Creating Personal Relevance in the ELA Classroom (and Beyond)

Ten entry points for deepening student connection to academic texts.

KELSEY HAMMOND
Senior Professional Development Coach
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​As an English Language Arts teacher in a heavily assessed environment, I often wrestle with the tension between making learning engaging and meeting academic standards. In conversations with colleagues, I found that this balancing act is a common struggle. We want to foster an environment where students feel genuinely connected to what they’re learning, yet we’re also tasked with ensuring they meet rigorous academic goals.

This led me to question an often-assumed division: must rigor and relevance be at odds?

In fact, research across generations, from Dewey’s foundational work Interest and Effort in Education (1913) to more recent studies (Darling-Hammond 2020), affirms that when students sense personal relevance in their work, their engagement deepens and retention rates increase. When students feel a personal connection, they are more likely to engage with academic tasks, fostering motivation and improving learning outcomes.

I invite you to incorporate these ten strategies for infusing personal relevance into academic learning, all aligned with the Next Generation Standards. Each approach includes a practical example using an anchor text common in middle and high school ELA classrooms, yet remains flexible, ready to adapt to the unique needs of your students and curriculum. 

These offer a pathway forward for teachers who want to create personal relevance with their students, while also maintaining a focus on academic learning standards and objectives. 

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Trigger an emotional response

​A powerful emotional response to music, images, or situations draws students in and helps them connect emotionally to the text. When students feel something deeply, they engage more meaningfully with the reading.
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• Example: For Of Mice and Men: Play soft, melancholy music before reading the ending. Ask, “What emotions does this music bring up? How do these emotions relate to what happens in the final scene?”
• Standards Connection: Reinforces tone and mood analysis (R.4) and prepares students for writing about emotional impact in texts (W.2).

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Spark curiosity

Plant a seed of curiosity with a mysterious question or fact to get students asking, “What happens next?” Curiosity hooks activate natural inquiry and set the stage for meaningful reading.
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• Example: For "Macbeth": “What would you do if a stranger promised you the future of your dreams—no strings attached?”
• Standards Connection: Develops inferencing skills (R.1) and supports critical thinking to identify key ideas and details.

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Stimulate debate

​Nothing engages students faster than a debate. Present a provocative statement, divide students into sides, and let them argue their positions. Debates sharpen their reasoning skills and introduce key themes early on.

• Example: For "Romeo and Juliet": “Is love at first sight real, or just infatuation?”
• Standards Connection: Supports argumentative writing (W.1) and speaking/listening skills (SL.1) through evidence-backed discussions.

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Appeal to students' interests

Make learning feel personal by linking the text’s themes to something students already care about — like pop culture, social media, or current trends. When students see how literature connects to their world, they engage more deeply.

• Example: For "The Hate U Give": “How does Starr’s experience reflect what we see on social media today about activism and identity?”
• Standards Connection: Promotes text-to-world connections (R.9) and builds skills needed to compare texts and real-life issues.

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Invite speculation

Let students’ imaginations run wild by asking them to predict outcomes or explore “what if” scenarios related to the text. This primes them for close reading by requiring logical inferences based on textual clues.
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• Example: For "Lord of the Flies": “What if the boys had been rescued right after the crash—would things have turned out differently?”
• Standards Connection: Builds inferencing skills (R.1) and helps students develop well-supported literary arguments (W.2).

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Involve physical movement

Tap into kinesthetic learning by incorporating activities that get students moving. This kind of engagement encourages collaboration and helps students process ideas more deeply through active participation.
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• Example: For "To Kill a Mockingbird": Use a Four Corners activity with statements like “Atticus should not have defended Tom Robinson.” Students physically move to the corner that matches their stance.
• Standards Connection: Strengthens collaborative discussion skills (SL.1) and reinforces claim-evidence-reasoning frameworks (R.1).

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Inspire creative thinking

Inspire students to think beyond the text by asking them to reimagine or rewrite a scene. Creativity helps them dive deeper into character motives and story structure while making the material their own.

• Example: For "The Great Gatsby": “Rewrite the final scene, but this time Gatsby lives—how does the story change?”
• Standards Connection: Encourages narrative writing (W.3) and helps students explore character development and structure (R.3).

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Ask students to make real-world connections

When students relate personally to the text, the themes become more meaningful. Inviting them to reflect on personal experiences similar to those in the text builds empathy and engagement.
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• Example: For "Frankenstein": “When have you ever felt like an outsider, just like the Creature?”
• Standards Connection: Helps students analyze themes (R.2) and supports reflective, evidence-based writing (W.4).

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Present a challenge

Give students a task that seems simple but is trickier than it looks — like summarizing a text’s key theme in just six words. This taps into their problem-solving skills and gets them thinking critically from the start.

• Example: For "Of Mice and Men": “In six words, describe what George gains and loses by the end.”
• Standards Connection: Reinforces text analysis (Standard R.2) and concise, evidence-based writing (W.2) essential for essays.

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Encourage perseverance

Not every text, especially those on standardized assessments, will feel personally relevant or engaging for students. Verbally encouraging perseverance through challenging readings can reassure students that they aren’t alone in tackling a difficult task. As adults, we know that much of life includes reading material that may seem uninteresting or irrelevant. However, it’s essential to remind our students to persevere in order to achieve a larger goal.

• Example: “I realize this text might not feel very interesting to you, but remember—you can do hard things. Take short breaks if needed, but keep in mind that you have the skills to get through this. I believe in your ability to persevere.”
• Example: “In order to achieve your goal of _________, it’s important that you do your best at reading this text, even if it doesn’t feel very enjoyable right now. This is an important step in getting to that larger goal because ______________.” ​

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​Even as we work to develop our students’ literacy skills, we can create spaces for personal relevance in ELA classrooms and beyond. These goals — rigor and relevance — are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they work together to create richer, more challenging learning experiences that engage students now and prepare them for the future.

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