Unit of Study Overview

The Genre

In Writing about Reading (Heinemann, 2003), author Janet Angelillo explains, “It is powerful for [students] to realize that they don’t have to accept everything that is on the written page, that they have responsibility as thinkers to question and make meaning from their reading.”  As educators, we want our students to become passionate readers who can dig beneath the surface elements of character and plot to think deeply about the big ideas and themes that touch all of us. This kind of behavior often leads youngsters to see the world differently. Their understanding of issues that face humanity deepens and their interest in writing about their newfound outlook expands. Response to Literature emphasizes this type of critical thinking.

When studying this genre in the classroom, middle schoolers think about fiction from a more analytic and personal stance than they have in the past. They are challenged not only to identify big ideas and themes that have significance beyond the story they are reading, but also to support their thinking with evidence that convinces their audience to be of the same mind. This requirement prepares students to communicate their unique perspectives clearly and authoritatively.

Response to Literature also offers a companion Test Prep Center that contains a sequence of lessons that help prepare students for standardized ELA assessments that they will encounter throughout their academic lives.  Through exercises in analyzing and reflecting upon reading, students improve their ability to write effective structured responses to prompts.

The Author

Janet Angelillo is a literacy consultant who has worked throughout the US and Canada. She was a senior staff developer for the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, and has taught advanced sections and given keynote addresses at both the Teachers College Summer Institutes and other institutes around the country. Ms. Angelillo has presented at many conferences, including the National Council of Teachers of English, the Connecticut Reading Association, the Diamond State (Delaware) Reading Association, The Noyce Foundation, Colorado IRA, and the New York State Reading Association. Before joining the Writing Project, Janet taught intermediate grades and middle school in New York City and the suburbs. She is the author of several articles on writing, as well as four books, Writing about Reading: From Book Talk to Literary Essays in Grades 3-8 (Heinemann, 2003), A Fresh Approach to Teaching Punctuation: Helping Young Writers Use Conventions with Precision and Purpose (Scholastic, 2002), Making Revision Matter, (Scholastic, 2005), and Writing to the Prompt: When Students Don&rsquot Have a Choice, (Heinemann, 2005). She has two books due out in early 2008, More Than Minilessons (Heinemann) and Grammar Study (Scholastic).

Lessons at a Glance

This unit offers four weeks of instruction, and contains differentiated lessons suitable for a variety of middle school classrooms.

Step 1:  Identify Themes
This beginning stage trains students to explore themes in literature. Students develop thematic statements based on a short story and record their personal connections.  Students are introduced to the elements of a written response to literature. They post their thoughts on the Writing Matters website in order to reinforce the concept that themes are universal. 

Lesson 1.1 Exploring Big Ideas and Themes
Students learn that big ideas and themes can be found in literature.  They look beneath the surface of the short story Thank You M’am by Langston Hughes to find the author’s messages.

Lesson 1.2 Connect Themes to Our Lives
Students discuss themes from Thank You M’am and make connections to their own lives.  Based on the discussion, students write a reflection on how the theme relates to their life experiences. 

Lesson 1.3 Find Big Ideas and Themes in Stories
Students identify big ideas in a short story.  They formulate theme statements based on their big ideas in preparation for writing a response to this piece of literature,.

Lesson 1.4 Connect Themes to the World
Students discuss themes from their short stories and make connections to the world.  Based on their discussions, students write a reflection about how the theme statement relates to their lives and the world around them.

Step 2: Gather Evidence
By now, students have selected a theme to expand upon in writing.  Through close analysis of short stories, students find examples from the text that support their theme.  At the end of the step, they have organized categories of evidence from the texts in preparation for writing their first draft.

Lesson 2.1 Analyze Text
Students analyze their texts to find evidence that supports their theme statements.  They record direct quotations and other evidence from their story, while including an explanation for their reasoning.   

Lesson 2.2 Refine Evidence
Students review the evidence they gathered in Lesson 2.1 to assess whether it is aligned with their theme statements.  They gather additional evidence or delete extraneous examples if necessary.

Lesson 2.3 Organize Evidence
Students look through the evidence they collected in Lessons 2.1 and 2.2 in order to organize it for writing.  They learn to group their ideas into categories that will become paragraphs in their essays.

Step 3:  Write Your First Draft
Using the evidence they have gathered, students synthesize their ideas to write an authentic response to literature. They will complete this step with a draft that incorporates a well-crafted introduction, body, and conclusion, all in support of their theme statement.

Lesson 3.1: Craft Topic Sentences
Students create topic sentences for their body paragraphs. Students’ topic sentences are universal, reflect the theme of their story, and connect to the evidence they have collected.

Lesson 3.2: Draft Your Body Paragraphs
Students use their topic sentences as a guide while drafting body paragraphs that include carefully chosen evidence that supports their theme statements.  

Lesson 3.3: Introduce Your Theme in an Opening Paragraph
Students craft introductory paragraphs which include their theme statements and highlight the categories of evidence that they will present in the remainder of their response to literature.

Lesson 3.4: Craft a Summarizing Conclusion
Students write a conclusion which summarizes their theme statement and relates it to their personal observations about human nature or aspects of their own life. Depending on the particular pieces of writing students are developing, some conclusions may also include questions to the author about the text.

Step 4: Revise, Edit & Publish
During this final step in the unit, students execute revision strategies.  They also edit and proofread their written work for accuracy of grammar and spelling.  At the end of the step, they celebrate their accomplishments by publishing their completed work in the class e-zine.   

Lesson 4.1: Peer Review for Clarity
After being introduced to specific guidelines for peer review for clarity of theme, students share their writing with one or two peers in order to get feedback. Peer review is scaffolded by a short series of questions that focus the process.  Students use the peer review feedback to clarify their writing.

Lesson 4.2: Revise for Sentence Variety
Students learn that writers use a variety of sentence structures to keep their readers’ interest.  They learn two specific strategies for varying sentence structures: combining sentences using conjunctions and using introductory clauses. Students then identify places in their own writing where they can vary sentence structure.

Lesson 4.3: Edit and Publish Your Writing
Students work with a peer to edit the grammar and punctuation of their writing. They then review the final version of their piece in preparation for publishing. With the guidance of the teacher, students publish their finished pieces on their Writing Matters e-zine.

Lesson 4.4: Respond to Others’ Writing (Supplementary)
Students read one another’s work and post their comments on the e-zine.  Commenting is scaffolded by a series of “sentence starters” that keep the process focused and thoughtful.

References

Anderson, Jeff. Mechanically Inclined. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers, 2005.

Angelillo, Janet. Writing about Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003.

Angelillo, Janet. Writing to the Prompt: When Students Don’t Have a Choice. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2005.

Calkins, Lucy. The Art of Teaching Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1994.

Lattimer, Heather. Thinking Through Genre. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers, 2003.

Standards

The lessons in this project support the New York City ELA Middle School Performance Descriptions for writing.

New York City ELA Middle School Performance Descriptions

According to ELA Standard E2:

"Writing is a process through which a writer shapes language to communicate effectively. Writing often develops through a series of initial plans and multiple drafts and through access to informed feedback and response. Purpose, audience, and context contribute to the form and substance of writing as well as to its style, tone, and stance."

E2b: The student produces a response to literature that:

• develops reader interest;
• advances a judgment that is interpretive, analytic, evaluative, or reflective;
• supports a judgment through references to the text, references to other works, authors, or non-print media, or references to personal knowledge;
• demonstrates an understanding of the literary work;
• provides a sense of closure to the writing.

Examples of responses to literature include:

• A literary analysis.
• A book or movie review.
• A literary response paper.

E3a: The student participates in one-to-one conferences with a teacher, paraprofessional, or adult volunteer, in which the student:

• asks relevant questions;
• responds to questions with appropriate elaboration;
• confirms understanding by paraphrasing the adult’s directions or suggestions.

Examples of one-to-one interactions include:

• Student-teacher conferences regarding a draft of an essay

E4a: The student demonstrates an understanding of the rules of the English language in written and oral work, and selects the structures and features of language appropriate to the purpose, audience, and context of the work. The student demonstrates control of:

• Grammar
• Punctuation
• Spelling
• Usage

Examples of activities through which students might demonstrate an understanding of the rules of the English language include:

• Demonstrate in a piece of writing the ability to manage the conventions, grammar, and usage of English so that they aid rather than interfere with reading.
• Proofread acceptably the student’s own writing or the writing of others, using dictionaries and other resources, including the teacher or peers as appropriate.
• Revise a piece of writing by combining sentences.

E4b: The student analyzes and subsequently revises work to clarify it or make it more effective in communicating the intended message or thought. The student’s revisions should be made in light of the purposes, audiences, and contexts that apply to the work. Strategies for revising include:

• adding or deleting details
• adding or deleting explanations
• clarifying difficult passages
• rearranging words, sentences, and paragraphs to improve or clarify meaning
• sharpening the focus

E5a. The student responds to non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and drama using interpretive, critical, and evaluative processes; that is, the student:

• identifies recurring themes across works;
• interprets the impact of authors’ decisions regarding word choice, content, and literary elements;
• identifies the characteristics of literary forms and genres;
• evaluates literary merit;
• identifies the effect of point of view;
• analyzes the reasons for a character’s actions, taking into account the situation and basic motivation of the character;
• makes inferences and draws conclusions about fictional and non-fictional contexts, events, characters, settings, and themes;

Examples of responding to literature include:

• Examine themes in the work (fiction or non-fiction) of one popular young-adult author

New York State English Language Arts Learning Standards

ELA 1.1c Use the process of pre-writing, drafting, revising, and proofreading (the "writing process") to produce well-constructed informational texts.

ELA 2.1 Speaking and writing to acquire and transmit information requires asking probing and clarifying questions, interpreting information in one’s own words, applying information from one context to another, and presenting the information and interpretation clearly, concisely, and comprehensibly.

ELA 2.2 Speaking and writing for literary response involves presenting interpretations, analyses, and reactions to the content and language of a text. Speaking and writing for literary expression involves producing imaginative texts that use language and text structures that are inventive and often multilayered.

Students:

• present personal responses to literature that make reference to the plot, characters, ideas, vocabulary, and text structure
• explain the meaning of literary works with some attention to meanings beyond the literal level
• observe the conventions of grammar and usage, spelling, and punctuation.

ELA 4.1 Express ideas and concerns clearly and respectfully in conversations and group discussions.