Professional Documents
Culture Documents
There are many reasons to teach the genre of the literary analysis essay
despite those who think it does not serve any real purpose, like Kelly
Gallagher in her book Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing
Through Modeling and Mentor Texts who sees it only as a starting point
(172). It is easy to only use literary analysis in the context of literature and
the Language Arts classroom, and that when it is only applied to those
contexts it can seem without much purpose for students (especially those
who do not want to major in English in college) other than to write an essay
because their teacher told them too. However, it can serve greater
purposes, but teachers need to work to frame it in more purposeful ways.
Paulo Freire in his book Literacy: Reading the Word and the World argues
that Reading does not consist merely of decoding the writer word or
language; rather, it is preceded by and intertwined with knowledge of the
worldThe understanding attained by critical reading of a text implies
perceiving the relationship between text and context (29). Teaching
students literary analysis can help them to develop this skill of
understanding how writing is affected by its contexts. Furthermore, literary
analysis teaches students not just how to find literary elements (like
metaphors, hyperbole, satire, etc.) in a text, it can teach students how to
read the world and how to connect with other around them. Analyzing the
themes found in literatureespecially the ones that appear again and again
in different cultures and different time periodscan help students to better
understand things like the human experience. Critically analyzing these
themes can then lead to a critical awareness of the world and of its cultures,
which makes teaching this genre culturally relevant for todays classrooms.
Colorado
Academic
Standards:
Reading,
Writing,
and
Communicating; Standard 2: Reading For All Purposes
1.
Skills students will master: Complex literary texts require critical
reading approaches to effectively interpret and evaluate meaning.
Evidence outcomes:
o
Use key ideas and details to use textual evidence as support
analysis, either explicitly or inferred. (2.1.a.i)
o
Determine, analyze, and view the development of two or more
central themes of the text. (2.1.a.ii)
o
Analyze authors choices on development of elements of a story
or drama. (2.1.a.iii)
o
Use craft and structure to determine meaning of words and
phrases; analyze the impact. (2.1.b.i)
o
Use craft and structure to analyze point of view required to
discern what is said and meant in the text. (2.1.b.ii)
o
Use integration of knowledge and ideas to analyze multiple
interpretations of various mediums; analyze impact and meaning of words
and phrases. (2.1.c.i)
Evidence outcomes:
o
Use key ideas and details to use key ideas and details to use
textual evidence as support analysis, either explicitly or inferred. (2.2.a.i)
o
Use key ideas and details to determine, analyze, and view the
development of two or more central themes of the text. (2.2.a.ii)
o
Use craft and structure to use text and graphic representations
for comparison and critical analysis. (2.2.b.ii)
o
Use range of reading and complexity of text to read and
comprehend various literature mediums with scaffolding. (2.2.d.i)
3. Skills students master: Knowledge of language, including syntax and
grammar, influence the understanding of literary, persuasive, and
informational texts.
Evidence outcomes:
o
Interpret figures of speech in context and analyze their role in
the text (2.3.c.i)
Colorado
Academic
Standards:
Reading,
Writing,
and
Communicating; Standard: 3. Writing and Composition
1.
Skills students will master: Stylistic and thematic elements of literary
or narrative texts can be refined to engage or entertain an audience.
Evidence outcomes:
o
Use precise vocabulary and language to convey images of
experience, events, setting and.or characters(3.1.a.iv)
o
Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is
experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.
(3.1.a.v)
2. Students will master: Elements of informational and persuasive texts can
be refined to inform or influence an audience
Evidence outcomes
o
Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the
significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate
or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically
sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. (3.2.a.i)
o
Develop claim(s) and counterclaims using relevant evidence for
each; pointing out the strengths and limitations that anticipates the
audiences knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.
(3.2.a.ii)
o
Use words, phrases, clauses, varied syntax to link clarify the
relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and
evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims. (3.2.a.iii)
o
Use formal style and objective tone, following norms and
conventions of the writing discipline. (3.2.a.iv)
o
the texts they are writing about. Students will understand how to use
textual evidence and provide commentary which clarifies relationships
between literary elements and their effects on texts. In addition to learning
how to write and organize a literary analysis essay, students will also learn
to establish and maintain a formal style with academic language, preparing
them for college. Students will engage in all steps of the writing process:
brainstorming, prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. Students will
learn that good writers generally do not participate in each one of these
steps only once in a linear fashion, but are constantly moving from one step
to the next and back again. This will instill a self-reflexive writing habit in
them that they will be able to apply to any writing activity throughout the
rest of their lives.
How will activities equip students to complete the writing task at hand and
any subsequent writing assignments?
Students may have different familiarity levels with this genre in terms
of the depth of knowledge they have about it, but they have probably all
have some experience because most Language Arts classes teach this genre
in some respect. However, this class seeks to enhance students knowledge
of this genre rhetorically and asks students to consider varied purposes for
this genre and the academic audience it is generally written for. We have
attempted to create relevant and engaging activities that appeal to various
learning styles and will allow students to apply the concepts they are
learning to their own writing and to collaborate with their peers. Activities
will ask students to work both collaboratively and independently to apply
the skills they have learned.
(The task and activity analysis portions of this rationale were based on the
questions that are asked in The Dynamics of Writing Instruction by Peter
Smagorinsky et al., pp. 24-25)
Rationale
Assignment
You will write a literary analysis synthesizing our class text, Stargirl by Jerry
Spinelli, with two other texts. These other texts can be in the form of any
genre (e.g., songs, poems, books, short stories, music videos, etc.) and I
encourage you to choose two different genres. This essay must have a core
argument (thesis statement) that grounds your analysis and synthesis of
your three texts. Your objective is to convince your audience that you have
supported the idea you are developing. Everything in your analysis must
relate back to your thesis (central idea) and must contribute to your
audiences understanding of your central idea. You must also use the
literary concepts weve discussed as a class and you must have evidence
from your texts to support your claims. This analysis should be a 4-5 page
essay. It should also be double-spaced and in twelve point font.
You will also create a 3 minute presentation for the due day that will be
presented in front of the class to briefly describe your essay and details
about your writing you want to include.
Audience
The audience for this analysis will be an academic one. You will be required
to compose this essay that will be collected in your professional writing
portfolio at the end of the year. Your presentation on the due day will help
others to hear about your writing in a concise manner.
Assessment
This essay will be worth 100 points of your final grade. Please refer to the
scoring guide for the specific breakdown of point values.
Additional Resources
There will be a lot of collaboration with your peers and I during this process
so use those to your full advantage.
Lesson #: 1
(Write Content
Assignment:
1. Have students read Matthew Arnolds Dover Beach aloud
2. Students will silently read poem again and identify specific l
within it, labeling them appropriately
3. Split students up into groups
3. Students will discuss what they annotated and come to a co
one of the literary elements that they identified
4. Write a thesis statement about the use of the concept in the
affects the texts meaning
5. Develop an argument using elements of literary analysis
6. Write a short paragraph using evidence from text
Approx. Time
Anticipatory Set
Teaching/
Presentation:
(Direct
Instruction)
Students will be writing a literary analysis at the end of this unit and
synthesize Stargirl with two other texts (of different mediums) of the
Todays lesson gives them some of the domain specific language that
complete the assignment. They will also learn about how these conc
within a text (and why authors might use them), which will help them
understanding of reading they will do in the future and will help them
they can use these in their own writing. Students will also practice w
statement for this type of essay.
Teaching
Strategy:
(Guided Practice)
Teaching
Strategy:
(Independent
Practice)
Students will use this knowledge in other class periods and eventual
assignment where they will be writing a literary analysis of Stargirl b
synthesizing it with two other texts of their choice.
Closure
Students will be cued to the fact that they will learn more abou
literary analysis in the next class period
That the literary elements they learned about today will help th
literary analysis for their final assignment in this unit
That literary elements are vital to the deeper and more comple
of a text
Materials
Differentiation
Assessment
Name:____________________
Literary Analysis Terms
Theme:
Synthesis:
Extended Metaphor:
Allegory:
Motifs:
Understatement:
Paradox:
Hyperbole:
Irony:
Sarcasm:
Satire:
Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold
The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the gean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earths shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain