Transcript Response to Literature Essay - Delano Union School District

Response to Literature
Essay
What is it?
 A formal response to literature
 Remember our quote responses
 You will
 Choose a story we read
 Summarize it
 Evaluate it
 Connect it to your life
 Minimum of 500 words
Day One
 Terms Used
 Basic Format
 Pre-writing Activity
Terms and Definitions
 Thesis – A sentence with a subject and opinion.
The main idea of the entire essay.
 Topic Sentence – The first sentence of a body
paragraph. This must have a subject and an
opinion.
 Thesis: Essay::Topic Sentence: Body Paragraph
Terms and Definitions
 Concrete Detail (CD) – Specific details that form
the backbone of your body paragraphs.
 Commentary (CM) – Your opinion or comment
about something.
 Ratio – The ratio of 1 part CD to 2+ parts CM
 1:2
Basic Format
 5 Paragraphs
1. Introduction Paragraph (25 words)
2. Body #1 – Summarize (150 words)
3. Body #2 – Evaluate (150 words)
4. Body #3 – Connect (150 words)
5. Conclusion (25 words)
Choose a Story
 “The Dinner Party” pg. 565
 “Tell Tale Heart” pg. 624
 “The Third Wish” pg. 672
 “Charles” pg. S21
 “The Monkey’s Paw” pg. 680  “The Fun They Had”
 “The Bet” pg. 285
 “All Summer in a Day”
 “Rain, Rain, Go Away” pg.
554
 “The Lottery Ticket”
 “Future Tense” pg. 605
 “Those Three Wishes”
Pre-writing
 Bubble Cluster
 Start with the story you chose (label with a #1)
 Create 3 linked bubbles (label with a #2)
 Summarize – Identify the conflict, rising action, climax, resolution
(label with a #3)
 Evaluate – Perspective, vocabulary, mood, tone, plot, character,
setting, theme (label with a #3)
 Connect – Think of the themes, then begin thinking of how it
relates to you (label with a #3)
 See Example
Day Two
 Elements of an Introduction
 Hook
 Necessary Information
 Thesis
 Body Paragraph #1 – Summary
 Literary Précis
Hook
 Imagine you are fishing for readers
 You entice them with something, then they
are “hooked”
 Good ideas for hooks:
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Quote
Question
Interesting Facts or Statistics
Definition
Necessary Information
 You must include
 Title of the story
 Author
 You will lose points if you don’t include it here.
 Use this to connect the hook to your thesis
Thesis
 Made up of two things
 Subject
 Opinion
 States the main idea of the entire paper
Thesis Practice
 I will give you a thesis, and you will tell me whether or not it is a
valid thesis.
 The 49ers are the best team in the NFL.
 The Lakers are a basketball team.
 Today the cafeteria is serving pizza.
 I will give a subject, you will write a thesis about it.
1. The President
2. The Avengers
3. Mr. Franklin
Write your Thesis
 Now you will write a thesis for your paper.
 The subject is the story you chose.
 You MUST include the subject AND an opinion.
 Write your thesis on the “Outline” side of the handout
I gave you yesterday.
1st Body Paragraph - Summary
 We will use a simplified format of the literary précis
that you used earlier this year.
 This will be the first body paragraph of your essay.
 Pretty simple if you did your pre-writing correctly
yesterday.
Literary Précis
 (author’s name) ’s (title of the work) is a short story
set in ( setting)
.
 The main characters are _____________________________
and __________________________ .
 The conflict of the story is
(explain the conflict faced by
the main character)
.
 In
(title of the work)
,
(brief summary of the rising
action)
.
 The climax occurs when
(explain the climax)
.
 Eventually
(explain the resolution-how it ends)
.
Day Three
 Body Paragraph #2 – Evaluate the Writing
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Topic Sentence
Concrete Detail #1
Commentary
Commentary
Concrete Detail #2
Commentary
Commentary
Repeat CD, CM, CM as necessary
Concluding Sentence
Topic Sentence
 Remember, a topic sentence consists of:
 A Subject
 An Opinion
 Since you are evaluating the author’s writing in this
paragraph, you should give your opinion on how well
written the story is.
 Suggested TS: “Harry the Dirty Dog” is a very well
written children’s story.
Concrete Details (CD)
 The concrete details (CD) form the “backbone” of your
body paragraphs.
 They are what gives your paragraphs a structure to
build your comments around.
 For this paragraph, look back at your Bubble Cluster
and choose 2-3 of the literary elements you feel most
comfortable addressing.
 For example, you could choose to write about the theme,
mood and perspective.
Commentary (CM)
 Commentary means your opinion, interpretation, insight, analysis,
personal response, feelings, evaluation, explication, and reflection
about a concrete detail (CD) in an essay.
 In a literary response paper, your CM can be communicating a
character’s feelings or responses or it can be what you feel are
examples showing the CD to be true.
 Paraphrase, Direct Quotes
 It should relate back to your thesis and your topic sentence.
 It can be difficult because all of the thoughts must come from you.
 It is up to you to come up with original statements about your
concrete details.
Commentary (CM)
 Remember the ratio 1:2+
 Example
 TS: “Harry the Dirty Dog” is a very well written children’s story.
 CD: For example, the story was written in the third person perspective.
 CM: By using this perspective, the author was able to communicate
things that were going on not just in Harry’s head, but also what others
were thinking and saying.
 CM: This was used best when Harry is trying to convince the family that
he is Harry when they don’t recognize him.
 CM: The reader gets to hear what Harry is thinking, but also knows what
the family is saying and thinking as well.
Commentary (CM)
 Repeat the CD, CM, CM pattern until you have addressed
the TS sufficiently.
 Example
 CD: In addition, the story gives the message that someone’s
views can change when circumstances change.
 CM: At the beginning of the story, Harry was convinced that he
hated baths.
 CM: But when his owners didn’t recognize him, he changed his
view.
 CM: He feels so rejected by his owners that he quickly begs for
the one thing he didn’t like.
Concluding Sentence
 Transition sentence
 Wraps up the thoughts presented in the body.
 Moves the reader to the next paragraph.
 CS: All of these literary techniques help to create a children’s story that is
truly special.
Day Four
 Body Paragraph #3 – Connect to the Literature
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Topic Sentence
Concrete Detail #1
Commentary
Commentary
Concrete Detail #2
Commentary
Commentary
Repeat CD, CM, CM as necessary
Concluding Sentence
Connect to the Literature
 Two ways
 Relate a theme of the story to something you have experienced.
 Put yourself in the position of one of the characters and tell how you
would react differently or similarly.
 Still follows the same format we discussed yesterday.
 TS
 CD, CM, CM
 CD, CM, CM
 Concluding sentence
Example
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TS: “Harry the Dirty Dog” is a great children’s story that also relates to everyday life.
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CD: In the story, Harry learns that given the right circumstances, you can change your
views on something.
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CM: This is a valuable lesson in life.
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CM: It can really make a difference in how you act and feel.
CD: This reminded me of how I changed my view on Steve Nash.
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CM: I really disliked Steve Nash as a basketball player for many years.
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CM: I was annoyed at how he sliced through the Lakers defense with his adept passing skills.
CD: Now, Steve Nash is a Laker, and it changed my opinion of him.
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CM: I know he will be a great fit for this team.
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CM: I will enjoy watching him slice through the other team’s defenses for a change.
CS: I completely understand what Harry was feeling in this story.
Day Five
 Conclusion
 All Commentary
 Does not repeat key words from anywhere in
the essay
 It gives a finished feel to the paper
 “Wrap it up”