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Book Trailer Project for ELA: Alternatives to Book Reports

Distance Learning , End of the Year , Literature Circles , Project-Based Learning , Secondary Literacy

At the end of the year, students always welcome alternatives to book reports and final exams. This is especially true for students who have recently completed standardized testing. Thankfully, there are many options for alternatives to book reports for English Language Arts. A student favorite is the book trailer project – this alternative assessment is perfect for both independent novel studies and whole-class novels!

Using book trailer projects is a great way to incorporate differentiation in English Language Arts . It is also a great way to implement project-based learning within your curriculum. Most importantly, it provides the chance to end the school year on a fun note.

In this blog post, I will show you how I use book trailer projects as an alternative assessment in English Language Arts. This end-of-year activity is suitable for middle school and high school students. It can be used as a project for any novel study. Furthermore, it serves as a fantastic summative assessment for literature circles or independent novel studies.

Why Use Book Trailer Projects as an Alternative to Book Reports?

1. book trailer projects create instant buy-in.

There are several benefits to using book trailers as an alternative assessment. The main one: students genuinely enjoy them . There are a lot of project-based assessments that end up being a lot of work for both students and teachers. However, most of your students might already have the skills needed to create a book trailer.

In fact, your students probably use these skills on a daily basis . The majority of them are quite familiar with movie trailers as a medium. This eliminates the need to learn about the medium itself. For inspiration, all students need to do is rewatch a few of their favorite movie trailers. You won’t have a hard time convincing them to do so!

To add to this, video content is viral on social media . The majority of your students probably watch TikTok videos or Instagram Reels. The opportunity to bring video content into the classroom is an instant buy-in for students.

Additionally, students will see this assignment as a chance to entertain their classmates. They will find creative ways to incorporate video trends and editing techniques that they see on social media. This will motivate them to complete this assignment to the best of their ability.

2. Book Trailer Assignments offer Collaboration Opportunities

Project-based assessments are a great opportunity for collaboration. A book trailer assignment is the perfect group project because it requires different skills. Students can decide on who will write the script, film and edit the content, and act in front of the camera. This allows each student to rely on their unique strengths .

In order to create their book trailer, students must collaboratively discuss their novel. This will allow them to learn from their classmates’ insights. As they share their opinions, their understanding of the novel will deepen organically. Because of this, book trailers can be just as beneficial as a standardized exam – if not more!

3. Book Trailer Projects Save Time on Grading

The best part of this alternative assessment is presentation day. Students love sharing their book trailers just as much as they love watching their classmates’ work. You’ll love watching them too. But what you’ll love the most is the ability to grade them on the spot !

To assess this novel study assignment, you can simply print each book trailer rubric before the start of class. As each group presents its trailer, you can fill the rubric out. It is helpful to have classmates share their feedback too. This will give you more time to consolidate and grade on the spot.

4. Movie Trailers are a Great Alternative Assessment for English Language Learners

The best book trailer I’ve seen was by a group of English Language Learners. Book trailers are a great alternative assessment for ELLs . For an ELL student, a written assignment or standardized test may focus more on grammar or syntax than the actual content of the novel.

In contrast, a book trailer allows ELL students to explore characterization and recreate the setting without focusing too much on grammar and mechanics. ELLs can find creative ways that express their understanding of the text.

Another great accommodation for ELLs is extra time . A typical class presentation can place a lot of pressure on an English Language Learner. Pre-recording their book trailer can alleviate some of that performance anxiety. The editing process is also a learning opportunity because ELLs can practice their pronunciation and listen to themselves speak .

What Do You Need to Assign A Book Trailer Project?

When I assigned this alternative assessment for the first time, I did a lot of research on movie editing software . I figured some of my students would need extra support. It turns out that my students were actually the experts!

As mentioned, your students are likely engaging with video content. Some of your students are also likely familiar with video editing. Ask them which programs work best for them. If you have no other factor determining student groups, you could build each group around a student with strong video editing skills .

Here are a few video editing programs for students :

• Windows Video Editor

How to Assign and Assess Book Trailers

Mondays Made Easy’s Book Trailer Project Outline includes everything you need to assign this summative assessment. This resource includes assignment instructions, a task checklist, a book trailer rubric, a peer evaluation form, and a student example.

Assignment Scaffolding and Instructions

You can facilitate this project by providing students with assignment instructions . These instructions explain the purpose of a movie trailer . This is helpful for students because it reminds them to avoid simple plot summaries . Instead, their trailer should capture the conflict, theme, and characterization within their novel.

These instructions also include a book trailer reflection . This written reflection is a short individual assignment . In this assignment, students can explain the connection between their book trailer and their literary analysis.

Your students will also benefit from using a student planner and task checklist . This graphic organize r outlines each step to create a book trailer. Each group can create their own target date for completing each step. This will prevent students from leaving most of the work until the last minute.

Alternative Assessment Methods for Book Trailers

There are several opportunities for assessment within this Book Trailer Project Outline . Students will complete both a self-evaluation and peer-evaluation form for each member of their group. To save time, you can have students upload their trailer to a Google Drive folder and share it with you. This allows presentations to run smoothly.

The resource also includes a book trailer rubric for summative assessment. This rubric evaluates knowledge of the novel and inquiry regarding critical perspectives in reviewing the novel. It also evaluates communication by considering grammar, inflection, and visual appeal.

In the past, I’ve assigned a group grade , along with an individual grade that is based on their written reflection and feedback from their peer- and self-evaluation forms.

Book Trailer Assessments for Online Learning

Book trailers are a great option for online end-of-year assignments because they are very suitable for distance learning . Students will have the opportunity to collaborate remotely. They can film their content from the comfort of their homes, and edit their content to simulate the feeling of being together.

In addition, there is really no way to plagiarize this assignment. Academic integrity is one of the most challenging aspects of remote learning . By using book trailers as an alternative to book reports, you’ll be sure that students are submitting original work.

The book trailer project is my favorite end-of-year activity for English Language Arts. They’re a great assignment for project-based learning . Additionally, they provide a creative alternative to book reports . There is no better time to harness your students’ excitement over video content. For handouts and rubrics to facilitate this assignment, check out this Book Trailer Project Outline on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Reader Interactions

[…] to create a movie trailer. This assignment requires a fair bit of effort, but it is a great alternative assessment for older students. A movie trailer will prompt students to avoid simple plot summaries and establish characterization […]

[…] To learn more about how to assign book trailers and why they serve as a great alternative assessment, check out this blog post.  […]

Creating Book Trailers in the Classroom

• Differentiation , Engagement , Freebies , Planning , Reading

A few years ago I set one of my professional goals at integrating more technology into the classroom. Regardless of the limited resources, I just wasn’t making it a priority like I should have.

I really wanted to tie reading and technology somehow. That’s when I thought why not have the kids create their own book trailers! Of course, despite knowing quite a bit about technology, the thought scared me a bit. Was this a task that was doable or would it be overwhelming and time-consuming?

That’s when I decided to contact the school technology teacher. (They are amazing, aren’t they!?)

She was positive it would be a great opportunity for the students to do and promised I wouldn’t be biting off more than I could chew. Despite her reassurances, I was still nervous that these book trailers would turn out horrible or that the creation process would drag on for weeks and months and possibly years!

I first showed students several book trailers from new releases. We analyzed them together (Hey – look at that! We met a Common Core standard!) and discussed what they noticed. Students noticed they were more about getting others excited about the book and wanting to read it. I was so excited that they got that!

I then informed the students of the project- which they were super excited about. In fact, I’m thinking they were probably making plans in their heads about being a big Hollywood director before I even finished explaining. I explained that they would read a book of their own – on their level and had to be a chapter book – and would then create a book trailer themselves to share with the class. You can download my explanation attachment and rubric  by clicking here.

Once we went to the computer lab, we used Windows Movie Maker. I was originally thinking iMovie using our iPads, but honestly, I didn’t want to spend the money on the app. We spent several days in the lab adding images, music, and editing to create our trailers. Then we had “a movie” day where we watched them together and discussed which books we couldn’t wait to watch!

This activity opened the door for so many discussions such as author’s purpose- what do you want your reader to walk away with? For story elements – what is the plot? What would make a great cliffhanger? What was the climax? Summary – what are the important elements you need to include? Citing your sources and plagiarism and so much more! It was truly worth it! We had a blast, students got some great book ideas, and we learned in the process! What more can you ask for?

Here are two examples of a book trailer created by two different students:

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10 Responses

This is great! I also want to incorporate more technology in the classroom but it's scary at times. I like the idea of a video advertisement because it ties in so many different standards. Roughly how much time did you give your students to accomplish this project? What did your "calendar" look like? Thanks for the awesome description and idea!!!

Hi! It took us about 3 weeks total- with the first week being the drafting mode- where we planned out how we wanted to do it, what we wanted to have included, what our main idea was going to be, so on (my approval). Then we spent about 2 weeks in the computer lab actually learning about movie maker (a few days) and then the rest of the time crafting it. Afterwards, we spent a few days presenting it (I spread it all out). I hope that helps!

What a GREAT idea! I want to use this idea for my next book project but I'm wondering if you would be willing to share anymore of your student's book trailers? I'm also wondering about how long it took for you to teach your students how to use Movie Maker and for your students to create their book trailers? Thanks for such a great idea!

Hi Krista, you too are a no-reply blogger meaning when it emails me your comment, I can't reply to you by hitting reply in my email. So I will reply here and hope you check back to see it. 🙂 Thank you for your compliments. Unfortunately, these are the only two that I can share because of permissions. I'm very sorry. I wish I could. The students actually picked up on using movie maker very quickly! I was super impressed. Overall, it took about 3 weeks to complete from beginning to end- with two weeks being in the computer lab. I hope that helps!

This is a great idea! I wish we could get Movie Maker – it looks like such a great program. Do you know of any similar apps/extensions for Chromebooks? That's what we now have access to (for better or for worse – perspective, I suppose!) 🙂 Thank you for the idea!

What grade level did these? 3rd grade? I was surprised to see Hunger Games. I am the school librarian for our elementary and we don't even carry the book. I have been wanting to create book trailers and you have inspired me to start tomorrow!

Hey folks, One idea I’ve used many times at the middle school level in my SS classes was Aurasma. It’s a free app that allows you to embed video and photos onto, in this case, a book trailer. For instance, Sam reads the Hunger Games and you link an image of the cover of the book to his video of him explaining a chapter, major event, characters, book trailer, etc. I used to hang the images (FDR/New Deal Murals) outside my door and anyone with the app who walks by and scans it can see the video or picture the students overlaid onto the image/book cover. My SS kids ran with it and were doing AMAZING things by the second or third day. I’ve seen it used for at-home reading practice for elementary students and a host of other ideas. If you download the app., hover over the back of a one dollar bill and you will see how it works! Hope you enjoy.

That’s a great idea! Thank you for sharing! I’ve never heard of it but will definitely be checking into it.

I am so impressed by what you have done with the book trailers! I am hoping to do something of the same sort this school year with our 4th and 5th graders. How did you get the images that you used in the videos? I am wondering about copyright issues using images from the internet. Thank you so much for sharing your lesson.

For some things we used creative commons, for other things we selected a drop down feature in google images where we can use images. No matter what though, I used that as an opportunity to discuss citing our sources. That was done in our credits at the end of the trailer and also in the presentation piece they handed it. We discussed plagiarism and how important it is to never claim someone else’s work as your own. 🙂 I hope that helps.

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Book Trailer Assignment

Congratulations! You have been hired by a book publisher to promote your book for a social media advertisement.

Now that you have finished your reading assignment this month, it is time to advertise your book with the creation of a book trailer. 

View the sample video created in Adobe Express to start thinking about how you want to put your book trailer together.

The electronic translation service is hosted by Google Translate. The quality of the translation will vary in some of the languages offered by Google. Google Translate is a free service and currently offers translation in over 50 languages, although an impressive number, this does not capture all languages or dialects. The basic translation’s goal is to capture the general intention of the original English material.

The Cobb County School District does not guarantee the quality, accuracy or completeness of any translated information. Before you act on translated information, the District encourages you to confirm any facts that are important to you and affect any decisions you may make.

The Cobb County School District is committed to parent, family and community engagement, and it is our hope that by providing this tool on our website that we are making our information more accessible to families whose first language is not English and thereby enabling better engagement in public education.

Book Trailer Tuesday: How to hook students on books in 3 minutes!

I love First Chapter Friday so much that I decided we needed to inject some book love into another day of the week. After all, it’s 2020, and we need every little spark of joy we can get. I was tired of waiting until First Chapter Friday to celebrate books, so Book Trailer Tuesday was born!

It’s as simple as it sounds: Show a book trailer and get kids excited about more books. That’s it. Book Trailer Tuesday is all about generating more interest in books, exposing students to new titles, genres, and voices, and cultivating a love for reading. In other words, it’s every English teacher’s dream.

If you’re wondering what a book trailer is, you can go to YouTube and pursue that rabbit hole right now…or you can grab my FREE collection of organized Book Trailer Tuesday links for middle and high school below.

Check out your brand new resource, and then head right back here to make plans for your very first #BTT this Tuesday! Let’s get started!

Why You Should Try Book Trailer Tuesday

Book trailers are the perfect way to hook students on more books and generate reading interest with almost no prep! Here’s why you and your students will love them:

1. Book trailers will expose your students to more books.

No offense to your beautiful classroom library, but book trailers will expose students to books in a way that your bookshelves just can’t. Your books are no good if they’re just sitting there…so bring them to life on the big screen with book trailers! If you show a book trailer every Tuesday, students will have been exposed to 36 new books by the end of the year! Combine Book Trailer Tuesday with First Chapter Friday, and you’ll double that impressive number!

2. Showing book trailers will help you get to know your students as readers and give better book recs.

After showing a few book trailers, you will quickly catch on to the genres, plots, authors, and topics students love. The more you learn about your students’ reading preferences, the better books you’ll be able to feature every Tuesday! You’ll also be able to give better book recs to individual students who come to you when they need a new book. The book trailer titles will be fresh in students’ minds, and if your students are anything like mine, they’ll be much more likely to pick up a book after watching its trailer. I can host book talks all day, but there’s nothing better than pressing play and letting the trailers speak for themselves.

3. Book trailers are low-prep but HIGH-impact.

Seriously, Book Trailer Tuesday couldn’t be more easy. It’s almost too easy when you consider how much reading interest book trailers generate. The only “work” you have to do is find a new book trailer every Tuesday. Better yet, find a good book trailer playlist on YouTube or ask your students for suggestions. Book Trailer Tuesday is a great option if you can’t commit to First Chapter Friday. Think of it like a trial run or condensed version of the joy that is First Chapter Friday.

4. Book Trailer Tuesday works well in ANY environment: traditional, hybrid, or virtual.

Whether you’re pressing play in a physical classroom or linking a video in a digital classroom, this is an activity that works well in any setting. Students will always get excited when they hear the word “video,” no matter where they are!

5. The entire Book Trailer Tuesday process takes less than 3 minutes.

Yep, you read that right. (More on that in the “HOW” section below). We all have 3 minutes…whether that’s at the beginning or end of class. And it doesn’t even have to be a Tuesday. Book Flix Friday, anyone? Watch it Wednesday? It’s easy to fit this in a busy schedule because it does not take much mental effort or time. If you love the idea of First Chapter Friday but don’t have the time to devote to it, Book Trailer Tuesday is an easy alternative. And if you’re already doing First Chapter Friday (like we are), Book Trailer Tuesday will complement it perfectly. 3 minutes, people! It is quick, easy, and high-impact, so you have nothing to lose!

How to Facilitate Book Trailer Tuesday

Are you convinced yet?! If so, here’s how to make Book Trailer Tuesday a success in your classroom. Warning: If it sounds too SIMPLE, that’s because it is! 🙂

1. Find engaging book trailers on YouTube or grab my FREE curated list HE R E.

There are plenty of book trailers on YouTube! Many are on publishing company channels, others are independently made, and some are even teacher- and student-created. Here are a few good ones that my students have loved. If you’d like a curated list of tried-and-true book trailers for both middle and high school, you can grab a copy of my FREE resource HERE.

• Scythe by Neal Shusterman
• Matched by Allie Condie
• I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
• Refugee by Alan Gratz

Know of a great book trailer? Let me know in the comments!

2. Briefly introduce the book.

This is optional, but 30 seconds of introduction helps! Show students the cover, highlight the author and any of their popular titles, and generate a little pre-viewing interest. You can read parts of the back cover blurb before or after the trailer if you want to hook students even more.

3. Show the trailer.

Most are around a minute long! Remind students that book trailers are like movie trailers; they’re designed to hook you and leave you with unanswered questions. Encourage students to think about those questions and make predictions.

4. Quickly chat about the book.

After the book trailer, ask students if they’re interested in reading the book. I have my students record their answers so I can keep track of them, but you don’t even have to do that. You can poll the class or facilitate a quick discussion. I keep this part quick – a minute or so. 

5. Have a copy of the book on hand (or info on where to find one).

If possible, it’s great to have a copy of the book so you can lend it out to students. If a title is really popular, I’ll take names to draw in a “book lottery.” If you don’t have a copy, that’s fine. Just make sure you give students information on how they can access it. I always check our school’s library, as well as our public library’s collection of ebooks and audiobooks.

That’s it! If you think it’s too good to be true, I can assure you that it’s just as low-stress and high-engagement as it sounds! If you try this strategy out, I would love to hear how it goes! Tag me in pics on Instagram @writeonwithmissg and feel free to leave comments here. I would love to know what book trailers you use so I can add them to this blog post! Thanks for reading, and enjoy your first-ever Book Trailer Tuesday! 🙂

Need more engaging teaching ideas? Check out the following blog posts:

20 Strategies to Try in 2020

Engaging Vocabulary Strategies

How to Plan Creative Lessons

10 Ideas for Planning Engaging Novel Units

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They’re obsessed with all Jason Reynolds book trailers!

Yes! I think I am going to use a video of Reynolds reading aloud “Track” for First Chapter Friday, too!

Scar Island by Dan Geminhart is a GREAT book!! Here is a trailer I found for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKbm7ymanII

Thank you SO much for the suggestion! Adding it to my list!!!

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Projects to Engage Middle School Readers

It's my fault. I'll admit it. During my eight years in the classroom, I ruined at least two amazing literary works by assigning horrifically dull reading projects. My only hope is that those middle school students, whose enthusiasm I quashed, found another way to become passionate about literature.

Peanuts raises some interesting questions about the value of reading projects. Does Lucy clearly articulate her understanding of Peter Rabbit ? Does Schroeder have a solid grasp on the concept of narrative? Will Charlie Brown ever want to read another book?

In middle school, we ask students to dissect texts and perform literary analysis. However, that does not mean that we have to limit how we assess their understanding of the books. If the desired learning objective is for students to . . .

• Demonstrate understanding of the plot elements
• Explore the role of tone and theme
• Identify significant scenes or events and their impact on the story
• Analyze a character and show an understanding of that character's motivations
• Explain the relationship between the author's life and the story

. . . does it have to be an essay or book report ?

Book Trailers

In the spirit of movie trailers, book trailers allow students to create video advertisements to entice new readers. Not only do these projects ensure that students have a firm grasp on the story's plot, setting, theme and main characters, but they also provide an opportunity to address persuasive writing as well as digital literacy concepts like copyright and publishing.

Students could use iMovie or Animoto to create and publish their videos. In fact, iMovie includes a set of pre-built trailer templates, and Ben Schersten ( @benschersten ) created a great set of PDF storyboards for students to use in planning those projects. Both iMovie and Animoto allow students to focus on the content, as they greatly simplify the editing process. Ann Feldmann's sixth graders produced a great set of examples . By incorporating their own drawings and writing instead of searching for images or shooting live video, the technology became a medium through which they could really engage with the literature.

On a foggy fall day, I took my ninth graders outside to sit on the porch while I read "The Tell-Tale Heart," tapping heartbeats on the deck and playing off the ominous weather. They hung on every word, engrossed in Edgar Allen Poe.

Leveraging the recording capabilities of most computers and mobile devices, students could explore the role of tone and sound by creating podcasts in the fashion of old-school radio shows. Using Garageband , Audacity , AudioBoo or any other sound recorder, students can retell portions of stories, complete with background music and sound effects, to demonstrate their understanding of tone, setting and theme, as well as practice their reading fluency.

Choose Your Own Adventure

My middle school students struggled with identifying and comprehending the concept of foreshadowing. They didn't readily see how certain moments or scenes could impact later events. By allowing students to recreate the story as a "choose your own adventure" tale, they have the opportunity to map out not only the original story but also a new one, identifying significant events or images and their impact on the story.

Within the Book Creator app , students can build e-books with text, images, drawing, audio and video. Since inserted images can be hyperlinked to specific pages, students could create interactive stories. Jonathan Wylie ( @jonathanwylie ) describes a similar approach in his blog using a combination of Google Forms and Google Presentations. Either one of these options encourages students to identify significant moments from a book and illustrate their relative impact on the overall plot.

Illustrated Character Analysis

Atticus Finch tells Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird , "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view -- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." In order to see whether or not your students truly comprehend the characters, encourage them to create a new scene and put those characters in the middle of it -- to take a walk in their shoes.

Storybird allows students to choose from hundreds of illustrations in order to create their own stories. As illustrated by Cybenglish , students could show their understanding of characters by placing them in new scenes in order to reveal their motivations.

Augmented Reality Author Studies

When my eighth graders read Night , they also conducted historical research into the life of Elie Wiesel to better understand the context of the book as well as the author's account. These studies turned into small research papers to which my students had hardly any personal connection beyond having completed an academic task.

On the other hand, Elissa Malespina ( @SOMSLibrary ) constructed a completely different experience for her students. At the culmination of their author study, her students created Animoto videos which they then turned into "auras" with Aurasma , an augmented reality app. To do this, students created trigger images representing either the author or a character from the book, which their classmates scanned in order to watch the videos. In the end, not only did these students articulate the relationships between the authors and the stories, constructing an immersive experience for the rest of the class, but they also contributed their knowledge to a broader community.

Vision of an Engaged Middle School Reader

How many middle school readers have you seen who look as engaged as the children in this picture?

If the true learning objective is to ignite a student's passion for literature and provide an opportunity to demonstrate understanding through a variety of modalities, then maybe it's time to move beyond the book report.