals or notes are also good forms of assessment along the way. Build these into your project assignments and check them as the unit progresses to make sure students are staying on track.

One of the easiest forms of assessment is to simply talk with your students individually about the projects. Find out what they’ve liked doing, what’s been difficult, see if they need help with anything in particular. See if the group is working well together.

Final projects--oral presentations, PowerPoints, written papers--whatever they may be--should reflect the body of work done for the project.

Project-based learning gets you out of the rut of reading so many pages each day. It opens the door to broader learning and encourages the development of responsibility in each student. Ideally, you would have groups of students doing different projects for the same novel at the same time, each focusing on a different aspect of the book, followed by the sharing of information and learning experiences among all the groups and a whole-class discussion of the book and the projects.