Students can use a journal to write their thoughts and opinions about the literature. Have the eighth graders write reflections on text during and after their reading. The teacher can easily check in on what the student has read, monitor comprehension and write responses back to the student in the journal. Teachers can use this opportunity to write reflective questions back to the student to expand his comprehension. Students can also use their journal to write how the story applies to their lives.
Assign each student a part of the book where he is to write an additional chapter. The kids can add in events they would have liked to see happen or add details to specific characters in the chapter. Students can also rewrite the ending to the story. Encourage the class to be creative with their writing while keeping the ideas appropriate to flow with the literature. Another option to change the story up a bit is to have the students rewrite a conversation between a couple characters.
Create a glossary of unfamiliar and important words from the story. Include the definition for each word as well as an original sentence to prove correct understanding. Find synonyms and antonyms to go with each word. Find examples of proper nouns, words with common prefixes and suffixes or unique adjectives used in each chapter of the story. Challenge the students to write a text message to a friend using a couple of the new words, in the correct context, to communicate what they read about. Remember to keep the message under 160 characters.
Assign a specific portion of the story to students and have them draw a short cartoon. Include the correct characters, dialog and setting in the cartoon strip. Draw a map to represent the setting of the story. Include important locations, a legend to explain symbols on the map and a brief title with a description. Make a postcard showing the setting of the story that one character might send to another character in the story.