ACE Writing Strategy

Student Handout
 

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 ACE Writing Strategy
Lesson Directions
What’s The Plan?
So, what we have created for you is a quick method for teaching literary argument. We know, we’re excited
about it, too! We use this amazing strategy to teach all things literary argument and to monitor our students’
understanding of the text we are reading.

Tell Me More:
We have had a lot of success with the ACE method when teaching literary argument. This strategy should be
taught explicitly to the class and practiced as a class before having the students try this method on their
own. The ACE method has students state their assertion (claim). Next, they support that assertion with
citations (evidence) from the text. Last, they explain (provide reasoning) for why/how their evidence
supports the claim. It’s like you have an ACE up your sleeve with this method. See what we did there?

And Then?
The ACE strategy of writing a literary argument is best used when there are clear expectations from the
teacher. We like to pick one element of a narrative to analyze at a time. Students could analyze any element
of a novel or short story, including: theme, plot, characterization, mood and tone…the possibilities are endless. If
you would like a lesson idea, see our short story analysis presentation and companion lessons on The Monkey’s
Paw. This strategy can be taught and practiced as a class, in small groups, in pairs, or you can have students
complete a literary argument individually.

Got it:
We add this document as a PDF to our Showbie accounts and students use it to complete their analysis essays.
Just as easily, this document could be printed out and pasted into a Reader’s Workshop Notebook to be
reviewed. We also turn this document into a class poster that we display in our classrooms when students are
working on literary arguments.

Happy teaching,
Denise and Katy
A A
Assertion

Claim
A Topic Sentence A

C E
Citation Explanation

Text Warrant
Evidence A Reasoning A