We want our students to become critical thinkers who read, examine, and write about the significance of a text. But how do we do that? Literary Analysis is not an easy topic, usually because most us don’t take classes about it. We do, however, read and examine texts all of the time! We break down, analyze, and discuss what we watch, read, or listen to every day, and so do our students. Because we do this, we can teach our students the same process but for literature in our classrooms. We can use literary analysis examples to model what we want in 5 No Sweat Steps!
5 NO SWEAT STEPS for Teaching Literary Analysis
#1 START WITH THE END IN MIND
1. START WITH THE END IN MIND: What do you want your students to be able to do? Well, it depends on the students. When it comes to elementary students, you can start with a focus on theme. Say we read “The Ugly Duckling” or “The Little Mermaid.” We can focus on having students write a paragraph on how characterization leads to theme. In any fairy tale or fable, there is always a message. It makes the literary analysis quite simple then. Your short response directions can include the following: How does “The Ugly Duckling” change? How does this change contribute to the theme in the story?
IDEAS FOR A FINAL PRODUCT
ELEMENTARY: Students can write a paragraph for a Short Response. Your goal is to simply introduce what it means to think deeply about a text. Start with a fairy tale or fable, so the students have an easier time discussing the message of the story.
MIDDLE SCHOOL: Students can write 2 paragraphs with a focus on a theme using an example for each paragraph. It can be based on a poem or short story!
HIGH SCHOOL: Students can write a full-blown essay, but you can have it focused on 4 paragraphs, 5 paragraphs, or a 5 page essay 😉 It is up to you! You can even differentiate depending on what your students need!
2. CHOOSE WHAT YOU WANT TO FOCUS ON: You can focus on whatever you want for your literary analysis! If you want to differentiate, you can have groups of student choose their own topic, or you can assign a focus to students. You will, however, have to define and then explain what the focus is before moving on. If you want to analyze conflict, explain the 4 types (man vs. man, man vs. society, man vs. nature, and man vs. self) and the 2 types (internal and external) first. Here are some ideas for literary analysis:
Literary Devices: similes, metaphors, allusions, hyperbole, etc.
Characterization: traits or development
Setting: beginning, middle, end
Conflict: types of conflict (4), external/internal conflict
Literary Criticism: gender, feminism, critical race theory, etc.
#3 READ WITH A FOCUS
3. READ CLOSELY AND ANNOTATE WITH A FOCUS: You will have to model what you want as you read by using literary analysis examples. For instance, if you are reading “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, you can focus on analyzing characterization. Read through the first part of the story and have students identify traits of the protagonist. 1. Underline the evidence. 2. Think aloud about it. 3. Annotate for meaning. What is he saying or doing? Then, explain by doing your own analysis. Answer this question: What does this MEAN?
4. USE A GRAPHIC ORGANIZER TO BREAK THE ANALYSIS DOWN: Students need help with organization. Don’t we all though? I encourage you to use a simple graphic organizer to help in this process. Have students go back to their own annotations for help. The graphic organizer should include the following: The Literary Analysis Focus, The Evidence, and The Meaning/Message/Theme Connection. Be sure to use literary analysis examples before beginning. Providing 1 or 2 examples will help students go a long way!
#5 USE A TEMPLATE
5. PROVIDE A TEMPLATE FOR THE FINAL PRODUCT: Now that students have their organizer with their literary analysis examples already written, they can accomplish whatever you want. (Be sure to look at literary analysis examples before you start having them write their own. You can use examples you have created or examples from different sources.) If you want them to write a short response, provide a sentence by sentence outline. Or if you want them to write 2 paragraphs, help them with breaking down the paragraphs into smaller parts. Additionally, if you want them to write an essay, provide an outline that will help them to develop their ideas as they go along. If students don’t have a basic template, they may not know what to write. I suggest starting with an introduction, 2 body paragraphs, and a conclusion for a beginner literary analysis.
Don’t shy away from teaching literary analysis! Students need the exposure and the practice to think deeply about the meaning and message of anything they come into contact with. Through this step by step process and several literary analysis examples, all students can become literary connoisseurs!
My family and I live on an acre property in the middle of Jacksonville, FL. Actually, all of the homes on our 2 parallel blocks have an acre to their names. I guess we all must enjoy the outdoors somewhat as it’s quite a bit of upkeep to maintain that large of a property, at least for us city dwellers. We spend a fair amount of time outside whether it’s steaming hot or somewhat cold (it is Florida after all). And I am always trying to find things for my 2, almost 3, year old to do while I sit with my 4 month old underneath the grove in the middle of our yard. As a teacher, I love structure, especially when it comes to reading and writing. I typically go through lessons very methodically. But lately, I am trying to find more things to do that integrate traditional instruction into our daily lives. I also love the idea of my daughter exploring the outdoors in the safety and beauty of our own backyard. As a part of our journey into the very start of homeschooling, I created My Backyard Scavenger Hunt Printables, so we can make the outdoors into our classroom, one bug-bite at a time.
1. My Backyard Scavenger Hunt: With this activity, my daughter and I can work on our adjectives while discovering new sights in the forms of animals, plants, and other random inanimate objects in our backyard. My nephew, who comes over to hangout several times a week, is the king of exploring quite normal things, but making these things seem extraordinary. He is going to love this time of exploration with my daughter next week as they scavenge the yard for the miraculous. You can use any adjectives from green to rough to bumpy to light, whatever you want! With this activity, kids don’t realize they are really learning anything, but they will be delving deeply into language that connects to the real world.
2. My Backyard I Spy Activity: For this activity, my daughter and I will be choosing 3 objects to describe with 3 adjectives. They can relate to touch, sight, sound, smell, or taste, but I wouldn’t recommend tasting too many things in my backyard. Then, we will work to draw a visual of each object. By looking at each object closely, my goal is for my daughter to truly take the time to see what is out there in our world. Plus, we get to work on describing those things with creative adjectives. She gets to learn and play at the same time!
3. My Backyard Object Activity: This activity kind of puts all of it together with adjectives, antonyms, visualization, and writing. Together, we can work to discover how an object changes with a simple change of the description. Can you imagine if a green, thin, smooth leaf becomes a dark brown, thick, bumpy leaf? I couldn’t really think of an antonym for green, although green is lively and brown leaves are usually dying 🙂 Then, she will get to draw the new object, seeing how it changes by merely changing the words. As we all know, words matter! When words change, meaning changes.
Beyond discovering our backyard again through My Backyard Scavenger Hunt Printables, I am so excited to begin the journey of homeschooling our daughters. We are at the very beginning, but I can’t wait to see how much we learn together both inside and outside of our home!
Test Prep Season is officially upon us! It is the 31st of January, and we are counting down to the state reading and math standardized tests that determine the fates of students, teachers, and schools alike. Although most disdain this time of year, I really try to make the best of it. And so can you. Why not integrate some fairy tales into the midst of your test prep? We can kill two birds with one stone as we integrate Fairy Tales Lessons into your Test Prep Plans!
I think we can all agree that Hans Christian Andersen is the Father of Fairy Tales. He has over 100 to choose from. There are many ways we can incorporate these classic tales into our ELA classrooms even in the midst of the final days leading up to the state test!
3 Ways to Integrate Test Prep into Teaching Fairy Tales
This Common Core ELA Test Prep Lesson Pack uses the Common Core standards and contains QUESTIONS and ANSWERS modeled after various state reading comprehension exams (for the story “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Andersen). This lesson would be great for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders! One of the things I struggle with the most is preparing my students for all kinds of exams that they will encounter. With this EASY-TO-TEACH Lesson Packet, you can practice with your students, so they will feel more confident on reading tests and quizzes. It is great for pull-outs, push-ins, whole group, small group, or sub plans. Give yourself a breath of fresh air with this NO PREP curriculum that integrates test prep within the teaching of literature.
1. Practice using Reading Strategies: This may sound like, duh, of course, but when it comes down to it, our students need consistent practice. We can introduce them to skills that can translate to reading effectively on the state exam.
Check out the Title, Images, and Structure: With your students, you can pre-read a fairy tale by checking out the title, noticing how the fairy tale is formatted, and looking over any images that are provided. Then, think aloud about this information. Here are some questions you could ask about the story “The Ugly Duckling” 1) TITLES: What is the impact of the title “The Ugly Duckling?” What does it make you think about? Why do you think the author would include the word “ugly” in the title? 2) IMAGES: Why might an author add in an image of a gray bird? What colors are used in the visuals? 3) STRUCTURE: What do you notice about the first sentence of the story? Is the story long or short? What words are repeated as you skim through the passage? ***By practicing pre-reading fairy tales, your students can apply these skills to any text they encounter on a state test!
Annotate while we read: Annotation is a skill most students are not born with. I hear many teachers tell students to annotate as they read, but most students start by randomly circling or highlighting (or drawing stick figures by the end of the story). Instead, let’s give them a focus for their annotations! Encourage students to annotate (underline, think, and write a note about a specific part) for repeated words, important characters, the setting(s), vital events, and major changes throughout the story. We can do this for ANY fairy tale we want to read. For “The Ugly Duckling,” we can focus in on repeated words like “ugly” and “pretty,” the traits of the ugly duckling before and after his transformation, the settings (beginning, middle, and end), plot elements (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution), and any big change from start to finish! In practicing annotation with your students while you read fun and exciting fairy tales, your students will be ready to annotate and read any passage that comes their way.
Reread, Reread, Reread: I don’t know about you, but I consistently struggle with staying focused on what I am reading. Has this ever happened to you? You begin reading a story, an article, a blog post, etc. Within a couple of minutes, you find yourself thinking about a bill you forgot to pay or a vacation you would like to take or a dream you would like to achieve. Suddenly, you realize that you have been “reading” without really READING! This happens to me all of the time, and most of my students have this problem as well! Then, because they didn’t really grasp what they read on the first try, they think they are bad readers. Oh no, they are not bad readers. They simply need to reread. I have to reread all of the time, and we need our students to realize that good readers reread for understanding. While we read our beloved fairy tales like “The Ugly Duckling,” have students reread certain parts, the parts that you know will be tough to understand, the parts that center on the theme, or the parts that make you cry either sad or happy tears. When we encourage students to reread, we empower them to reread and then truly understand any text they encounter!
2. Use reading comprehension questions that correlate to the state exam: This can take some time, but your students need consistent practice with the standards and question styles they will see when they take their reading comprehension exam. Let’s say we want to read “The Little Mermaid;” we can use questions linked directly to the standards that are formatted like questions on the standardized tests!
CITING EVIDENCE: Which phrase from the story supports the idea that the little mermaid loves the prince? Explain your reasoning.
CHARACTERIZATION: How does the little mermaid change from the beginning of the story to the end of the story?
CENTRAL IDEA: What is the central idea of the story? Use evidence to support your ideas.
STRUCTURE: How does the order of events in the story affect the meaning of this quotation? “After three hundred years, thus shall we float into the kingdom of heaven,” said she.
WORDS AND PHRASES: Read the following sentences. Which 2 words have the most similar meaning to the word “mournfully” as used in the excerpt below? “In the moonlight night, when all on board were asleep except the man at the helm, she sat on deck, gazing down through the clear water. She thought she could distinguish her father’s castle, and upon it her aged grandmother, with the silver crown on her head, looking through the rushing tide at the keel of the vessel. Then her sisters came up on the waves and gazed at her mournfully, wringing their white hands. She beckoned to them, and smiled, and wanted to tell them how happy and well off she was. But the cabin boy approached, and when her sisters dived down, he thought what he saw was only the foam of the sea.
3. Write with your students using a step-by-step template: Although I work primarily with high school students, I find that writing is typically a HUGE struggle for all students. They either have no ideas or too many ideas! They don’t know how to start or end! They don’t want to disappoint their teacher who is working his or her hands to the bones to get students to write an essay, short response, or really anything. For students who don’t start, don’t finish, or don’t achieve the goal of the writing prompt, we need to give them a step-by-step template. We can have students write about fairy tales instead of boring and/or tired articles we find on the internet that we hope will prepare them for informational texts we know they will see in May. Well, if students can write analytically about fairy tales, they can write about any articles they find on a reading comprehension test. The structure and process of writing are the same.
Here is a STEP-BY-STEP Guide to writing any paragraph:
Let’s say you want to read “The Princess and the Pea,” because let’s face it, who doesn’t want to read about a chick who complains about a lumpy mattress and a prince who sweeps her off her feet? I’ve had worse dates 🙂 Check out this template that you can use with your students, so they too can write with confidence on any standardized test!
1. Answer the question by referring to the
beginning and ending traits of the PRINCE.
2. Write down a piece of evidence from the beginning; be sure to embed the quote.
3. Explain how the evidence links to a trait of
the PRINCE at the beginning.
4. Write down a piece of evidence from the end of the story; be sure to embed the quote.
5. Explain how the evidence links to another
trait of PRINCE at the end.
6. Restate how the PRINCE changes by the end of the story.
With these simple steps, you can integrate test prep into the literature you love without having to sacrifice quality. Fairy Tales are completely captivating, full of relate-able messages, and even the most reluctant student!
Check out my store at Integrated ELA Test Prep in order to make your life easier with lessons your students will LOVE as you prepare them for any standardized test!
This blog post was written by Kristin Menke, The Integrated Teacher.
I started this journey 2 years ago in January 2018. A friend of mine mentioned TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers) as a source of curriculum for her classroom. She even suggested that I could sell there; I don’t think she truly understood her impact in her fleeting suggestion. I am so grateful to her and will tell her so tomorrow for the like 10th time.
Before beginning, I read Christy Wright’s book Business Boutique, which really helped me to solidify my niche and research where I wanted to go. After reading that and getting over my fears, I started creating products for my TPT store Integrated ELA Test Prep. I went crazy and in the first year, I made over 200 products. I learned a lot of things through experience and online!
10 Tips I Learned While Growing My TPT Store
1. As Christy Wright says, “Do it scared.” No product is perfect. You will want to revise, revise, and revise in the hopes that what you create will be perfect. None of us is perfect, so our products will never be perfect. Just create, do the best you can in editing and revising, and post the product. Don’t fret if it comes back with a less than favorable review. You will always have the chance to make it better, but don’t let the revision process keep you from growing your business.
2. BUNDLE EVERYTHING! I have bundles in an array of combinations. By doing so, it provides more opportunities for exposure, and it serves my customers by offering more options. For several months in my store, it looked as if I created 70-90 products. Nope. I just broke apart my lesson packs into separate products and then created different bundle offerings. More exposure of quality products=More sales!
3. Create square titles, use the thumbnails, and offer previews. I have started offering full previews that are printing protected with a watermark. I now use Adobe Acrobat DC for securing documents. The more people see the product, the more they know what they get to purchase.
4. Use searchable titles. Oh my goodness; this has changed my business. I have already hit my highest month in January 2020. Trust me! Your cute, catchy title is NOT what teachers type into the search bar. Find out what they would actually type and use that wording in your title and description. It is AMAZING!
5. Find your niche! This doesn’t mean you can’t bridge out once in awhile, but my bread and butter products integrate test prep into classic literature, specifically for secondary students. I have several products for elementary students, but that market is more saturated. As Steven Covey says, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
6. Read, read, read! I have read so much nonfiction over the last 2 years! My favorite books include Business Boutique, Total Money Makeover, Everyday Millionaires, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and Love Your Life Not Theirs. Through reading, I have discovered my “why!” My “why” includes getting out of student loan debt (we have paid off $60,000 in the last 2 years with only $27,880 left to go), being able to stay home with my girls to home-school them, and to provide opportunities for others in my business.
7. Listen to podcasts to get activate your mind and get ideas! My favorites include The Dave Ramsey Show, the Business Boutique Podcast, The CEO Teacher Podcast (aka The Go-Getters Podcast), and the Goal Diggers Podcast. They offer ideas I had never even thought about before. They blow my mind and get me to dream beyond what I think I can do.
8. Invest in yourself. Just this past December, I took a leap and enrolled in The CEO Teacher Academy by Kayse Morris. It is AMAZING! I thought I had so many things figured out, but I was beginning to get frustrated. I just needed more exposure to grow my business. Her course has contributed to tripling my earnings over the last 2 months. I am so glad I invested into my business, because ya’ll, I am cheap…err frugal ?
9. KEEP CREATING! So many TPT Teachers want to start promoting after 5 or 10 products, or they get frustrated because they have not sold anything yet in 30 days or less. Let me tell you, I had no idea I would be where I am today had you asked me 2 years ago. With steady creation and dedication, you can get there! It takes time, patience, and determination. Think about it. If you create 1-2 products a week, you will be at 100-200 products after 2 years. 100-200 products may not be possible for everyone, but everyone can grow in his or her own way!
10. Continue to learn. I am just starting to blog, and I have a website with ONE product ready to sell! LOL! But I am always trying to learn how to incorporate something new. My goals for the year are 24 blog posts, developing an email list, uploading all of my products to my own store, creating pins, and using social media. I am not comfortable with many of these things, but I am devoted to my “why” and want to do what I am always asking my students to do. Be open-minded and learn.
Last Words
I hope these tips help; I know it can be tough as this journey can be all-consuming as we try to balance teaching, parenting, friendships, relationships, home maintenance, and our dreams. But you too can grow your business and make one more step every day in your own journey to achieving what you never expected!
This post was written by Kristin Menke, The Integrated Teacher. You can check out her store Integrated ELA Test Prep on TPT.
Satire is no joke! I know, ha ha! Honestly though, teaching satire can be an amazing journey for a teacher and his/her students. Who doesn’t love watching South Park or The Simpsons? Who doesn’t savor reading “Sending Grandma to the Ovens” by Colin Cohen or the classic “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift? I know I love everything satire. I don’t care about the topics or if they offend my personal sensibilities. Good satire is good satire. It provokes. It makes us laugh. It changes us. How to teach satire, however, is another thing altogether!
Here are some things to consider when thinking about teaching satire and how to get your own students to ultimately enjoy and to write their own satires:
HOW TO START TEACHING SATIRE
Start by defining satire: Satire is in a category all by itself. It is not parody. It goes beyond. It seeks to change. Here is my personal definition: Satire is a text that criticizes in order to evoke some sort of change. Without the call for change, it does not fulfill its purpose. So much of what we watch or read is merely parody, an imitation for a laugh. Satire is more than that. We see it around us all of the time.
Discuss strategies used in satires: Satires notoriously use similar strategies, because they work! In my classroom, I have students focus on these specific strategies and define them before studying satire: hyperbole, irony, tone, repetition, imagery, and the rhetorical appeals. With a firm foundation in these strategies, students will start recognizing them when reading actual satire. Hopefully, this recognition will eventually turn into using these strategies as they write their own satires.
Provide examples of satire: Students typically need an introduction to satire. I suggest using episodes of Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, or political cartoons to begin. Teaching satire effectively requires exposure to more commonplace texts; you can’t start with “A Modest Proposal.” Most students will be so overwhelmed with the language and the historical context that they will not fully grasp what Swift is “proposing.” Instead, start with images or videos.
Read and watch satire with your students: It may take longer than simply assigning a typical short story to read, but reading satire with your students is crucial. Students need to hear you read aloud, think aloud, annotate “aloud,” and respond aloud. Remember, most have seen satire, but few truly understand it as satire. Have fun and choose texts you will laugh at with them. I recommend “The Dam Letters.” Even my most struggling readers love these letters!
Use SPAUTS or other Graphic Organizers for during and after the reading: (Speaker, Purpose, Audience, Universal Idea, Tone, and Strategies) By using an organizer, your students can focus on the most important elements of satire. While reading, you can help them with filling out the above information. They can use this information to write a response, write a rhetorical analysis, answer comprehension questions, etc. In breaking it down, any student can grow in his or her understanding of satire.
Check out this bundle for “A Modest Proposal” and “Sending Grandma to the Ovens.”
HOW TO TEACH SATIRICAL WRITING
When it comes to bridging the gap between reading satire versus writing satire, students need guidance. I would start by reading both “Sending Grandma to the Ovens” and “A Modest Proposal.” These two texts are similar in structure, purpose, and topic. Your students can model their own essays after these texts. They can even propose something!
Ultimately, by developing a firm foundation using the strategies above, students can then branch out into writing their own satires. They can use the models you provide and dip their toes into constructing their own satire and effecting change in others around them. And they won’t have to eat a baby to do it!
Check out this Step-By-Step Lesson in helping students write their own satires 🙂
I am a big fan of requiring students to practice writing a rhetorical analysis essay. At first, it can be daunting. Even the word “rhetoric” can be difficult to explain at times. If you go step by step through the writing process, your students can master this skill. Plus, they can apply these skills to any essay they will have to write in the future! You can teach How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis Essay Step By Step!
7 Steps to Mastering a Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Define rhetoric for your students: How can students even begin to think about writing a rhetorical analysis essay without even knowing the definition of rhetoric? Here is my definition: language that uses techniques and strategies for a specific purpose. (Check out this Rhetorical Appeals Chart, which includes the definition.) By defining the term, you are setting the stage for your students.
Review rhetorical strategies: If I just say, “go write a rhetorical analysis essay,” I will overwhelm my students. If I have never taught various devices and strategies that writers use, my students will be lost. One easy way is to teach using a Rhetorical Appeals Chart. By defining and explaining LOGOS, PATHOS, and ETHOS, your students can start to understand how writers accomplish their goals. They can then learn to analyze other strategies and literary devices within the appeals. (Other devices might include imagery, tone, hyperbole, metaphor, simile, oxymoron, etc.) See this LIST for help!
Choose a text to read with your students that they can handle: One of my favorite texts to teach is Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” It is an amazing SATIRE with plenty of devices (imagery, tone, irony, pathos, etc.) for your students to analyze. You will certainly want to read this text with your students, especially if they have not been exposed to satire before. The historical context and higher level language of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” can be quite difficult for most adults. Now, for a simpler and smaller passage, try out Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” Middle and high school students will love her use of imagery, emotional language (pathos), an appeal to her credibility (ethos), etc.
Read aloud, Think Aloud, and Annotate with your students: Too many times, we expect students to be able to understand what they read on their own. Most students need support and explicit instruction. When it comes to writing a rhetorical analysis essay, they need to be guided through the process. First, I suggest taking the time to read the text aloud whatever it is. As students hear you reading, they will more readily understand because of your fluency and tone. Second, I suggest a Think Aloud. When they hear you analyzing what you are reading out load, they will start to realize that they need to go through this process when they read to themselves. Lastly, annotate with your students. They usually have no idea what they are doing at first. Take the time to note the title, the context, the audience, the purpose, and the strategies the writer uses. Have them underline, circle, and highlight! Whatever they annotate, they can use in their essay 🙂
Model how to plan your rhetorical analysis essay: So many times, after they have annotated, we just say, go write the essay. To bridge the gap, you can model what you want from them. You can start with an organizer that helps them focus on comprehending what they annotated. Try SPAUTS (Speaker, Purpose, Audience, Universal Idea, Tone, and Strategies). Students can then use all of these ideas in their essay!
Use a Rhetorical Analysis Template when planning: Students first need a process that includes an reading comprehension organizer like SPAUTS. Then, you can further help with writing a thesis using a thesis template. For example, if you were writing an analysis of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” your thesis could look like this: In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards uses violent imagery, emotional language, and biblical allusions in order to convince his audience to accept Christ and change their ways. Notice: we have included the author, title, strategies, and purpose! Your template could look like the following: In ________________________(text), ________________(author) uses ______________, _______________, and _______________ in order to _________ (purpose verb) ________(audience) to ________________________________________________(universal idea). Check out my “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Rhetorical Analysis Pack!
Provide a Sentence-By-Sentence Writing Guide as well as a model essay or body paragraph: I love to use templates. When students can go step-by-step, they will more readily write. It’s like having a blueprint for a house. Even AP or more advanced students need the help! So, what can we do? You can provide a template for what you want! I prefer a sentence-by-sentence guide. Students can choose to use it or not; however, I have noticed that good writers introduce their topic/focus, provide support, analyze their evidence and relate it to the purpose, and end with a reinforcement of their ideas.
By modeling what you want, you will more likely get what you want. This process also applies to writing a rhetorical analysis essay. Going through every step above is key to success. Here are some products that may make this process easier:
