Have your students find literary devices and elements in their favorite entertainment. Have them choose an appropriate song, poem or book with a minimum number of literary elements and devices that you set beforehand. Have each student give a presentation identifying the devices and explaining the author's intent using references and her own interpretation based on your previous teaching on literary devices. Each student plays her song, reads her poem or an excerpt from her book of choice during the presentation.
Students learn by doing. Have them create their own works with emphasis on using literary devices. Give students a prompt based on which element you'd like to emphasize. For instance, have them write a short story where characters from two different worlds meet, or give a central theme to work around, play a song or a sound or show a painting and have them set a story in a similar place. Remind students to keep in mind how they'll set the scene or open the story, what rising action and climax the story will have and how they'll end the story. Encourage sensory images, descriptive language and a strong central conflict the protagonist must address.
Giving your students a research-based project reinforces in-class material on literary elements and devices and helps strengthen research and information organizing skills. Have each student choose a literary element to study in-depth. Have them research its formal definition and typical executions as well as examples from classic and contemporary pieces. Have them describe how the element relates to other literary elements and what devices authors use in works that focus on the particular element. Have the students read several examples to the class, play an audio sample from a song or create a multimedia presentation.
Have your class put on a play or shoot a film based on a script they've written using literary elements and devices. During the writing process, focus on how they'll use stage direction, language and character interactions to "guide" actors, director and designers to stage the story. This project works especially well to highlight how different literary styles employ literary elements and devices in slightly different ways. Reinforce these elements during the rehearsal process so it shows in the finished product.