Literature Discussion Deck: 10 Classroom Wins

Engagement is always the goal in high school English classes.  We want our students to participate fully in reading and writing in our classes.  This is really important when when we thinking about literature discussion.  These discussion tend to be reflective of how successfully students have read and help lead to more successful writing.

So what do we need to help students become involved a literature discussion?  Variety.  This is why you need a discussion deck.

What is a Literature Discussion Deck?

A literature discussion deck is a pack of questions that can be used with just about any text.  The great thing about this discussion deck is the versatility.  I have over 25 ways that you can use a literature discussion deck in your high school English class.  Here is a sneak peek.

10 Ways to Use a Literature Discussion Deck

1. Use them as task cards for a specific text.  
2. Choose specific cards from the deck to assign.
3. Have one student draw a card(s) for the whole class to respond.
4. Use them as warm ups (bell ringers, exit tickets)
5. Use them for assessments on a digital classroom (drop the png at the top of a document and then use that “make a copy for each student” function).
6. Post them around the room with specific passages for collaborative annotations.
7. Distribute them to book clubs/ literature circle groups for discussion.
8. Create stations with a different close reading passage at each station to coordinate with a specific card.
9. Have students develop a board game using the cards as a way to move around the board.
10. Place the cards face down on the table and have students pick them up at random:  they could then respond in groups, a full class or as individuals.

Give a Discussion Deck a Try

What to try the discussion deck?  Grab this freebie.  If you are already convinced, go grab the first 40 cards or the whole set of 84.

Related Posts

For more on using a discussion deck, check out this post: Discussion Questions for Book Clubs.

Or consider In Class Discussion: 5 Ways to Encourage Critical Thinking in High School English.

Perhaps you are thinking about discussions in literature circles: High School Litearture Circles: 7 Lessons After Nearly 20 years.

Five Ways Reader’s Notes Can Transform Your High School ELA Book Clubs (The ReWrite Teacher)

How to foster a sense of community with student-driven class discussions (the English Education Lab)

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Free Set of Literature Discussion Deck Cards

Book Discussion Deck Set 1

Questions for Book Discussion Deck 2

Literature Discussion Deck Bundle