EDLA 503 - Writing About Literature: Teaching Literary Analysis (3)

Guiding students from mere reading comprehension and summarization to full literary analysis can be challenging. Analysis requires students to think beyond the facts of the text and create their own argument or thesis about what the text means, which can be a brand-new critical thought process for some students.

In this course, you will learn to engage students in “writing to read”-or using writing to explore responses to literature, query those responses, scrutinize form, and analyze content. You will cultivate techniques for guiding students through the entire analysis process, from using the formal vocabularies of different genres to pre-writing to writing a polished, final draft. Genres covered include fiction, drama, graphic narratives, and poetry. You will explore critical approaches to making sense of literature, and design engaging activities to help students write their way to comprehension and appreciation of literary texts.

Using the techniques from this course, you will be equipped to help students master Common Core State Standards in reading and writing, and learn analysis skills they’ll be able to use for life.