English Literature & Composition - PopulationMe.com

Chapter 2: General Teaching Strategies for an AP Course
label the columns "Puzzling," "Interesting," "Beautiful," and "Vocabulary./I As they read and
encounter instances of each, they should copy the word or sentence and the page number. The
card serves as a reminder to read slowly and carefully, and the initial discussion of the text can
consist of each student sharing one example from the note card. Have a supply of extra cards
on hand, or assign students to buy their own. Ifstudents purchase their own books, teach them
to annotate by underlining key sentences, making marginal notes, and keeping a list of important
characters and elements on the inside cover. If you haven't read it, check out Mortimer
Adler's "How to Mark a Book," in which he explains how central annotation-conducting an
ongoing conversation with the author-is to reading a book.
When you as a teacher model analytical reading, you will help students to understand the
process and to know what is meant by "close reading." For example, if you're introducing a
novel, read the opening page or two out loud, stopping and commenting on what you, as a
good reader, see, what links you're making, what questions you have. Point out what you think
are important words or lines, potential themes and symbols and character traits. Invite students
to contribute to this oral close reading exercise as well. If you don't have time to teach a whole
novel or novella but want students to experience a taste of it and to practice their reading skills,
have students in small groups read the first four to five pages and note such elements as point
of view, imagery, diction, and tone.
Encourage students to keep a course journal, in which they respond to questions during class
especially having to do with experiencing literature, or a dialectical journal (double-column notebook)
in which they note phrases or sentences, with page numbers, on the left side of the page
and paraphrase, link, and otherwise respond to them on the right side. This type of journal helps
students to experience, interpret, and evaluate literature. Class discussions organized around a
central question (Socratic seminars or Great Books-style discussions) also promote analytical
reading: students must cite evidence from the text to support their assertions.
TEACHING ANALYTICAL WRITING
Students need practice in crafting an effective thesis sentence, whether that sentence appears in
the opening paragraph (deductive approach) or near the end of the essay (inductive approach).
Professor DiYanni offers suggestions for writing a thesis as well as following other conventions
for writing about literature on pp. 2127-2131. To practice the sort of analysis of reading that the
AP exam requires, isolate a passage from a work that the class is studying and generate a list of
textual features that students must explore: diction, syntax, figurative language, tone, selection of
detail. Early in the course, allow students to collaborate, but then have students work by themselves
to become more adept at noting these features in texts that they encounter. Undoubtedly,
those 4" x 6" cards will have already gotten their minds limber for this sort of analytical "drill."
Mixing literary genres in writing assignments helps to teach students the skills of analysis
and synthesis; it trains students to see patterns across genre lines. Give students two or three
passages, perhaps one from each of the text's three main genres, that are linked by theme, imagery,
conflict, and so on and ask them to identify and then analyze the parallels that they see.
To assess students after they have read a text, specifically a longer work like a play or novel,
ask them to find and analyze three passages-one for character, one for theme, and one for
style. Students should copy the passage, paraphrase it, and then analyze it. This type of assessment
reinforces yet again the importance of reading attentively while noting parallels, connections,
and even salient contrasts.
A writing assignment for secondary sources that trains students to read carefully and write
concisely is the precis. The directions for this assignment are simple: find the thesis of the piece
(we suggest using a critical essay, although students could select an editorial from your local
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