Writing skills particular to the applications listed here may be taught across the curriculum, although some applications may lend themselves more readily to specific content areas. It is imperative that students write in all content areas in order to increase their communication skills, and ultimately to improve their understanding of content area concepts. When appropriate, other content standards are referenced to show interdisciplinary connections.
Concept 5: Literary ResponseLiterary response is the writer’s reaction to a literary selection. The response includes the writer’s interpretation, analysis, opinion, and/or feelings about the piece of literature and selected elements within it. |
| High School: Grade 9 |
| PO 1. Write a literary analysis that:
a. describes the author’s use of literary elements (i.e., theme, point of view, characterization, setting, plot) b. explains different elements of figurative language, (i.e., simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, symbolism, allusion, and imagery) in a literary selection c. compares works within a literary genre that deal with similar themes (e.g., compare two short stories or two poems) Example: Write an essay about different characters in “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant explaining how each serves to move forward the plot. |
| High School: Grade 10 |
| PO 1. Write a literary analysis that:
a. analyzes the author’s use of literary elements (i.e., theme, point of view, characterization, setting, plot) b. analyzes different elements of figurative language (i.e., simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, symbolism, allusion, and imagery) in a literary selection c. compares the illustration of the same theme in two different literary genres, using their structural features as the basis for the comparison (e.g., novel and play, poem and short story) d. identifies how an author’s choice of words and imagery sets the tone and advances the work’s theme
Example: Write an essay explaining Gwendolyn Brook’s use of word choice in “We Real Cool” to communicate its theme. (See R10-S2C1) |
| High School: Grade 11 |
| PO 1. Write a literary analysis that:
a. evaluates the author’s use of literary elements (i.e., theme, point of view, characterization, setting, plot) b. interprets different elements of figurative language (i.e., simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, symbolism, allusion, imagery, extended metaphor/conceit) with emphasis on how the author’s use of language evokes readers’ emotions c. analyzes the way in which the theme, or meaning of a selection, represents a view or comment on life, providing textual evidence for the identified theme d. explains the writer’s use of irony, contradictions, paradoxes, incongruities, and ambiguities in a literary selection e. analyzes an author’s development of time and sequence through the use of complex literary devices such as foreshadowing and flashbacks f. explains how meaning is enhanced through various features of poetry, including sound (e.g., rhythm, repetition, alliteration, consonance, assonance), structure (e.g., meter, rhyme scheme), and graphic elements (e.g., line length, punctuation, word position) Example: Write an essay about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism in The Great Gatsby. |
| High School: Grade 12 |
| PO 1. Write literary analyses that:
a. evaluates the author’s use of literary elements (i.e., theme, point of view, characterization, setting, plot) b. interprets figurative language (i.e., personification, hyperbole, symbolism, allusion, imagery, extended metaphor/conceit, allegory) with emphasis upon how the writer uses language to evoke readers’ emotions c. explains how meaning is enhanced through various features of poetry, including sound (e.g., rhythm, repetition, alliteration, consonance, assonance), structure (e.g., meter, rhyme scheme), graphic elements (e.g., line length, punctuation, word position) d. analyzes a writer’s word choice and imagery as a means to appeal to the reader’s senses and to set the tone, providing evidence from the text to support the analysis, e. describes the function of dialogue, scene design, soliloquies, asides, and/or character foils in dramatic literature, f. compares literary texts that express a universal theme, providing textual evidence (e.g., examples, details, quotations) as support for the identified theme g. analyzes characteristics of subgenres (e.g., satire, parody, allegory) that overlap or cut across the lines of genre classifications such as poetry, novel, drama, short story, essay or editorial Example: Write an essay comparing and contrasting the realities of war as presented in “Dulce Et Decorum Est ” by Wilfred Owen and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. |