Unit 1 Expository Writing

Responding to a Short Story

Responding to a Short Story

 What is a literary response?

• In a literary response , a writer — tells how he or she reacted to a literary selection — explains his or her reaction using specific details and examples from the text • In this workshop, you will learn how to write a response to a short story that you have read.

Assignment:

Use my critical thinking skills to write a response to a short story I have read.

Goal:

Clearly present an engaging response to a story or an aspect of a short story.

Strategy:

Organize my main points and support them with evidence from the story.

Writing Rubric:

My response to literature should include the following: • an introduction that grabs the reader’s attention and sets up my thesis statement • a clear organizational pattern • textual evidence (paraphrased and quoted) that supports my main ideas • an awareness of my audience and an appropriate tone • a conclusion that restates my thesis in a new way

Chaim Potok was a novelist, essayist, and poet. In this interview excerpt, Potok discusses how reading influenced his writing. Consider how your own reading experiences inspire you.

I think it was...the realization that you could really create the world out of language...I figured if these writers could get me to be interested in two different...worlds that there was something about this form of communication that I wanted to be part of. That it captivated me the way it did, that it worked its magic on me, made me realize how powerful this medium is. And I wanted to become part of it.

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PREWRITE

 Narrowing Your Topic • First, decide on a story to write about. — Which stories do you feel most strongly about? — Which stories changed your understanding of something or made you question what you thought you knew? — Which stories did you find especially enjoyable, surprising, or strange?

• Whichever story you choose, be sure that it is one that inspired a strong reaction and one that will give you enough to discuss in your response.

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PREWRITE

 Gathering Details • Once you have chosen a story to write about, freewrite to gather ideas. — When you freewrite, you write without pausing, reflecting, correcting mistakes, or changing ideas. — In freewriting, you simply write.

Begin by setting in front of you a pen and a clean sheet of paper.

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PREWRITE

 Gathering Details • Think about your favorite story so far. Before touching pen to paper, consider: —

Why is this your favorite?

—

What is the best thing about it?

—

Who are the most important characters?

—

What deeper meaning might the story have?

—

How does the story affect you?

• Next, begin writing. Continue for five straight minutes.

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PREWRITE

 Gathering Details • Read over what you’ve just written to gain some insight into what you can focus on. •

Circle

each thing that seems like an important detail from the story. •

Underline

anything that might be a good idea to expand.

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PREWRITE

 Deciding on Your Thesis • Make a list of what you have circled and underlined. — These ideas should become part of your thesis or evidence to support the thesis. • Skim the story to help you remember the themes of the story, recall details, and answer any questions you have. • Reread any parts of the story that are unclear and ask a classmate or teacher if you have additional questions.

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DRAFT

 Organizing Ideas • Choose an organizational pattern that will help you explain your ideas clearly and effectively.

• To emphasize your strongest points, organize them by order of importance . — Least important to most important — Most important to least important Least Important Point More Important Point Most Important Point Most Important Point Less Important Point Least Important Point

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DRAFT

 Organizing Ideas • Or, you may prefer to use chronological order , in which you discuss details in the order they appear in the story. Details from Beginning Details from Middle Details from End • Whatever you decide, the order of paragraphs should be clear and logical to the reader.

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DRAFT

 Write your response by following this three part framework: Introduction Body Conclusion

➋

DRAFT

 Introduction • Summarize the basic plot of the story.

• Include your thesis.

 Body • Include a topic sentence for each paragraph that expresses the main idea of that paragraph. • Give supporting evidence in each paragraph to support your main idea and your thesis.

 Conclusion • Sum up your main points. • Restate your thesis.

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DRAFT

 Before drafting, create a plan for your response.

Example

Tone and Audience

 As you write, keep in mind who will read your response. This is your audience .

• Make sure you give your audience enough background information.

• If your audience has also read the story, only summarize the main parts.

• Use your introduction to “hook,” or engage, your audience.

Tone and Audience

 Your tone is your attitude toward the subject you are writing about.

• Your tone tells the reader how you feel about the subjects you discuss.

• The tone you take can be formal or informal, and it can show a variety of different attitudes.

• The tone of your response should be natural, but not too casual.

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REVISE

 Evaluating Your Draft • When your draft is complete, look over your paper to identify its strengths and weaknesses.

• To get the best evaluation of your writing, conduct a peer review.

— Exchange papers with a classmate. — Discuss ways you can improve your work.

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REVISE

 Delivering a Peer Review • Be focused.

— Concentrate on content, organization, and style.

— Leave spelling and punctuation for the proofreading stage.

• Be positive.

— Respect the writer’s feelings and genuine writing efforts.

• Be specific.

— Give the writer concrete ideas on improving his or her work.

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REVISE

 Receiving a Peer Review • Be specific.

— Tell the reviewer your concerns about the paper.

• Ask questions.

— Make sure you understand the reviewer’s comments.

• Be selective.

— Accept suggestions graciously, but don’t feel you have to use all—or any—of them.

• Use the Revising Checklist on the next slide to help guide you through your review.

Revising Checklist

 Does the introduction grab the reader’s attention and set up the thesis statement?

 Is the organizational pattern clear?

 Are the main ideas supported with specific details and examples?

 Are the sentences varied and engaging?

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REVISE

 Below is part of a draft of a literary response. • The notes to the right indicate the reasons for the changes in the draft.

• See the complete draft on page 133 of your textbook.



EDIT AND PROOFREAD

 Focus: Sentence Variety • Including a variety of sentences in your response will make your writing more interesting. • As you revise your draft — Check to make sure the length and type of your sentences vary.

— Add introductory phrases or change the order of the clauses in complex sentences.

— If you have several short, choppy sentences in a row, combine some of them with conjunctions.

— Use transitions to connect ideas.

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EDIT AND PROOFREAD

 Focus: Sentence Variety • An effective way to add variety is to use questions to grab your reader’s attention. Children find themselves in some unusual situations.

Can you think of some unusual situations you found yourself in as a child?

Children will do very strange things to avoid getting in trouble.

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EDIT AND PROOFREAD

 Focus: Commonly Confused Words • Some words can be confusing when you are writing.

— Review words such as

whose

and

who’s

carefully as you are revising your draft.

— If you are not sure which word to use, check a dictionary.

• Test yourself using the example on the next slide.



EDIT AND PROOFREAD

 Which is correct?

1

The story makes you wonder about

whose

who, and if there are any other Charles-es out there.

2

The story makes you wonder about

who’s

who, and if there are any other Charles-es out there.



EDIT AND PROOFREAD

 Correct answer:

2

The story makes you wonder about

who’s

who, and if there are any other Charles-es out there.

If you substitute the words

who is

for the contraction

who’s

you will see that the second example makes sense. The word

whose

is the possessive form of the word

who

, as in, “Whose umbrella is this in my backpack?”



EDIT AND PROOFREAD

 Proofreading • The next-to-last step in the writing process is to correct mistakes in spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. • • Look for any misused words or errors in grammar too. Use proofreader’s marks to show your corrections.

Student Model

 Review the final draft of the Student Model on page 135 of your textbook.

• Pay attention to the notes that identify the different parts of the paper.



PUBLISH AND PRESENT

 Final Draft • Make a clean copy of your paper for presentation.

• • Handwritten papers should be neat and legible.

• If you are working with a word processing program — double-space the lines of text — use a readable typeface Follow your teacher’s presentation guidelines before submitting your work.