While students are reading the book, have them engage in small group discussions regularly. Switch the groups around each time so students get to share ideas with different people. Give each group a question to discuss, like "Who do you think is the most sympathetic character?" "Is sexism or racism more dangerous to girls and women in the novel?" and "What does the novel say about blame?" Have each student choose a question to answer in an essay after completing the book.
Have students explore how media images from Hollywood influence young people's perceptions of themselves. Play a clip from "Bright Eyes," a film starring Shirley Temple, a young actress Morrison mentions in her novel. Discuss how the young girls in "The Bluest Eye" responded to such images, and what the novel was saying about popular perceptions of beauty. Have students write or discuss current ideas of beauty, asking them if one model of beauty still takes precedence.
Have students collect their own images that illustrate the American standard of women's beauty for homework. Tell them to cut out pictures from magazines and describe images they've seen in films or on television. Students should describe how images may have been modified, too. For example, magazines frequently make models' skin look perfectly smooth. Have students try to find alternatives to the beauty standard and describe how prevalent they are, and what mainstream America thinks about these alternative images. Have them journal on how these images, both standard and nonstandard, influenced them growing up.
Have students make collages from their images of beauty. First, they should journal about what beauty means to them, and the standard of beauty American culture upholds, if they have not done so in a previous exercise. A student might design her collage to illustrate a specific point about beauty, or she might reflect on what her collage expresses afterward. Her collage might represent different ideals of beauty or focus on just one.
Some schools have banned teaching of "The Bluest Eye" because it deals with themes they consider inappropriate for minors, like incest. Have students write papers persuading a school board that it should -- or, alternatively, should not -- allow teachers to use this book in their classes. Students should develop their arguments using published material arguing for or against teaching the novel, and should address their counterargument clearly. Have students present and discuss their ideas to the class afterward.