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    • Feb 27

How to Throw a Classroom Hemingway Festival

Ernest Hemingway is my imaginary boyfriend. Even though I'm positive that if I met him IRL, I'd find him arrogant and overbearing, I like to pretend that if I lived in Paris in the 1920s because imaginary me had a budding fashion career, we would have met at Shakespeare and Co. and gone out for cafe au lait, pain au chocolat, and hearty flirtation.


Because of my crush, I love teaching Ernest Hemingway to my junior students. We read "Soldier's Home" to preview Hemingway's anti-hero, writing style, and themes. Later in the semester, we read A Farewell to Arms.


I've taught the novel many times, and now it feels fun and exciting. However, when I first started teaching AFTA, I found it incredibly challenging. I didn't know enough about WWI, I was afraid of students asking questions that I couldn't answer, and I didn't recognize what was hiding in the 7/8 base of the iceberg.


I did what all teachers in that position do: research like crazy, create good teaching notes, and refine the unit year after year. Each year's notes are scribbled with "change this / add that." Now, years later, I consider the unit one of my best. (TPT buyers rave about my Slides.)


Celebrate

One of the fun ways we celebrate Hemingway and the end of the Moderns Unit is to throw a class Hemingway Festival inspired by the one that happens in Key West, Florida annually (minus the arm wrestling and daiquiri drinking).


I offer these options, and students receive extra assignment credit for contributing. The point-values vary depending on the depth of the activity:

  • Parody writing: Students write a Hemingway parody.

  • Comedy sketch: Students write and perform a comedy sketch inspired by something they learned. (My favorite from past classes was a sketch that fictionalized Hemingway's four wives at his funeral.)

  • Song: Write and perform a song inspired by Hemingway or the novel. (I had two students write and perform a rap that to this day is my favorite student project of all time. Shoutout Sam & Branden!)

  • Banner Creator: A student creates a door banner (or white board banner) for the festival.

  • Bulletin Board Creator: A student creates a Hemingway bulletin board.

  • Slides Maker: A student compiles Slides of Hemingway images or Hemingway trivia to play on repeat during the party.


Other options are:

Collaborative poster of Ernest Hemingway for high school students

  • First-Paragraph Readers: Students read first paragraphs for the class. Make it fun by having classmates match the paragraphs to novel titles.

  • If your festival falls around Valentine's Day, you can do Hemingway Valentines.

  • Magnetic Poetry: Have a few sets of magnetic poetry on the white board. Post a handful of Hemingway's poems on the board. Assign groups to parody Hemingway's style, and have the class vote for their favorite.

  • Presentations: Give students research topics, and have them present. Some topics could be Hemingway Trivia, Hemingway's wives, Hemingway's children, Hemingway's hobbies, a map of Hemingway's travels, Hemingway in our modern world, etc.

  • Art: Students can artfully render famous quotes from the novel, design bookmarks to give as door prizes, re-design a new book cover, etc.

  • Collaboration: Students can color and fill in these Ernest Hemingway collaborative posters.


I love throwing classroom parties. They're a lot to plan, but they're worth it.


As my gift to you and your students, click here to access my Student & Teacher Handouts for throwing a Hemingway Festival in your high school English classrooms. The handouts will explain the offerings and provide a timeline for execution.


Remember to share pics from your parties! Tag them #moncreativeclassrooms and share with @merediththeenglishteacher on Instagram. I can't wait to hear how they go!


XO, Meredith

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