Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity. 

ACTIVITY 1: “The Allegory of the _____”

An allegory is a clever way of crafting insightful questions about what it means to be human. The power of an allegory is that it can teach life lessons and morals without making the reader feel like they are being lectured. In this activity, you will create your own allegory.

• Step 1: Complete the following table to brainstorm what allegorical symbols might best highlight each universal issue:

UNIVERSAL QUESTION or ISSUE / ALLEGORICAL SYMBOL

Climate change

Social justice

Education reform

Human purpose on Earth

Everlasting love

Life after death

Forming identity

• Step 2: Choose the format of your allegory. Will you write a story? Will you perform a skit? Will you draw a picture book?
• Step 3: Prepare your allegorical story for the class.

Teaching Suggestion: In this activity, students should think of their own life to make allegories more relatable and understandable. The planning table can be student choice, or the teacher can add more rows with more questions. Teachers can further enhance the activity by adding a column in which students pose and/or answer a question about the topic provided.