A key concept that’s important for students to learn is the
importance of engaging with the text — not just being a passive
reader. There are obviously many effective instructional
strategies to help them practice that lesson. One pretty
explicit way is for them to have access to reading “choose your
own adventure” stories where they are periodically given choices
of what they want characters to do, and then participate in the
construction of the story itself. The Goosebumps series of books
is a well-known example of this genre. In the world of English
Language Learner teaching, these kinds of stories are also
called “Action Mazes.” There are many other examples of “Choose
Your Own Adventure” stories on the Web that are accessible to
English Language Learners, and this “The Best…” list will share
links to them. My students have always enjoyed reading these
online versions. In addition, writing these kinds of stories has
the potential of being a fun and educational group writing
activity for English Language L