Do Now
• You will need your
homework thesis
statements, yesterday’s
handout and more binder
paper
• Reflect – what difficulties
did you have with last
night’s assignment?
Pfeifer 2012
Do Now
• Please turn in your homework
from the weekend.
• Expectations
• Q3
• Hamlet
• Q2 strategy
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Diving Into the Text
Analyzing the Author’s
Craft in a Timed Essay
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How can we
Take students from…
Close reading
to
thesis
to
writing a 7, 8, or 9 essay
every time?
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6 Reading Habits to Develop in
your 1st year at Harvard
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Look around--preview
Annotate--dialogue with
yourself --author-- issues
Outline--Summarize--Analyze
Look for repetition and
Pattern
Contextualize--Put the
reading in perspective
Compare and Contrast--Fit
this reading into semester--the
themes of the course--what
you have learned.
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#1 Look Around and #5 Contextualize
• Is this a piece from a longer
novel, short story or play?
• Is this a short piece in its
entirety?
• Is there a date or a year that
this piece was written?
• Is this an American, British or
world author?
• What other information are you
given?
Pfeifer 2012
2012 AP English Literature and Composition
Exam, Prose Question
Carefully read the following excerpt
from the novel Under the Feet of
Jesus (1995) by Helena Maria
Viramontes. Then write a wellorganized essay in which you
analyze the development of
Estrella’s character…
Pfeifer 2012
Looking Around
• Helena Maria Viramontes—
Latino/Mexican?
• Title of Novel– Under the
Feet of Jesus
• Piece from longer work—
NOVEL written 1995
• About Estrella—her
“character”
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Contextualize
• Author—Mexican
American/Latino?
• Estrella?
• Under the Feet of Jesus—
Religious significance?
• Culture differences?
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Do Now: Looking Around
•
•
•
•
Author?
Text?
Type of Text?
What does the prompt
ask?
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#2 Annotating: Time to read the piece quickly--annotate
while you read--Look for …
• Point of View--who is narrating--what is
perspective~~stance?
• Diction and Syntax--language that strikes
you--sentence structure--Dialogue-punctuation-• Imagery--remember that images can be
gustatory, visual, tactile---etc.
• Details--Anything that you need to pay
attention to?
• Structure--Overall--what other narrative
constructions do you see? Flashback? Plot
order?
Pfeifer 2012
#2 Annotating: Time to read the piece quickly--annotate
while you read--Look for …
• Point of View--who is narrating--what is
perspective~~stance?
• Diction and Syntax--language that strikes
you--sentence structure--Dialogue-punctuation-• Imagery--remember that images can be
gustatory, visual, tactile---etc.
• Details--Anything that you need to pay
attention to?
• Structure--Overall--what other narrative
constructions do you see? Flashback? Plot
order?
• Epiphany?
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#3 Outlining, Analyzing, Summarizing
#4 Look for Repetition and Pattern
• In Groups of 2-3 discuss the
literary devices listed below
for 30 sec. to 1 minute
each—take notes
• 30 seconds--Point of view
• 30 seconds--Diction and
syntax
• 30 seconds--Imagery
• 30 seconds--Details
• 30 seconds--Structure
Pfeifer 2012
2012 AP English Literature and Composition
Exam, Prose Question--continued
Carefully read the following
excerpt from the novel Under
the Feet of Jesus (1995) by
Helena Maria Viramontes. Then
write a well-organized essay in
which you analyze the
development of Estrella’s
character. In your analysis you
may wish to consider such
literary elements as selection of
detail, figurative language, and
tone
Pfeifer 2012
WHAT IS THE CHARACTER OF
RACHEL?
• 1995 LITERATURE
• Read the following short
story carefully. Then write
an essay analyzing how
the author, Sandra
Cisneros, uses literary
techniques to characterize
Rachel.
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WHAT IS THE NARRATOR'S COMPLEX ATTITUDE
TOWARD THE PAST?
• 1997 LITERATURE
• Read carefully the following passage from
Joy Kogawa's Obasan, a novel about the
relocation of Japanese Canadians to
internment camps during the Second
World War. Then, in a well-organized
essay, analyze how changes in perspective
and style reflect the narrator's complex
attitude toward the past. In your analysis,
consider literary elements such as point of
view, structure, selection of detail, and
figurative language.
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WHAT IS THE NARRATOR'S ATTITUDE TOWARD
DOROTHEA?
• 1998 LITERATURE
• Read carefully the following
passage from George Eliot's
novel Middlemarch (1871).
Then write an essay in which
you characterize the narrator's
attitude toward Dorothea
Brooke and analyze the literary
techniques used to convey this
attitude. Support your analysis
with specific references to the
passage.
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WHAT IS THE DRAMATIC EXPERIENCE?
• 1999 LITERATURE.
• In the following passage from
Cormac McCarthy's novel, The
Crossing (1994), the narrator
describes a dramatic
experience. Read the passage
carefully. Then in a wellorganized essay, show how
McCarthy's techniques convey
the impact of the experience
on the main character.
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What is Estrella’s Character?
Carefully read the following
excerpt from the novel Under
the Feet of Jesus (1995) by
Helena Maria Viramontes. Then
write a well-organized essay in
which you analyze the
development of Estrella’s
character. In your analysis you
may wish to consider such
literary elements as selection of
detail, figurative language, and
tone
.
Pfeifer 2012
Time to fashion a thesis and
plan the essay.
Pfeifer 2012
DO NOW
• You will need your
homework thesis
statements, yesterday’s
handout and more binder
paper
• Reflect – what difficulties
did you have with last
night’s assignment?
Pfeifer 2012
1. Look again at the prompt
Carefully read the following excerpt from the
novel Under the Feet of Jesus (1995) by Helena
Maria Viramontes. Then write a well-organized
essay in which you analyze the development
of Estrella’s character. In your analysis you
may wish to consider such literary elements as
selection of detail, figurative language, and
tone
• You have now decided what “Estrella’s
character”is--now you need to look back
and choose the elements that you believe
will best answer the prompt. Back to
group discussion--decide which elements
discussed earlier show this theme.
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2. Craft a Thesis
In the excerpt from the novel,
Under the Feet of Jesus, the
author, Helena Maria
Viramontes, develops the
character of Estrella
through such literary
elements as selection of
detail, figurative language,
and tone.
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Original Thesis
• Replace the above underlined
sections with:
1. What you believe is the Estrella’s
character, and
2. Examples of the lit. techniques as
used in the passage that you believe
are the BEST to show HOW the
author develops it.
• You may not use any of the
underlined words in your final thesis.
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• Throughout the passage
from “Under the Feet of
Jesus” Estrella experiences
a life changing
transformation. Helena
Viramontes uses tone and
even symbolism to portray
Estrella’s change from
being lost, confused, and
illiterate to becoming
motivated, intrigued,
independent, and
empowered.
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• BB
Plan the Essay
• Quickly outline the essay-start with the thesis-already written--then
craft/outline paragraphs
around specific examples
of the literary techniques
already chosen.
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34 Minutes Remain to Write a
Fabulous Essay!
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Essential Questions about
character
• How do they change?
• What steps do they go
through?
• What events produce the
change
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Epiphanies – the climax of
growth in a central character.
• Do they experience
epiphanies?
• When, why, and what do
the epiphanies reveal –to
the character/s and us?
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Complexity
• What makes them
complex?
• Are they unique for their
age?
• Are they independent or
dependent?
• What is their conflict?
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