There is no shortage of literature study guides out on the market today. So how do teachers choose the good ones from the rest? What is it teachers are really looking for in their literature study guides? It comes down to three things: content, comprehension, and compelling.
Content: The content is the base of any good literature study guide. Providing comprehensive and compelling content will encourage group discussion as well as open up the minds of the readers. The content should be organized in such a way that will create a fluid movement through chapters, and ask the necessary questions that will promote understanding of the subject matter. This leads into the second point — comprehension.
Comprehension: Good content will lead to a wider comprehension of the literary work. Comprehension is the purpose of the literature study guide. Study guides should aid students in understanding the topics covered in a literary work. They should help students to retain information longer by encouraging them to bring up important plot points from memory after short intervals of reading so as to quickly bring to memory what they have just read. This encourages comprehension of the novel as students are forced to think about things and understand what they have just read before continuing on.
Compelling: All-in-all, it is essential that the content is compelling. Students’ attentions should be grabbed by any novel, and this should be reflected by its study guide. The content covered in a literature study guide should foremost be compelling; encouraging group discussion as well as to encourage students to continue to read the literary work in question, as well as to encourage students to read other similar works.
How do teachers find the literature study guides that apply these three key features? That’s the tricky part. Classroom Complete Press’ Literature Kits take these considerations into account and provide comprehensive novel study guides for Newbery medal and honor winners as well as the classics to ensure 100% quality in all our titles. Visit the Literature Kit section of our books at http://www.classroomcompletepress.com/ for our full list of available Literature Kits for grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8. Our world-class Literature Kits are now available as instant PDF downloads.
