Weekly Writing Prompt [What is the most serious problem on your school campus?]

One of the most important aspects of an ELA classroom is the daily warm-up. Spending at least five minutes on the task of free writing, where ideas are brainstormed, a brief story written, a list of words formulated as a result of seeing, reading, or thinking through a prompt are all valuable ways to help your students warm up. Teach them the skills, give them sentence starters if they have a brain slump day (cause we all have them), then allow them to use any one of the tools available to write without the "fear" of being graded. Beginning is the hardest part. It is our job to give them the tools to simply start...

With that, here is today's prompt:

Literary Analysis (How to Write About Literature Unit)

Transferring my units from my middle school and high school teaching days has been more of a challenge than I ever would have thought! It's amazing how the formatting used on one computer (although saved) changes dramatically when it's opened elsewhere. It's forced me to think about how and where I save future files, that's for sure, but it's a time consuming endeavor to attempt to recreate and share what I've created in another digital format so it's available to teachers such as you! 

With that said, I'm excited to share my Literary Analysis unit with you. It's 14 pages of how I went through the process of thinking about literature critically with my high ability readers, and then how I taught them to properly write and present that analysis.

Objective Overview:

This unit follows the 4MAT method where students connect, reflect, gather information, research, experiment, practice, and perform in order to master the ability to think critically about literature and then follow a specific writing formula to demonstrate understanding of their analysis. 

Who will benefit from this unit? 

High ability learners needing to be challenged on how to think critically and write critically (and accurately) about literature. This unit would be a useful undertaking in any Honors English class or for any student preparing for college english courses. I used it for my high ability learners reading at a high level, needing to be challenged.

What will students will be doing?

Students are active participants throughout the unit when they discuss why this skill is valuable, analyze literature, gather information about how to write about what they analyzed, take notes, organize their thoughts, learn study skills, write, edit, and revise, and finally share the information they learned through a variety of presentation options.

How much time is needed? 

This unit could last up to 2-3 weeks, but the amount of in class time the teacher decides to give the students on discussions, peer reviews, revisions, &etc. depends on how long this will take.

What all is included?

• Step-by-step guide for the teacher to follow that reveals how I connected with the students, attempting to help them understand the necessity of this skill. 
• Notesheets
• Links to helpful videos and documents for students to review.
• Graphic Organizers
• Rubrics
• Peer Review Worksheet
• 12 Presentation Options

To purchase this unit go to my TeachersPayTeachers account: RafiKey's to Success, where I promise that this unit does in fact offer key's to a students literature criticism success. Here is the direct link: Literary Analysis (How to Write about Literature Unit)

BONUS! I created a video "assessment" using PlayPosit you are welcome to use: https://www.playposit.com/play/945426/Literary-Analysis