Literacy

Ages 14-18

Sneek Peek

Students will create a stop-motion book trailer to promote a book’s imagery, symbolism, or theme.

Objective

Analyzing literature helps students think critically about society and understand the issues faced by characters in a particular place and time. Stop-motion video will allow students to create a meaningful, visual representation of a scene in the text that demonstrates their comprehension of detail—such as imagery, symbolism, and theme—and convinces others to read it.

Overview

Topic English literature
Target age 14+ years old
Ideal group size 2 or 3 students
Time to complete 3 to 4 class periods

Activity

  1. Student groups will choose a scene they think will make an appealing trailer to promote a book’s theme, imagery, or symbolism.
  2. They’ll need to decide on appropriate images to include, how to design the set, and which props to use. Creating a storyboard will help keep the stop-motion video flowing.
  3. The video must promote the book and entice others to want to read it. The chosen scene must introduce a theme, imagery, or symbolism.
  4. After viewing the videos, take some time as a class to reflect on which book trailers effectively enticed the audience to read the book.

Rubric

This sample rubric can help teachers access the project.

Sample Video