30 Reading Literature

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Page 417 from Write for College

Analyzing the Elements of Fiction

Help students understand the basic types of conflict. (The first five types are traditional, with "Person versus Machine" becoming more and more prevalent in the computer age.) Because conflict drives plot, understanding conflict equips students to analyze anything from novels and short stories to television episodes and comic books.

After students understand these forms of conflict, review with them the shape of the plot line and the parts of it. You can use the minilesson to help students explore plot more personally.

You can also provide students a Plot Line Sheet to use in analyzing a story they have read.

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Plot Line Sheet

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

LAFS.1112.RL.1.2

TEKS Standard:

110.38.c.4.F, 110.38.c.4.G, 110.38.c.5.D, 110.38.c.6.A, 110.39.c.4.F, 110.39.c.4.G, 110.39.c.5.D, 110.39.c.6.A

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Story

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Page 418 from Write for College

Analyzing Character and Theme

The best literature focuses on complex, fully formed characters. Students can describe literary characters in all the same ways that they describe actual people: appearance, personality, actions, words, psychology, and so on. Lead students through the list of options at the top of the page, and then have students analyze a character in each of these ways.

Theme refers to what a story means in a larger context, often implying a lesson about life. Students can find clues to theme lurking in the main features of literature: character, plot, setting, dialogue, language, and authorship. Lead students through the clues at the bottom of the page, and then have them search for themes in a recent story or novel they have read.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

LAFS.1112.RL.1.2

TEKS Standard:

110.38.c.4.F, 110.38.c.4.G, 110.38.c.5.D, 110.38.c.6.A, 110.39.c.4.F, 110.39.c.4.G, 110.39.c.5.D, 110.39.c.6.A

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Response to Literature Creative Writing

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Story

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Reading Writing

Page 419 from Write for College

Reacting to Fiction

Have a student read aloud the excerpt from The Scarlet Letter. Then have a different student read the first annotation in the left margin and find the part of the text that it refers to. Ask students what kind of thinking the annotation shows (inferring emotion due to a character's actions). Have another student read the next annotation and discuss it. Help students realize that each note shows active thinking—observations, definitions, questions—rather than just passive skimming.

Tell students that you expect them to take notes and annotate texts that belong to them in order to track their critical thinking about what they read.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

LAFS.1112.RL.1.1

TEKS Standard:

110.38.c.4.G, 110.38.c.6, 110.39.c.4.G, 110.39.c.6

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Page 420 from Write for College

Reacting to Poetry

Have a volunteer read aloud the sonnet. Then ask another student to read the first annotation and find the part of the poem that it refers to. Ask the class what kind of thinking the reader has done (inferred a theme). Have other volunteers read other annotations and discuss the thinking involved in each.

Tell students you expect them to take notes and make annotations as they read to help spur their critical thinking about the literature.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

LAFS.1112.RL.1.1

TEKS Standard:

110.38.c.4.G, 110.38.c.6, 110.39.c.4.G, 110.39.c.6

NE ELA Standard:

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Poem

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Page 421 from Write for College

Literary Terms

Vocabulary is power. Knowing a word means being able to think the thought captured by that word. Emphasize to students that broadening and deepening their literary vocabulary will sharpen their insights into literature and help them better express what they find.

Ask students to read the terms and definitions on this page and select two terms that interest them. Have students write a brief paragraph for each term, indicating why it interests them and giving an example. (They can draw examples from literature they have read or can make up their own examples.)

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Page 422 from Write for College

Literary Terms (Cont.)

Have students read the terms and definitions on this page.

Then lead a discussion of diction. Review each level of diction with the class. Ask them when a particular level of diction is appropriate and when it is inappropriate. Show that diction relates to the audience, subject, and purpose of writing or speaking.

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Page 423 from Write for College

Literary Terms (Cont.)

Ask students to read the full page of terms, definitions, and examples.

Afterward, lead a discussion about figures of speech. Focus on antithesis and hyperbole. Then challenge students to write their own examples of each. Ask volunteers to share their examples for discussion.

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Page 424 from Write for College

Literary Terms (Cont.)

Continue your discussion of figures of speech. Focus on metaphor, metonym, personification, simile, and understatement. Then ask students to choose two of these figures of speech and write their own examples. Go around the room, having each student share at least one example and explain how it demonstrates the figure of speech.

Afterward, have the class read the rest of the terms, definitions, and examples on the page.

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Page 425 from Write for College

Literary Terms (Cont.)

Have students read the terms and definitions on this page. Then lead a discussion of irony and its three main forms. Afterward, ask students to work in teams of two to find an example of each type of irony in literature that they have recently read.

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Page 426 from Write for College

Literary Terms (Cont.)

Have students read the list of terms and choose two that interest them. Then have each student write a brief paragraph for each term, telling why it interests them and giving an example. Have students share their paragraphs with a partner and discuss what they found.

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Page 427 from Write for College

Literary Terms (Cont.)

Have students read through the terms on this page. Then lead a discussion about point of view.

Ask students to find an example of third-person point of view in literature that they have recently read. Then have students indicate what kind of third-person point of view they have found:

Omniscient The narrator sees into everyone's mind.
Limited omniscient The narrator sees into one character's mind at a time.
Camera view The narrator does not see into anyone's mind.

Ask students to find an example of first-person point of view in literature that they have read.

Challenge students to find a story written in second-person point of view (with the narrator referring to the main character as "you").

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Page 428 from Write for College

Literary Terms (Cont.)

Have students read through this page of definitions and choose two terms that interest them. For each term, have them write a brief paragraph that tells why the term interests them and gives an original example of the concept. Ask partners to share their paragraphs with each other and discuss the terms and examples.

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Page 430 from Write for Business

Critical Approaches to Literary Analysis

To prepare students for college, lead them through the descriptions of these approaches to literature. Each is a lens through which literature can be viewed. As lenses, these approaches simultaneously bring some features of literature into sharper focus and make other features blurrier. Present students with this example:

Marxist critical approach to Romeo and Juliet: Two rich young nobles produce nothing as their houses wage a destructive and deadly war against each other. Impoverished workers (Juliet's nurse and Friar Lawrence) meanwhile work hard to keep society running but fail due to the fatal inequity and self-absorption of the bourgeoisie.

That's a new perspective on a well-known play, but it also misses the central theme: forbidden love.

As an exercise, have students choose one literary approach from this page and write up a brief analysis of a well-known story, much like the one above.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

LAFS.1112.RL.1.2

TEKS Standard:

110.38.c.4.F, 110.38.c.4.G, 110.38.c.5.D, 110.38.c.6.A, 110.39.c.4.F, 110.39.c.4.G, 110.39.c.5.D, 110.39.c.6.A

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