The Literary Maven Leaps Into Literature

February 29, 2016



Looking for new ways to engage your students in literature, especially with classics that might seem old and outdated? Literary postcards are an activity that can be used with any literary text, at any grade level, time after time, year after year.One activity I use engage my students in literature is creating literary postcards. This activity is
incredibly versatile. It can be done with any grade level and any text, during or after reading. Students first select an important scene from the text to illustrate on the front of their postcard. Then on the back side, they reflect on that event in writing from the perspective of a character of choice.

The writing on the back of the postcard can take a variety of forms. Students can write a postcard from one character to another. They can write a diary entry or interior monologue or even a poem. Students could write a series of postcards from the same chosen character's point of view based on different events in the novel. 

You could also select one specific event to focus on, assign students different characters, and then compare the reactions of different characters in students' writing. You could assign students different characters and have them write back and forth to each other. The possibilities are endless. You can read more about this activity and see additional student samples here.

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  1. I love that this can be used to give students a choice of characters, or you can choose a character for them. Great resource!