Responding to Great Literature

by Amber Miller

August 1, 2025

Teachers often infuse literature into their curriculum. Many teachers combine literature study and writing, using the books students read as resources for and examples of good writing. Others work toward transforming their curriculum by using literature that provides students with alternative perspectives that guide them to critically examine literature, keeping concepts of social justice in mind. These ways of incorporating literature into the curriculum are supported by assessment practices that keep teachers informed about their students' performance.

Teaching with a response-centered, literature-based approach helps readers think about themselves and their world, expanding their ideas about people, places, history, current events, and important issues. It allows students to learn to read and think critically, considering multiple points of view. Books and the right teaching can transform much more than the curriculum. They can transform lives.

Engaging Students in Text-Related Responses

A wide range of possible responses requires students to return to the text (thus increasing comprehension!). These techniques include written responses, visual responses, and audio responses. Allowing students to choose the medium and design of the activity that will be used after reading an assigned text makes them more likely to be engaged and invested in both the reading and the response.

Sample Student Text-Related Response Options & Examples:

Select one of the four literature responses below to respond to your assigned text: (1) a letter from one character to another character from your text, (2) an audio recording representing the sounds of an episode in your text, or (3) a poetry response to a selection from your text. (4) an art response to your text representing an episode not shown in the book's illustrations.

Here are some examples, using the books Edward Tulane or Ulysses & Flora (both written by Kate DiCamillo).

#1 Edward Writes a Letter to Pellegrina OR Ulysses Writes a Letter to Flora's Mom. This letter is composed AFTER the coda/ending in the book. Work to create language that matches DiCamillo's language.

#2 Edward Overboard OR Ulysses Gets Sucked Up By a Vacuum Cleaner. Your assignment is to create an audio-recording representing the sounds of of the episode in which Edward was tossed from boy to boy and then overboard and into the sea OR the episode in which Ulysses is sucked up by the vacuum and gains his superpowers. Along with your posted audio (think MP3), explain how you decided on the sounds to include in your "track."

#3 Writing a Poetry Response: Select the episode you find most meaningful in this story, and write a poem responding to that episode. BONUS: Try to write a poem in the style and voice of the main character.

#4 Art Response. Think about how the full-color paintings and half-tone illustrations extend our understanding of the characters and Edward’s Tulane’s journey. What other scenes would you have liked to see illustrated and why? Select one scene or image from the story not included in the illustrations and draw or paint your vision. Write a corresponding caption from the text. FLORA AND ULYSSES: Create Your Own Superhero, using a combination of graphic art and text. If you were creating a superhero, what animal would you choose? Create your superhero animal using Ulysses as a guide. You may want to include: • a superpower • a special name • how that character hides his or her superhero self • friends • enemies.

Here are a few examples of text-related response ideas based on some of my favorite Fantasy Fiction that extend students' understanding and promote creativity:

Art Response to Aru Shah and the End of Time