4 Absolute Favorites to Teach In February in High School ELA

Reading Instruction

I have to admit: I love Groundhog Day! There’s something charming and wonderful about a rodent who supposedly drinks a special elixir that allows him to live forever in pursuit of his meteorological aspirations.

Plus, Puxatawny Phil gets to live in a library. A library. What an actual dream!

However, I also find it stressful to teach in February. Somehow the shortest month of the year is also one of the most challenging. Snow days and holidays mess with student schedules. It seems like it’s dark when you leave for school and when you come home. And, if you’re really lucky, you get to do parent-teacher conferences, too.

Because I think it’s so challenging to teach in February, I wanted to share some of my seasonal favorites.

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Valentine’s Galore

Walk into the grocery store right now, and it seems like very aisle is festooned with pink and red streamers. The bakery has cakes and cookies decorated with heart-shaped sprinkles. And the florist has roses, roses, roses.

In the high school classroom, Valentine’s Day is either met with doe-eyed swoons or sassy eye rolls. Thankfully, there’s no obligation to host a classroom party. However, it can be fun to incorporate some seasonal fun. One easy way to do this is with holiday-themed writing prompts!

Next, sonnets are so versatile. Teachers can use them to practice a variety of skills: comprehension, figurative language, text structure, theme, point of view! Here are some of my favorite sonnet activities:

Shakespearean sonnets Crash Course
Inquiry-based lesson plan for introducing sonnets
Free rubric to help students design their own sonnets

Black History Month

While Valentine’s Day is only February 14, the entire month is a time to focus on Black history. While Black history should come into the classroom all year long, this is a time when teachers can bring special emphasis. Here are some of my favorite lessons for Black History Month:

“We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a poem written more than one-hundred years ago that continues to resonate with readers. Many teachers pair it with To Kill a Mockingbird, but another great text pairing is “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois.
“Slam, Dunk, & Hook” by Yusef Komunyakaa fits Black History Month but could also be saved for teaching during March Madness. This is a poem that seems deceptive: sure, it’s about basketball, but it has so many more layers. I pair this poem with “Home Court” by Jose Olivarez and the essay “Privileged” by basketball player Kyle Korver.
“The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a TED Talk I adore so much that I wrote an entire blog post about it. Typically, I pair this speech with Things Fall Apart, but since I’ve switched schools this year, I’m not teaching Chinua Achebe’s novel. For this reason, this is in my plans to teach in February.

Classic Love Stories to Teach in February

Sometimes you’re looking for a longer text to teach in February. Personally, my freshmen are getting ready to start reading Rome o and Juliet. While it’s not a happily-ever-after, Romeo and Juliet is such a well-known tale that it works well in the classroom. My students are preparing to cast the play and “act out” the text. Along the way, we will rely on this abridged and modified version of the text. Here are some resources that help me teach Romeo and Juliet:

Family Tree
Task Cards
Journal Prompts
Free unit planner and anticipation guide
“Purgatory” by Maxine Kumin (another sonnet!)

If a drama isn’t what you’re looking teach teach in February, Pride and Prejudice is another classic romance with a much happier ending, less crude humor, and nuanced themes. While Romeo and Juliet is a text I usually teach with freshmen, Pride and Prejudice is a novel I’ve only taught with seniors. The satire in this novel is sharp and a good contrast to the sticky sweetness of Valentine’s Day. Here are my favorite Pride and Prejudice resources:

Updating your classroom library is another way to celebrate love in February. Bring romances and love stories to the forefront in the classroom. Spotlight popular titles and series to help students engage. Some of my favorite recommendations include: