Students are often leery of middle school literature because of the length of the works and the density of the language when compared to what they are used to studying. In spite of our best efforts to summarize the action, explain the symbols, and analyze the text, we are often greeted in our classrooms with bored and apathetic faces wondering, "Why are we reading this? This is hard."  

In this workshop we will explore activities and exercises in a variety of learning styles to help students unlock the language of literature and bring flexibility and freshness to our own units.  We will take time to adapt the lessons to the literature we teach in our own classes. We will also examine critical STAAR TEKS, looking at ways to help students connect with text, make connections between texts, and discern layers of meaning in text. Finally, we will look at connecting literature to expository and persuasive text to help students make sense of it all.