What could be more fun than a lesson combining the tropes of Humor, Horror, and Romance, taught in a 7th grade classroom on Valentine’s Day? You’re right. Absolutely nothing could be more fun. The teacher and I had originally combined these three because we wanted to honor the choices students made about what genres they wanted to try and because we didn’t have quite enough weeks to get through it all. But honestly, it was so much better than I ever thought. The humor tropes mitigated the horror tropes for the easily scared and the horror and humor keep the anti-romance students engaged. Our final activity was a pass-around story with specific directions to include as many of the tropes as possible. [This was 4-5 weeks into our work together, so the students were already comfortable setting up hooks and establishing character, setting, and conflict.] This year I’m keeping my eyes open for the perfect classroom to try this combo again – but it has to be middle school.