Making Contemporary Connections to Literature

Students learn best when what they are learning is relevant to them, both for the lives they are living now and the lives they will lead in the future. ELA teachers play a key role in this process when they incorporate opportunities for students to make meaningful connections between the universal themes that emerge in the texts they are reading and contemporary issues in the world today that matter to their students. For example, a literary text might explore the relationship between justice and fairness, which students could connect to issues such as racial or gender discrimination, gun laws, LGBTQIA+ or disability rights, or mass incarcaration. 

The following learning experiences help students draw connections between social issues that the author explores in the text and their impact on our world today. These are important competencies to foster in students—competencies that require them to practice perspective-taking, engage with big questions, and develop opinions about contemporary issues that impact not only them but others in their immediate communities and around the world.

Before using this learning experience, please review the following information to help guide your preparation process.

Introduce: Identify Contemporary Social Issues

1. Have pairs generate a list of social issues that the text explores and then share their ideas with the class. Record their ideas on the board. 
2. Have students choose a social issue from the list that interests them to reflect on in a journal response that uses the Rapid Writing teaching strategy. The following prompts can help get them started:
   • What social issue in the text matters to you? Why? 
   • What do you think the author wants you to think about or understand in regard to this issue as you read their book? What makes you say that?

Explore: Make Connections Between the Text and the World Today

This learning experience adapts the “3 Y’s” thinking routine. ¹

1. Have students work in small groups to discuss a social issue that the text raises. Pass out the Exploring Contemporary Social Issues handout and have students record notes as they discuss the questions. As you circulate, encourage them to incorporate evidence from the text to support their thinking.
2. Then have groups imagine that a news source that exists in the world of their text is publishing an article that examines the issue they just explored. Use the Create a Headline strategy to write a headline based on ideas that emerged during their discussions. Remind students that this is a headline for a news source in the world of the text, not one in the world today.
3. Have groups share their headlines using the Wraparound strategy before discussing some or all of the Exploring Contemporary Social Issues questions as a class.

Extend: Deepen Understanding of a Contemporary Issue

Note: If you would like students to engage in a more robust research project, see the Explore section of the Facing History learning experience Research Three Ways.

1. Have students find an article from a news source (see a list of trusted news sources in our Current Events Teacher Checklist) that helps them deepen their understanding of how the text connects to a social issue in the world today. They should read and annotate their article, perhaps using the following key:
   • Write a “☆” by information that explains, clarifies, or helps to illuminate the main idea of the article related to the issue.
   • Write a “♡” by places that resonate with you because they reflect something about who you are or your world.
   • Write a “!” by places that challenge what you know about the issue.
   • Write a “C” by places that connect to the text (work of literature).
2. Then students should write a short summary of the article, using their annotations as a guide. If your students don’t have experience summarizing informational texts, you will need to provide a model and directly teach this important skill. 
3. Use a strategy like Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World or Connect, Extend, Challenge to help students connect the information they learned about the issue with what they already know and their own lives. Students can share what they learned about their issue in small groups or a gallery walk.

• 1The “3 Y’s” is a thinking routine developed by educators at Harvard University’s Project Zero.