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Quarter 2: Analyzing Authors Choices

1. Find a passage that uses imagery and details to describe a


character, setting or event. Draw the scene and label it with
text details on one page. Then analyze how the description
develops the theme/main ideas or signals the authors tone (1
page drawing, 1 page writing).
2. Examine how your author uses types of details to develop
an idea, character or setting. Trace the authors use of
D.R.A.P.E.S. and discuss effects of the authors choice of
details.
3. Add a scene to the book you are reading. Try to imitate the
authors style and use of details. On the left paste text that
would come right before the scene you create.
4. Analyze the authors use of tropes (artful diction) to create
character, set mood, establish setting or develop theme.
5. Analyze a character from your book using the vices and
virtues. How does the character represent a particular
vice/virtue? How is the character a realistic or unrealistic
blend of vices and virtues?
6. Write to explain how the author develops a theme of the
book of you are reading. Be sure to cite specific examples
(snippets of quotes) from the book that illustrate the theme.
7. Many writers use setting to establish values or express tone.
For example, a rural/country setting may be a place of peace
and beauty or one of ignorance and isolation. Explain how
setting plays a significant role in the book you are reading.
8. Some books serve as advocates for change regarding social
issues. Analyze a work you have read using the lens of an
activist. Describe the issue and how characters thoughts,
actions or deeds work to change it.
9. Write to explain a topic, issue, phenomena mentioned in
your book. This one will require some research. Then imagine
you are writing a video script explaining the concept to others.
10. Investigate the author of the book you are reading. Visit
his or her website. Learn a bit about the writer. Then write to
explain how the authors life or life events relate to the story
being told in the book.
*challenge prompts*
10. Everything is a quest, so says Foster in chapter one of How
to Read Literature Like a Professor. Analyze the book you are
reading using an archetypal lensapply the steps in the heros
journey to the book you are reading. See me for a handout to
help you.
12. How would a feminist or a historian analyze characters,
elements, scenes or themes in your book? Choose a critical
perspective and apply it to the book you are reading. See me
for a handout to help you.
Remember, your reading journal is a place for you to
practice skills we are learning in class. During the second
quarter our writing focus shifts from argument to analysis.
Examine parts of your texts in order to craft an interpretation
(an analysis). Play with the ideas. Take risks with your
interpretations. Use textual evidence to support what you see
in the text.
I will confer with you about your reading and journal writing
at least twice a month. If you need more time or need help
working through a specific writing/reading issue, let me know.
General Grading Guidelines
Focus Use of Evidence Length


A
95


Sustains
analysis focus
with little if any
plot summary
Writer uses ample,
specific textual
evidence (direct
quotations and
paraphrases) to
support
interpretation;
evidence is cited.


2 front
pages or
more

B
85
Focuses on
analyzing the
text; may
include brief
summary of the
plot or
characters
Writer uses some
specific textual
evidence to support
interpretation; some
evidence is cited.

1 pages

C
75
Writing focuses
on retelling the
plot or story;
may have more
summary than
analysis
Writers use of
textual evidence is
inconsistent or
uneven; evidence
may be cited.

1 pages

D
65
Writing only
summarizes the
plot or story.
Writer uses
descriptive details
to summarize not
support an analysis.

1 page

Journal Set Up for Analysis:
Left Side Right Side
1. full reference
(bibliographic entry) for the
text in MLA format

2. excerpt copy/pasted to the
page or quotes written down
from the textthis is the
starting point passage for
your analysis

3.(optional) Any other
notes that show your
thinking
1. Number of the analysis
prompt your are trying out.

2. Write, write, writego
for the full two pages.

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