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46 Reading Literature

Page
391
from
Write Ahead

Reading Literature Chapter Opener

Start-Up Activity

Ask students to name their favorite novel and tell why they like it. List each title on the board and note the reasons. After you get a full list, ask the students who volunteered titles to tell how they discovered the novel and fell in love with it. Ask what the feeling of reading the book is like—getting lost in a faraway world, battling for humanity in the future, hanging out with an old friend, etc.

Assure students that human being have been getting lost in books for centuries, and have been getting lost in stories for millennia. The more students learn about literature, the more they will be able to enjoy it, learn from it, and live vicariously through it. This chapter teaches many strategies for doing so.

Think About It

“Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life.”

—Barbara Kingsolver

State Standards Covered in This Chapter

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.5

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.6

LAFS Covered in This Chapter

LAFS.910.RL.1.1

LAFS.910.RL.1.2

LAFS.910.RL.1.3

LAFS.910.RL.2.5

LAFS.910.RL.4.10

LAFS.910.RL.2.4

LAFS.910.RL.2.6

TEKS Covered in This Chapter

110.36.c.4.F

110.36.c.6

110.37.c.4.F

110.37.c.6

110.36.c.6.A

110.37.c.6.A

110.36.c.6.B

110.36.c.7.A

110.37.c.6.B

110.37.c.7.A

110.36.c.6.C

110.36.c.8.B

110.37.c.6.C

110.37.c.8.B

110.36.c.3

110.36.c.4

110.36.c.7.B

110.36.c.7.C

110.37.c.3

110.37.c.4

110.37.c.7.B

110.37.c.7.C

110.36.c.2

110.37.c.2

TEKS Covered in This Chapter

Page 392 from Write Ahead

Closely Reading Literature

Show students that actively reading literature includes thinking before, during, and after reading.

  • Before reading, students should learn about the story and author and preview the text.
  • While reading, students should allow themselves to be immersed in the world of the story, but they should also think about the characters, actions, setting, and themes that the author is developing.
  • After reading, students should reflect on each of those elements and think of the story as a whole.

Have students practice these strategies using the passage on the facing page.

State Standard Reference:
LAFS Standard:
LAFS.910.RL.1.1
TEKS Standard:
110.36.c.4.F, 110.36.c.6, 110.37.c.4.F, 110.37.c.6
NE ELA Standard:
LA 10.1.6.d, LA 10.1.6.g

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Level:
Grade 9Grade 10
English Language Arts:
Reading

Page 393 from Write Ahead

Close Reading in Action

Have students use the guidelines on the previous page to closely read the excerpt from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Afterward, lead a discussion, asking students about the characters, actions, setting, and themes. Also, ask what larger patterns the story fits into.

State Standard Reference:
LAFS Standard:
LAFS.910.RL.1.1
TEKS Standard:
110.36.c.4.F, 110.36.c.6, 110.37.c.4.F, 110.37.c.6
NE ELA Standard:
LA 10.1.6.d, LA 10.1.6.g

Related Resource Tags

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Level:
Grade 9Grade 10
English Language Arts:
Reading

Page 394 from Write Ahead

Analyzing the Elements of Fiction

This page and the one that follows feature the three most important parts of stories: conflict and plot, character, and theme.

Teach students the five classic types of conflict. You might also include a sixth—person versus machine—which has become quite common in modern literature and life. Then ask students to analyze a short story or novel they have recently read to indicate what type(s) of conflict it contains.

Afterward, lead students through the parts of the plot line. (For an activity to introduce the plot line, see "The Shape of Stories" on page 272). Once students understand this narrative structure, have them analyze a short story or novel by writing a sentence or two about each part: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

State Standard Reference:
LAFS Standard:
LAFS.910.RL.1.3
TEKS Standard:
110.36.c.6.B, 110.36.c.7.A, 110.37.c.6.B, 110.37.c.7.A
NE ELA Standard:
LA 10.1.6.b

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:
Grade 9Grade 10
English Language Arts:
Reading

Page 395 from Write Ahead

Analyzing Character and Theme

Well-written characters are complex, just like people in real life. Help students analyze complex characters by asking about the person's description, personality, actions, dialogue, and thoughts. Then have students analyze a character from a short story or novel that they have just read, commenting on each of these features.

Point out that sometimes the narrator of a story is a kind of character as well. Have students describe the narrator in terms of personality and thoughts.

Finally, help students with theme. As the most ethereal (and most implied) element of a story, theme often eludes students. Let them know that they can track down themes by following clues from a number of other story parts. Have them use one or more of the questions at the bottom of the page to discover a theme or two in a short story or novel they have recently read.

State Standard Reference:
LAFS Standard:
LAFS.910.RL.1.1
TEKS Standard:
110.36.c.4.F, 110.36.c.6, 110.37.c.4.F, 110.37.c.6
NE ELA Standard:
LA 10.1.6.d, LA 10.1.6.g

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Level:
Grade 9Grade 10
English Language Arts:
Reading

Page 396 from Write Ahead

The Language of Literature

This page and the one that follows present a glossary of literary terms. Learning them will help students closely read and understand literature as well as write precisely in response to it.

State Standard Reference:
LAFS Standard:
LAFS.910.RL.2.5
TEKS Standard:
110.36.c.6.C, 110.36.c.8.B, 110.37.c.6.C, 110.37.c.8.B
NE ELA Standard:
LA 10.1.6.b, LA 10.1.6.c

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Level:
Grade 9Grade 10
English Language Arts:
Reading

Page 397 from Write Ahead

The Language of Literature (Cont.)

Encourage students to consult these pages to better understand the literature they are reading and responding to. Here, specifically, help students understand the difference between first-person point of view (the narrator uses "I" and "we") and third-person point of view (the narrator uses "he," "she," and "they"). Also help students understand the three main types of third-person point of view. Then ask students to search through short stories and novels they have read to find an example of each type of point of view.

State Standard Reference:
LAFS Standard:
LAFS.910.RL.2.5
TEKS Standard:
110.36.c.6.C, 110.36.c.8.B, 110.37.c.6.C, 110.37.c.8.B
NE ELA Standard:
LA 10.1.6.b, LA 10.1.6.c

Related Resource Tags

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Level:
Grade 9Grade 10
English Language Arts:
Reading

Page 398 from Write Ahead

Types of Literature

Use this page to give students an overview of the many types of literature that they can read. Most, of course, is fictional, though many autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs are both factual and literary, telling the stories of great lives.

State Standard Reference:
LAFS Standard:
LAFS.910.RL.2.5
TEKS Standard:
110.36.c.6.C, 110.36.c.8.B, 110.37.c.6.C, 110.37.c.8.B
NE ELA Standard:
LA 10.1.6.b, LA 10.1.6.c

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:
Grade 9Grade 10
English Language Arts:
Reading