The Literary Essay - A New Approach

            As an English teacher, there are numerous forms of writing applied in the classroom. However, the most commonly associated format in the English classroom is the literary essay. The literary essay is formal, structured piece of writing that provides insight, interpretation and analysis to a given work of literature. The author of a literary essay provides his or her interpretation of the given work through an argument or opinion that is referred to as a thesis. Through the course of the essay, he or she is tasked with defending this thesis through an exploration of literary content that backs up their position. Because the literary essay is such an integral part of the English course, it is essential that students are given the opportunity to succeed when writing in this format. The chart below details the main components of the literary essay and strategies that can be used to teach students about this format.

Component	Qualities	Teaching Strategies
Thesis/Argument	-          Often a declarative statement -          Determines what the author will be arguing throughout the course of the essay -          Should be controversial in nature -          Tells the reader what to expect	-          Before beginning the writing process have students complete activities where they simply have to read a short piece of writing and develop an opinion on that piece à students will learn to develop arguments in a less formal manner -          Class debates à this activity also helps students develop skills in which they have to form arguments and support those arguments using evidence, completing activities orally may help with the writing process later on -          Thesis activities à have students complete writing activities where the sole focus is writing a thesis statement. By breaking down the writing process and having students look at one aspect of the essay may make the process more approachable as a whole.
Introduction	-          Introduces the author’s thesis and how he or she will defend the argument presented -          Essentially an outline for what is to follow -          Should capture the reader’s interest -          Often the most difficult part of writing a literary essay	-          Class debates à have students complete an oral debate where they have to form an argument and support this argument with evidence. Turn this activity into a written activity by having students take notes during the debate. They can later turn these notes into an introductory paragraph -          Break down the process à Have students break down their introductory paragraph into steps. ie:  Step #1: Broad opening statement Step #2: Thesis Step #3: Argument #1 Step #4: Argument #2 Step #5: Argument #3 Step #6: Concluding Sentence Breaking down the process makes writing the introduction more approachable.
The Body	-          Discusses the evidence that supports the thesis provided in the introduction -          Students use examples from the text to support their argument	-          Graphic Organizers à The use of graphic organizers can help students break down and organize their ideas. Providing students with different options can help each find an organizer that works best for them. -          Fishbone outline, word web, flow charts, essay breakdown chart, etc.
Topic Sentence	-          Used to describe the ideas presented within each body paragraph -          Connects the paragraph back to the thesis	-          Have students look at short paragraphs and provide a one sentence “summary”. The sentence should outline the main idea in the paragraph.
Textual Evidence	-          The use of examples, paraphrasing, and direct quotations to support the author’s argument	-          Give students an already developed thesis and have students draw evidence from the given text -          Research activities -          Scavenger Hunt activity à students have to find specific literary elements within a text (ie. Find a simile, determine the thesis, etc.) This will help students identify important parts of the text
Conclusion	-          Thesis is restated -          Wraps up the arguments outlined throughout the course of the essay -          Provides a sense of completeness	-          Summary activity à have students read a short article and summarize its arguments -          Thesis activity à provide students with a thesis. Have them reword the thesis so that the argument remains the same yet the approach is different

            As the literary essay is such an integral part of the English course, it is important, as in all subjects, to ensure that students are given the opportunity to learn its elements. As such, differentiation comes into play. Differentiation refers to the process of tailoring our teaching strategies to fit the needs of all students in the classroom. As each student learns in a different way, it is important to assume a differentiated approach in order to maximize learning opportunities for all students. The teaching strategies outlined in the chart above, while simplistic can be used to assume a differentiated approach.