26 English Activities for High School You’ll Want To Try Right Now

Engaging middle and high school students can be quite a challenge. How often have you crafted what you believed was an exciting lesson, only to leave feeling disappointed when the activity didn’t resonate? Believe me, I understand your struggle. I’ve experimented with innovative English activities aimed at capturing my students’ attention, striving to make English feel relevant and fresh. I often reflect, “I would have loved to have these kinds of activities when I was in school!”

Sometimes my efforts miss the mark, but at other times, I strike gold. After much trial and error, I’ve developed techniques that reliably engage students. Here are my top creative English activities for high school students.

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1. Pretend You Are an Alien from Another Planet

Imagine being an alien who doesn’t comprehend human emotions. Task your students with explaining happiness to you, the alien. As they try to use other emotions as reference points, gently remind them that you don’t understand those either. Eventually, they’ll discover that you’re looking for figurative language (e.g., “happiness is a Diet Coke at 11:30”), and voilà—mission accomplished! This mini-lesson is one of my favorites because when I start class with “I am an alien from another planet …,” the reactions vary from puzzled looks to acceptance, as they’ve seen my antics before.

Try it: Alien From Another Planet Activity at Teachers Pay Teachers

2. Embrace the Season and Let It Dictate Your Unit

Each year I revamp my curriculum, but recently, I themed a unit around the Spooky Season. We read eerie stories and watched suspenseful short videos, analyzing how authors create suspenseful effects for their audience. This high school English activity allowed us to explore themes and character development within the context of Halloween. Some of my students’ top picks included Lamb to the Slaughter and The Landlady.

4. Write Your Own Spooky Story

After exploring our mentor texts and mastering the art of suspense, students craft fictional narratives designed to send shivers down your spine. They pull ideas from grab bags filled with character names, setting concepts, and props to weave their terrifying tales.

Try it: Spooky Story Starters at Teachers Pay Teachers

5. Make Everyone a Poet with Blackout Poetry

Thanks to Austin Kleon, blackout poetry has become a cool and accessible way to create. Students take pages from newspapers or damaged books and craft poetry by selecting specific words, then blacking out the rest. I’ve employed this activity annually, sometimes allowing students to choose freely while at other times providing a specific theme. The diverse interpretations of a single theme, like “courage,” showcased through poetry are always fascinating.

Try it: Blackout Poetry at We Are Teachers

6. Use Emojis in Class

When explaining complex concepts like symbolism, utilize symbols from students’ daily lives. Assign each group a word or theme, and have them select an emoji that represents it. They can sketch their chosen emojis on the board and explain their choices, or develop a full art project for display around the room.

Try it: Why I Let My Students Use Emojis in Writing Assignments at We Are Teachers

7. Go Hunting for Mechanics, Usage, and Grammar Errors

Gather examples of grammatical errors from the internet and turn them into a slideshow for class. Students can work in small groups to identify and correct the errors, making the exercise both educational and collaborative.

I prefer a one-pager assignment that allows students to visually demonstrate their understanding of developing themes and symbols in the literature they are studying. They can illustrate symbols and images significant to the text and include evidence to support their interpretations.

Try it: One-Pager Template at Teachers Pay Teachers

9. Play Reviewsical Chairs

Inspired by Love, Teach, I introduced the game “reviewsical chairs” for test preparation. It’s similar to musical chairs, but when the music stops, the person left standing must answer a review question correctly to challenge someone for their seat. This interactive game is a crowd favorite among both middle and high schoolers.

10. Play the Flyswatter Game

This fun review game involves placing answers around the room (e.g., character names, dates, themes, storytelling devices). Split the class into two teams, and send two representatives to the front with flyswatters. The first to swat the correct answer wins a point. It’s an energetic game, but ensure the area is free of obstacles to prevent accidents!

11. Listen to Podcasts and Discuss Them Together

Not all teens are familiar with podcasts, but they can be an engaging way to introduce lessons. My students have enjoyed listening to various series, and many continue to listen independently after our lessons. I prepare discussion questions for them to answer while listening, which often leads to lively debates—another valuable learning experience!

Try it: List of Educational Podcasts at We Are Teachers

12. Introduce “Chapter Chats”

My students enjoy leading “chapter chats” in small groups. By giving them the responsibility of discussing specific chapters, they gain ownership of their learning. I love seeing them formulate thoughtful questions, bring themed snacks, and create games that encourage recall of details from the text. Chapter chats serve as excellent high school English activities to assess speaking and listening skills while fostering critical reading.

Try it: Chapter Chats at Teachers Pay Teachers

13. Let Your Students Be Podcasters

Last year, I decided to let my students produce their own podcasts, a project I had long wanted to undertake. While it required significant planning and organizing recording spaces, we successfully accomplished it! Students pitched topics, received feedback, researched, composed scripts, and produced their podcasts. Listening to their episodes and answering questions from their guides was an enriching experience that I intend to replicate.

14. Throw Parties with a Purpose

Having just finished reading The Great Gatsby, we hosted a 1920s-themed party. I divided the class into groups to research various aspects like fashion, food, ambiance, and guest lists. Students assigned roles and created lexicons of vocabulary to use during the party. This engaging assignment not only made learning fun but also covered multiple academic standards!

15. Give Speeches as Characters

After analyzing several TED Talks, my students crafted and delivered their own speeches. They randomly selected characters and types of speeches (e.g., Beyoncé giving an acceptance speech). This approach boosted their confidence, as they felt more at ease performing as someone else. The activity was a resounding success among my eighth graders and helped them master those challenging speaking and listening standards.

16. Read, Solve, and Create Murder Mysteries

My middle and high school students have a keen interest in true crime. I’ve designed murder mystery activities that align well with literature units, emphasizing inference-making, writing, and textual evidence. Once the mystery premise is established, students create case files, evidence, and clues for their peers to solve. The added excitement of pulling items from mystery bags enhances their engagement, especially for those who find it challenging to start.

17. Read Children’s Books

Many educators utilize children’s literature to teach literary devices in middle and high school. Inspired by Ludacris, I once rapped Llama Llama Red Pajama in my creative writing class before having students write their own children’s books. While there’s likely footage of this hidden somewhere, it’s a fun memory!

Try it: Famous Children’s Books at We Are Teachers

18. Use Magazine Clippings for Found Poetry

Provide students with scissors and a stack of magazines, newspapers, or books. They can cut out words and phrases that resonate with them and arrange these into a unique work of poetry.

19. Perform Plays

After finishing 12 Angry Men, one of my sophomore students expressed a desire to read more plays. Plays offer several advantages, including a shorter reading time compared to novels. They allow students to embody characters and express their inner thespians. My students fully commit to their roles, and the performances are enriching!

20. Pique Interest by Doing First Chapter Friday

Reading aloud to secondary students may feel awkward, but they genuinely enjoy it! Reading an engaging first chapter from books encourages them to explore new titles on their own. First Chapter Fridays are particularly effective if you have a well-stocked classroom library.

Try it: First Chapter Fridays at We Are Teachers

21. Have Them Create SNL-Style Satirical Sketches

When teaching satire and parody, I showcase examples of appropriate satire. We discuss the elements of satire, and then I invite students to write and perform their own sketches. With a collection of wigs and costumes in my classroom, they can fully embrace their characters. Funny wigs are always a hit!

22. Incorporate Teen Slang into a Summary of What They Are Reading

While my juniors tackled The Crucible, I noticed the complex language posed challenges. To refresh their memories after a long weekend, I creatively summarized Acts 1 & 2 in Gen-Z slang. Although they teased me about being cringey, their laughter indicated understanding—a win in my book! I subsequently had them write similar summaries for Acts 3 & 4, which deepened their comprehension of the intricate character dynamics and plot progression.

Try it: Teen Slang Every Teacher Should Know at We Are Teachers

23. Create Fun Stations for Creating Background Knowledge

Before diving into a short story or novel, set up stations that provide essential background knowledge. When preparing for The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe, I established stations covering details about Poe, the Carnival, the Catacombs, vocabulary, and discussion questions on significant themes. Some stations included videos linked via QR codes, while others involved reading articles and discussing key questions as a group. To create a spooky atmosphere, I adorned the space with battery-operated candles, plastic skulls, and a haunting playlist.

24. Get Them Talking and Thinking by Using Anticipation Guides

An effective way to generate excitement for an upcoming story is to use an anticipation guide. This tool previews topics that hint at themes within the text, encouraging meaningful discussions prior to reading. By guiding students through engaging questions, they will better understand what they’re supposed to take away from the literature. My favorite anticipation guide is from The Most Dangerous Game. Given my school’s hunting culture, we often debate the questions; students physically position themselves based on their agreement and share their reasoning.

25. To Teach Figurative Language, Create a Weird Grab Bag

To help students grasp figurative language, I group them and give each group a bag filled with unusual items. One member draws an object, and they write sentences using personification inspired by that object. They then select their favorite sentence to share with the class. We review all the sentences to ensure proper use of personification and to spark creativity. If they can craft compelling sentences about an Expo Marker, they will surely rise to the challenge in their own writing!

26. For All the Swifties Out There, Analyze Taylor Swift

Will there be detractors? Absolutely. Be ready to counter them! In my poetry unit, we analyzed “All Too Well.” Taylor Swift’s songwriting prowess makes her lyrics a treasure trove for English teachers. While I may not speak for every educator, I believe many of us would agree that her work is incredibly valuable for analysis. You can also explore other artists, such as Sam Cooke with “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

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If you liked these creative English activities for students in high school, check out these 10 Playful Tricks To Engage High School Students.

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