3 Engaging During-Reading Activities for Middle School ELA

You've planned an engaging hook for your next ELA unit. You've got a great final project ready to go. But what happens in between?

If the middle of your unit feels like an endless cycle of reading chapters and answering comprehension questions, this episode is for you.

In this installment of the Hidden Gems of EB series, Caitlin and Pat share three creative during-reading activities tucked inside larger EB Academics units. You'll discover how to make annotation more engaging, get students moving and discussing what they're reading, and turn character analysis into a creative activity students can revisit as a story develops.

And the best part? You can adapt all three activities for almost any short story or novel you're already teaching.

HERE ARE THE 3 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:

1. Make annotation more purposeful with emojis.

Emoji Annotations comes from EB's "Harrison Bergeron" short story unit, but the strategy works with virtually any text.

Students use a simple key of eight symbols to mark important elements as they read, including characters, figurative language, connections, surprising moments, and possible themes.

Instead of highlighting everything or writing notes without a clear purpose, students know exactly what they're looking for.

And if students can't write directly in their books, they can use sticky notes or keep a separate annotation log.

2. Get students moving and talking with Discussion Stations.

Discussion Stations from the "Stray" short story unit offer an alternative to another teacher-led, whole-class discussion.

Set up four stations with three questions at each. Students rotate in small groups, discussing different aspects of the text as they move around the classroom.

You can organize the stations around one literary element, such as setting, or give each station a different focus, such as characterization, figurative language, or theme.

Add sentence stems to support productive conversations, and you've got a flexible discussion routine you can reuse throughout the year.

3. Track character development with Six-Word Memoir Trading Cards.

This activity originally appears in the after-reading section of EB's "The Outsiders" novel unit, but it works beautifully during reading, too.

Students create trading cards featuring a character's name, an illustration, and a six-word memoir that captures the character's perspective or experiences. On the back, they justify their choices using evidence from the text.

Try having students create a card halfway through a novel and another after finishing it.

Comparing the two gives students a concrete way to analyze how a character develops and how their understanding of that character has changed.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Emoji Annotations from the "Harrison Bergeron" Short Story Unit

• Discussion Stations from the "Stray" Short Story Unit

• Six-Word Memoir Trading Cards from "The Outsiders" Novel Unit

• EB Into, Through, and Beyond Lesson Framework

• EB Teachers ELA Portal

• EB Teacher Community - exclusively for EB Teachers Members

MORE FROM EB ACADEMICS

At EB Academics, we help middle school ELA teachers create engaging, rigorous classrooms without spending every evening and weekend planning.

Inside the EB Teachers ELA Portal, you'll find ready-to-use short story units, novel studies, reading activities, writing lessons, and more. Many of these resources include flexible activities you can use with texts beyond the units they were originally designed for.

Visit ebteacher.com/portal to learn more or join the priority list.

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW

If one of these activities has you rethinking the middle of your next ELA unit, make sure you're subscribed to the Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast.

The Hidden Gems of EB series continues next week with creative ways to wrap up a unit without relying on another traditional test.

And if you're enjoying the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a quick review. Your review helps more middle school ELA teachers discover practical ideas they can bring straight into their classrooms.

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