Tenth grade is a tough academic year for many students. While ninth grade acts as an introduction period to high school and 11th and 12th grade students receive the luxury of being upper classmen, 10th graders work to adjust to the rigors of advanced work -- especially language and literary work -- and busy schedules. Keeping 10th graders stimulated requires creative thinking and hands-on learning. Giving positive ideas for 10th grade English class projects is a beneficial way to keep kids stimulated and enjoying their academic journey.
Apply reading assignments to real world politcal issues. Assign texts that deal with socially conscious matters. For example, have students read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. This book focuses on a fictional town at the beginning of the 20th century where immigrants butcher and pack meat under excruciating conditions. Have students explore the importance of regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration. Detail how the ideas in the book go hand-in-hand with the agency and how "The Jungle" was a landmark novel that helped lead to the founding of the FDA.
Foster distance-learning relationships between local high school students and students in different parts of the country. Read texts such as "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry. Books and plays, such as this one, focus on personal and social themes concerning race, community and economics. Ask students to communicate with students from a variety of different parts of the country who are reading the same text or texts -- students in major cities and rural areas. Encourage students to discuss what the themes in the text mean to them, given where they live and attend school. Have students share thoughts and ideas with their distance-learning counterparts and present their findings to the class.
Organize students into small groups, and have each group make a video to explore, for example, the plays of William Shakespeare. Have students read a play and demonstrate the themes of the play and what happens between characters by acting out a scene from the play with their own interpretation. Alternatively, ask students to summarize the play in a 3- to 5-minute video. This project offers students a hands-on learning experience by combining their own creative thinking and reasoning with classic literature.
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Writer Bio
Jeffery Keilholtz began writing in 2002. He has worked professionally in the humanities and social sciences and is an expert in dramatic arts and professional politics. Keilholtz is published in publications such as Raw Story and Z-Magazine, and also pens political commentary under a pseudonym, Maryann Mann. He holds a dual Associate of Arts in psychology and sociology from Frederick Community College.