Lesson Plan Ideas for The Hunger Games

Lesson Plans for the The Hunger Games

Here are some quick snippets of ideas which you can use in a classroom in order to teach the novel.

Students do some prewriting about what they think the post apocalyptic world will be like.
Introduce the novel by showing snippets of what inspired Suzanne Collins to write the book: footage of the Iraq war and a reality show.
Give students a series of scenarios related to the work before they read the book and have them come up with answers in groups.
In the middle of reading, students can give brief presentations on how they would resolve the conflict presented.
Create small groups of students after the novel is completed. Have them perform a mock government meeting of the Capitol based off of evidence from the tale.
Assign students an essay in which they compare and/or contrast at least three different ideas from The Hunger Games and Romeo and Juliet.
Have an entire class discussion where everyone works together to characterize Katniss and Peeta.
Ask students to create some sort of graphic representation of this novel, whether it be a a comic strip or a poster for a potential movie.

Explanation of Lesson Plans

Some of the suggestions which we gave you are not necessarily entirely clear unless a bit of an explanation comes along with the statements.

Prewriting

Some students have different visions of the future, and some of them have never thought about a post apocalyptic world at all. Therefore, getting them to start expressing their thoughts on such a scenario will make the introduction to the setting more comfortable and interesting.

Scenarios

In the novel, Katniss is upset that she might have to kill Peeta, since he once saved her life. Ask students how they would react if they had to harm someone that had saved them or be harmed themselves. Another option would be to ask them what they would do if their sibling was chosen for punishment, beatings, etc. The intensity of these questions should vary, depending upon grade level.

Mock Government Meeting

In order to appropriately complete this task, students will really have to read and analyze the novel. What we mean is that you are not asking them to resolve the conflict how they would, in this particular scenario. You are asking them to act out the roles of the characters in The Hunger Games.

Creating Images

Perhaps you do not understand why a student would create artwork of this - or any - novel. However, assigning such a project gives you a great segway into imagery. Would a novel about children fighting each other to the death be as graphic if we did not have the ability to imagine?

If none of these ideas suit you, take a step back and zero in on the most important parts, components, or themes of this novel. Consider how a student would best react to and understand that information, and allow those thoughts to guide your lesson plan creation.