Narrative writing, telling a story, allows students to demonstrate their understanding of various genres, while interacting with the genre directly. Instruct your students to select their favorite genre, and write a story based in that genre. Make sure they include the name of the genre they are selecting in the title of each work. Read each work, determining if students have a strong grasp of each genre, by determining if they use the elements of each genre correctly. Use this to determine if students understand each genre, but also to encourage them to see the genre from the author’s point of view.
One act plays are short presentations in which students play character roles and act out a part. Select a few one act plays, each set in a genre you taught to your class. Assign a part to each student, and instruct the student to act out the part in front of the class. Allow them to use a copy of the play, instead of forcing them to memorize the lines, but encourage them to use some acting talent, such as playing up certain roles of the genre, such as a spooky vampire voice for a Gothic genre or an old Southern accent for a historical genre. Use this to help students experience genres from the perspective of the characters in the genre.
Class activities motivate students to get involved with a lesson and interact with the class. Prepare note cards with one element of one of the genres studied in class written on each card. Write each genre on the dry erase board in front of the class. Call on students, one at a time to walk to the front of the class, draw a card and place it on the board under the appropriate genre. Instruct all later students that they can either move a card on the board to another genre, or draw a card of their own, if they believe that all of the cards on the board are in the correct position. Reward the class with a special prize if the board is correct in the end. Use this activity to teach students how to identify each of the main genres you teach in class.
Genres are a part of everyone’s understanding of movies, books and television shows, and you can use this to teach students about genres. Instruct students to interview three individuals outside of the class, such as parents, siblings, friends, neighbors or another teacher at the school. Make sure each student knows to ask the interviewees these questions: “What is your favorite genre?” “What are some elements of that genre?” and “Why is it your favorite?”
Instruct students to ask other questions during the interview, to find out more about the interviewee’s understanding of the genre. Discuss the results of each interview in class. Use this project to demonstrate how many different genres exist, as well as teaching students to look for genres in everyday entertainment.