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Literary Essays: Setting the Stage
As part my MFA program, I’ve had to write eight page papers on a paragraph or two of text. That’s a lot of words about not too many words. I’ve also watched my daughters draft critical analyses on literary works in both high school and college. Writing a literary essay is a lifelong skill that we are all working to master, so what can we expect our elementary writers to be able to do, and how can we provide instruction so they can succeed at a sophisticated task.
As with most writing units, the first thing I show students is a chart with the steps involved in writing a literary essay, a final product, and the student-facing checklist for opinion writing. Strong literary essays have a claim that is supported through text and interpretation, and it’s important for students to understand this concept.
More than anything else, a strong literary essay requires close reading. I teach students to read a passage many times, using different lenses each time. In this example, I have marked up the text, Spaghetti by Cynthia Rylant. This short story and many others can be found in Every Living Thing.
One of the ways I teach students to do this kind of work is to present them with a chart that looks something like this:
That way, each sticky note represents what you’re looking for in a read-through, what you might mark up with a specific color. These concepts might change depending on your students, but the idea of reading with just one particular focus is important. If you haven’t read Falling in Love With Close Reading by Kate Roberts and Chris Lehman, you will get lots of ideas about how to implement this sort of work from their book.
Depending on your students, you might want to consider making short text packets. Typed versions of favorite picture books work well, as well as poems. It’s important that whatever texts you use, students can (and are willing) to read them several times. Although I am always revamping and updating my short text collections, some tested and true texts are:
Picture Books
- Crow Call by Lois Lowry
- When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
- The Stranded Whale by Jane Yolen
- Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
- The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor
- A Day’s Work by Eve Bunting
Short Texts/Story Collections
- Hey World, Here I Am by Jean Little
- Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant
- Knots in My Yoyo String by Jerry Spinelli
Additionally, almost any poem works for analysis, and literary essays are a wonderful pathway to infuse poetry into your students’ lives.
Once you have students reading their texts over and over and marking it up, then it’s time to develop some more in-depth thinking. I have several examples of this that I keep in my teaching notebook.
The chart on the right tells students how to do this work and the examples show them what the work looks like. Both are important. I have to say that I have come to many new realizations–had many authentic a-ha moments–by using repeated thinking stems. It’s a powerful process if students have the time and the stamina to really take a deep dive into their thinking.
Once students have worked through their thinking, they can think about what they have the most to say about, and that decision helps drive the direction of their essay. The follwing chart works well for sorting through their thoughts and patches of thinking.
At this point, most students are ready to plan their essays. Again, I give them a chart of how to do it, and examples of what the work might look like.
I can’t guarantee that everyone will write prize-winning essays, but I will say that this sort of work is important for developing independent thinkers with stamina and appreciation for the work of writing.
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Published by Melanie Meehan
I am the Writing and Social Studies Coordinator in Simsbury, CT, and I love what I do. I get to write and inspire others to write! Additionally, I am the mom to four fabulous daughters and the wife of a great husband. View all posts by Melanie Meehan
9 thoughts on “ Literary Essays: Setting the Stage ”
You made it look so simple with all of the charts/visuals you share with us! (We both know this kind of unit isn’t so I appreciate you showing the steps involved.)
There is a lot of great thinking here to mull over. Thanks for providing such great information!
That’s super fabulous, I am a school owner of a Center of foreign languages and I teach English and French, here in Patras, Greece.I teach all levels and prepare students for certificate or diploma exams, they start at 6 and finish at 13 years old or later. This year I intend to have extra offered classes about writing stories, especially a team of 8 girls(6th grade) were begging me literally since last year because they write stories themselves! Essay writing is a crucial part of writing essays when the time comes to sit the exams so they need to know the craft of doing it. More girls heard about that from their siblings and now I have another group of 5th grade! I would love to have some models to show them and help them with their writing process! That would be awesome! Thank you, so much!
Reading this post brings me back to a world before the teaching of writing became an actual thing. In my day, you learned grammar and spelling and that an essay consisted of 5 paragraphs with a beginning, ending and two or three well supported ideas in the middle. We’ve come a long way. Sometimes I wonder, however, if all students are “ready” for the plethora of information that is available for teaching writing. When I taught writing I always enjoyed conferencing with students (grade 4 to college freshmen) to find out what they really wanted to say, or what was challenging them in their writing journey.
I love the way you guide the students with concrete examples. Thanks for sharing this work.
Dear Melanie, This is a beautifully written post that has inspired my preparation as I approach this unit with my 7th graders. I was just getting ready to pull out all of my TC work from last summer and now I am truly inspired. Thank you very much for your efforts!
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I am curious what grades you have used these with. Thanks. They are very helpful and well-done.
I have used them with grades 4 and 5, but I think they could be used with higher grades as well.
Thanks so much for this lesson. This gives me some great fresh ideas on how to teach this difficult topic! I am trying to build a bank of sample literary essays to share with students. I would like to share with them essays from different pieces of literature than what I am asking them to analyze. I find my student struggle with this type of writing. I would love to have a few models to show them. Does anyone have any quality student samples that they would be willing to share? I teach 7th, 8th, and 10th grades. Thanks!
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EL Education Curriculum
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- ELA G5:M1:U2:L12
Writing a Literary Essay: Analyzing a Model
In this lesson, daily learning targets, ongoing assessment.
- Technology and Multimedia
Supporting English Language Learners
Universal design for learning, closing & assessments, you are here:.
- ELA Grade 5
- ELA G5:M1:U2
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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:
- RL.5.10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 4-5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
- RI.5.10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 4-5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
- W.5.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
- W.5.5: With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
- I can use the Painted Essay structure to analyze a model. ( W.5.2 , W.5.5 )
- Painted Essay(r) template
| Agenda | Teaching Notes |
|---|---|
| A. Engaging the Reader: Model Literary Essay (10 minutes) B. Reviewing Learning Target (5 minutes)
A. Analyzing a Model: The Painted Essay (30 minutes)
A. Research Reading Share (15 minutes)
A. Accountable Research Reading. Select a prompt and respond in the front of your independent reading journal. B. For ELLs: Complete Language Dive 1 Practice in your Unit 2 Homework. | ). ). Throughout the school year, students are provided with checklists for their writing, which outline the key criteria that the CCSS require of the writing type. These checklists are closely aligned with the teacher rubrics used to grade student assessments. An empty column is provided on each student checklist for students to add criteria for the specific characteristics required by the writing prompt, and time, directions, and examples for this process are built into the relevant lessons. ).
). . .
|
- The materials required for the Painted Essay.
- Research reading share (see Independent Reading: Sample Plan).
- The Painted Essay lesson (see supporting materials).
- Red Light, Green Light protocol. See Classroom Protocols.
- Post: Learning targets and applicable anchor charts.
Tech and Multimedia
- Work Time A: Rather than using colored pencils on the displayed model literary essay, consider highlighting or using colored text on a word-processing document.
Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 5.I.B.6, 5.II.A.1, and 5.II.A.2
Important points in the lesson itself
- The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs with opportunities to unpack an example of the work they are expected to complete during the remainder of the unit. They are also empowered to use a color-coding system that will help them understand essay structure using visual prompts.
- ELLs may find it challenging to absorb an abundance of information and terminology about essay structure. Think aloud each part while analyzing the model essay to clarify the purpose of each component of the structure. Reassure students that even if they do not understand everything today, they will have plenty of opportunities to work with the concepts throughout the unit and the year.
- In Work Time A, ELLs are invited to participate in a Language Dive conversation (optional). The conversation invites students to unpack complex syntax--or "academic phrases"--as a necessary component of building both literacy and habits of mind. This conversation guides them through the meaning of the structure of the points 1 and 2 statement in the model literary essay. It also provides students with further practice using the language structure from the model literary essay points 1 and 2 statement, and reinforces the subject-predicate structure introduced in Unit 1. Students may draw on this sentence when writing their informational essays later in the unit. A consistent Language Dive routine is critical in helping all students learn how to decipher complex sentences and write their own. In addition, Language Dive conversations may hasten overall English language development for ELLs. Preview the Language Dive Guide and consider how to invite conversation among students to address the questions and goals suggested under each sentence strip chunk (see supporting materials). Select from the questions and goals provided to best meet your students' needs. Prepare the sentence strip chunks for use during the Language Dive (see supporting materials). Consider providing students with a Language Dive log inside a folder to track Language Dive sentences and structures and collate Language Dive note-catchers.
Levels of support:
For lighter support:
- During the Language Dive, challenge students to generate questions about the sentence before asking the prepared questions. Example: "What questions can we ask about this sentence? Let's see if we can answer them together."
For heavier support:
- Create a puzzle of the model literary essay using index cards. Paste each paragraph on different index cards. Use colored index cards according to the established Painted Essay colors. Challenge students to put the paragraph together in the correct order without looking at their papers.
- Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): In this lesson, students analyze a model text. This sets the foundation for them to be able to write their own informational essay. Help students engage with the model essay in multiple ways. During the introduction, color-code the displayed model with the same colors students will use during the Painted Essay exercise.
- Multiple Means of Action and Expression (MMAE): In the basic structure of this lesson, students get multiple representation cues with the color-coding provided by the Painted Essay(r) template. However, some students may find covering the entire essay in one lesson overwhelming. Consider chunking the explicit instruction for each part of the essay into multiple lessons to provide time for students to comprehend new information.
- Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Maximize engagement for the informational essay by reminding students that they get to choose. Then they will be able to teach others all about the poet and demonstrate their knowledge.
Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T); Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)
- The Painted Essay, literary, compare and contrast, structure (L)
- Literary essay prompt (one per student and one to display)
- Model literary essay (one per student and one to display)
- Vocabulary logs (from Unit 1, Lesson 4; one per student)
- Annotated model literary essay (for teacher reference)
- The Painted Essay(r) template (one per student)
- Paintbrushes (one per student)
- Red, yellow, blue, and green watercolor paint (one set per pair)
- Cups of water (one per pair)
- Painting an Essay lesson plan (for teacher reference)
- Red, yellow, blue, and green colored pencils (one set; for teacher modeling)
- Paper (blank; one per student)
- Informative Writing Checklist (one per student and one to display)
- Language Dive Guide: Model Literary Essay (optional; for ELLs; for teacher reference)
- Blue and red markers (one of each per student)
- Language Dive Note-catcher: Model Literary Essay (one per student)
- Sentence strip chunks: Model Literary Essay (one to display)
- Working to Become Ethical People anchor chart (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 2)
- Independent Reading: Sample Plan ( see the Tools page ; for teacher reference)
Each unit in the 3-5 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize their understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.
| Opening | Meeting Students' Needs |
|---|---|
| and select a volunteer to read it aloud for the group. Tell students that for the rest of this unit, they will be writing an essay to respond to this prompt.
and writing a two-voice poem about those reactions. Let them know that work will help them write an essay like this one about the event/situation they chose in the previous lesson. | For ELLs: Ask: "What is the difference between the words and ?" ( is an adjective that means related to literature. is a noun that means written works of fiction.) and , display two photos of similar objects and invite students to describe what is similar about the objects and what is different about the objects. |
| and explain that this is something they may have seen in previous grades, and will learn more about in this lesson. . Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:
. Remind students that they have seen this word before and invite them to review the word on the Academic Word Wall and in their vocabulary logs.
| For ELLs: Buy or ask for large paint chips from a local hardware or paint store, or print them online. Write the words , , , and , each one on a different shade of the paint chip. Place them on the wall and discuss the shades of meaning in relation to the writing process. |
| Work Time | Meeting Students' Needs |
|---|---|
| as necessary. , , , and . and the to model on the displayed model literary essay. , and tell students they are going to use the Red Light, Green Light protocol to reflect on their progress toward the learning target. Remind them that they used this protocol in Lesson 6 and review as necessary. Refer to the Classroom Protocols document for the full version of the protocol. . Tell students that this checklist is something they will use a lot in their English Language Arts work. Ensure students understand that they will be using this checklist each time they write an informative piece because these are the things every good piece of informative writing should contain.
| For ELLs: Guide students through Language Dive: Model Literary Essay (see supporting materials). Refer to the . Distribute and display , and . |
| Closing | Meeting Students' Needs |
|---|---|
| Remind them of: I behave with integrity. This means I am honest and do the right thing, even when it's difficult, because it is the right thing to do. to guide students through a research reading review, or use your own routine. | When reviewing the Working to Become Ethical People anchor chart, clarify vocabulary by discussing what integrity looks and sounds like. Consider sharing images or short videos that demonstrate initiative or having students act out behaviors that show integrity. (MMR) |
| Homework | Meeting Students' Needs |
|---|---|
|
| For ELLs and students who may need additional support with reading and writing: Refer to the suggested homework support in Lesson 1. (MMAE, MMR) |
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