Literature Review: Tying it All Together

How can we teachers assess our students' understanding of a work of fiction before an assessment?

How can we teachers prepare our students to confidently analyze an excerpt from a literary work during a standards of learning exam?

How can we teachers empower our students to build durable comprehension homes that will last them for a lifetime? 

We can make sure that we use the building blocks of any short story or novel: the elements of literature.

If they are to withstand the test of time, stories must build durable structures, be they short pieces or novels.To do so, authors use the elements of literature for the framing, the finish work and the decorations. Each student's level of knowledge forms his/her understanding and creates this person's own house of comprehension.

Understanding how the elements of literature create resilient structures empowers students to

build sturdy academic homes. I use this principle as the foundation for all of my unit plans and individual literature-based lesson plans.  In fact, I feel that its importance is so crucial to students' learning that I used it for a teaching program that I developed in my book, The House of Comprehension (www.teachitwrite.com).  

This FREE 10-page activity is no exception. It offers teachers 8 activities: one each for Character, Plot, Conflict, Setting, Theme, Symbols, Point of View and Closure. Each activity supports Common Core Standards. Depending on each student's skill, ability and understanding level, teachers may choose to have their charges complete one, some, or all of the activities. When all are completed, students will advance their understanding of each aspect of Bloom's Taxonomy: Remember/Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate and Create. This enables them to develop their higher level thinking skills, a crucial aspect of learning.

Because the activities are open-ended, teachers can have students who need reinforcement in any of the areas complete any of them after the assessment, or in future literature studies.

Download this FREEBIE from my Teachers pay Teachers store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Activity-Tying-it-All-Together-975182 and help your students to add some bricks to their academic homes.

How do you promote reading comprehension in your lessons? I would love to hear your ideas. Please share them in the Comment section with links.


Happy Teaching,