Essay Writing and Leveled Readings

1. Essay Writingand Leveled Readings Let’s rock it!

2. Think about… • A book / tv show / movie that taught you a lesson. • What do you remember reading that made you think or feel differently?

3. Why do we do this? • The point of reading literature is to experience moral and intellectual lessons. • Authors don’t hand these over. Like life, we have to experience the plots to make meaning. • Authors use the text to send us messages. They create these messages through patterns.

4. Getting the Patterns Right • SO IMPORTANT. • The more complex the pattern, the more detailed and specific the message. • The pattern works as a whole. We can’t ignore parts of it. • Messages are morals. • They are universal truths. • They teach us how to live, act, think.

5. …just for a bit. Back to The Giving Tree

6. Why double check our patterns? • Themes are based on the patterns that author’s show us. • These patterns are based around large concepts (topics), so if we look for the topics, we can begin to see the patterns. • Tree gives leaves, feels happy • Tree gives apples, feels happy • Tree gives branches, feels happy • Based on that alone, we’d say that “giving leads to happiness.”

7. But we can’t stop there. • Counter-examples in a pattern can be the most important moments in a text. • The author has set you up to see a pattern and then breaks it for a reason—to show you something else about the topic. • Tree gives leaves, feels happy • Tree gives apples, feels happy • Tree gives branches, feels happy • Tree gives trunk, feels happy… but not really.

8. Let’s play with that break in the pattern. • Parenting • Parenting works best when parents constantly provide for their children to make sure they are happy because it leads both child and parent feeling good. • Fit the Pattern? • No. • Better: Parents that provide everything for their children at the expense of their own well-being help neither their children nor themselves because happiness lies simply in appreciating one another, not providing everything that the child desires.

9. Again, but with a new topic. • Friendship • Friendship are most successful when they are a selfless endeavor where giving is constant because it is through altruistic giving that each person finds happiness regardless of what the other does. • Fit the Pattern? No. • Better: Friendships work best when both parties recognize the value in the other person instead of how they can benefit from that relationship because these partnerships lead to mutual happiness instead of one party feeling used.

10. Take a couple minutes. Jot down final scenes and notes before we try to put it together. Back to OFK and your Pattern Charts

11. Thesis Statements & Topic Sentences

12. Oh my gosh! You’re so cute, Honors 10. Of course we can! Hey, Stad, can we talk about patterns and how that fits into writing essays about literature?

13. This. Is. Hard. Thesis Statements

14. Order of Making Meaning in Literary Study • Read • Collect Details • Post-its connected to topics • Determine Topic – Must be significant to the text • What is the book “about?” • I do this part for you in advance. It requires re-reading and is one of the more difficult steps to determine the first time through the book. • Return to the details. • Details are combined and form a pattern. • The pattern tells us something about the topic. • Example: Whenever we see technology used, someone is hurt or killed. • Interpreted to determine the author’s purpose in discussing the topic which is the THEME. • Author’s Theme (message about a big idea) • Technology hurts people. • Your Thesis = Author uses [X – the pattern] to reveal [Y – the theme].

15. Let’s Simplify That • Read w/ topic in mind. (annotations) • Decide pattern related to that topic. • (first part of thesis, the “A”) • Decide what the author is trying to tell you. • (second part of thesis, the “B”) • Decide the logic of that message (why the author thinks its true) • (third part of thesis, the “because statement”)

16. BreakdownAuthor uses [A] to suggest [B]. • T. H. White uses A= [the pattern in the story that we’re saying provides the examples that create the message] to suggest/display/reveal B= [some message about one of the big ideas]. Because Statement = [why that message is true, according to the author]

17. WARNING. WARNING. WARNING. • This is the author’s message, not yours. • You don’t have to agree. We’re studying their work. It’s their message you’re trying to display.

18. Author uses [A-Pattern] to reveal [B-theme about big idea]. Ray Bradbury uses A: the emotional detachment created by technology and the resultant destruction of families throughout The Illustrated Man to suggest that B: over-attachment to technology causes isolation and destroys relationships because they begin to rely heavily on technology for their survival and ignore the value of other individuals.

19. Topic Sentences

20. Topic Sentences • Thesis Statement: [A – specific example from the pattern] to reveal [B – connection to topic/theme USING PLOT]. • The job of a topic sentence is twofold: • Break down the [A] from the thesis into a specific part you want to talk about in this paragraph. • Connect that [B] to the Big Topic/Idea of the essay. • Technology • How you connect it is dependent upon the details you’re choosing

21. Body Paragraphs

22. Paragraphs: Leveled Reading Level 1 – Surface Reading / Plot Summary • Describing, paraphrasing, or summarizing plot Level 2 – Interpretation of Plot / Characters / Narrative / Pattern • Critical interpretation of plot and/or characters • This is the connecting of plot points to create a pattern that is occurring within the text based on your level 1 observations. • Does not have to connect directly to THEME yet, but should be geared towards showing PATTERN. Level 3 – Interpretation & Proof of Connection to Theme • Connect pattern to theme to show/prove message.