How to Throw a Gatsby Party as PreReading Strategy

There is no shortage of blog posts in the world about English teachers throwing Gatsby parties for their classes before or after their study of the great American classic. What I want to show you here is how you can use this party as a gateway activity to the book and a prereading strategy that sets students up for early success in reading.

the great gatsby prereading lesson planning ideas

WAIT! DO YOU HAVE A COLOR SYMBOLISM TRACKER TO USE FOR YOUR UNIT? GRAB THE ONE PICTURED ABOVE RIGHT HERE AS MY GIFT TO YOU!

SHOULDN’T PARTIES BE FUN?

Yes! No matter when, where, or how you throw your party, there should be plenty of fun. Of the many goals of the party, getting students hyped up to read and feeling the energy of the story is a huge priority. If you have some money to spend, spend it on items that can be reused for a few years -- that makes the investment worth it. You’d be surprised at how a Dollar Tree raid can add up and then at the end of the party all get thrown away and be completely disposable. Era costume pieces, tapestries to hang as backdrops, photo props, or even centerpiece items from thrift shops are things that can be packed up and used year after year. I like these posters ($10) and once they’re laminated, they’ll last forever. If you’re not going to spend any of your own money, there’s plenty to do to set the mood for free: YouTube playlist of music from the movie or Jazz Age music, cover your whiteboard in hand-lettered quotes, grab white paper from the supply closet for tablecloths, etc. I even make my students invitations to the party and hand them out a few days ahead of time. Most of them look at me and roll their eyes, but enough of them appreciate the dorky gesture.

PREREADING WITH STATIONS

Now that you’ve set up the energy and atmosphere of the party, it’s time to do the behind-the-scenes work of getting students ready to read. For those of you reading this post who prefer to do your party at the conclusion of the novel, consider moving it to the beginning of the unit instead. As I set up my room, I create 5-6 large tables that I’ll use as the stations. This blog post will walk you through everything that I do in my lesson which can be found here completely ready for you to print and use!

Never used stations before? I’ve got a quick and easy guide to using stations here as well as how I use this learning strategy for back to school here!

Designing Stations to Support Readers

Whether you’re doing prereading stations for Gatsby or any other book, you need to consider what students need to support their reading experience. In the case of Gatsby, I’ve found that the earliest struggle students have with the novel is knowing who is who. Because of this, four of my stations are designed as “Meet the Character” stations. I pull a passage of description of Nick, Gatsby, Tom, and Daisy. At each of these four stations, students read the passage “meet” the party guest, and then jot down a record of their initial impressions of who they just met at the party.

the great gatsby pre reading activity stations

click to shop all things gatsby!

This is a quick (but important) prereading exercise disguised by fun. In the passage selected for each character, students are getting:

Familiarized with Fitzgerald’s language
Context around each character’s personality
Basic characterization

These may seem like small things, but in the world of reading comprehension, they’re critical. Imagine reading Gatsby for the first time completely blind to the story. Now, imagine reading it witht he mood of the party that you’ve created and an initial understanding of the personalities and roles of each of the main characters. This is a huge win!

OTHER NON-CHARACTER BASED STATIONS

The other stations are flexible. Here are a few other ideas I’ve used:

Book Cover analysis: have students look at various different versions of published book covers. What does the art reflect about the focus of the story? How does the artwork make you feel in terms of what mood you’re expecting to encounter? What are the colors used in each? How might that be reflective of the story you’re about to read?
Setting analysis: Choose 1-2 passages that capture important setting descriptions. Where will this story take place? How does the energy of the setting match or seem different from that of our “Gatsby Party” atmosphere? What are the colors, textures, sounds, smells, and visuals included in the description? You can even have students attempt to draw exactly what they’re reading in the description for an added “party game”.
Music/lyric analysis: Pull a Jazz age song and it’s lyrics for students to read and analyze. What were the values of this type of music? What did the music center? What kind of energy does this music give?
Trailer analysis: Set up one table with several of the Gatsby film trailers pulled up. Students can compare and contrast, make predictions, etc.

The great gatsby lesson plan ideas for teaching setting

If you’ve been partying at the end of reading Gatsby and still love it, by all means, continue to do what brings you joy! But I do hope that at the very least, these character stations activity will provide a strong foundation for your readers at the start of the study of the novel. I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below!

get lesson plans and handouts here!

Ready to think more through the Gatsby reading experience? Watch below!

KEEP READING...