English II A Brief Introduction

Course Objectives Students will be able to form sound arguments. Students will be able to analyze literature. Students will be able to critically read.

Objective 1: Argumentation Definition: To support an opinion using evidence and reasoning. S.P.E.S. Statement Proof Explanation Synthesis Continue to develop extensive and deeply thought-out arguments using S.P.E.S.

S.P.E.S. Statement Proof Explanation Synthesis

Objective 2: Analysis/Close Reading Definition: Analysis is a special type of argument. It asks people to make an inference or form an opinion based on a close examination of parts or elements of something big and complex. Why Analysis 1: Whether you are a mechanic or a doctor, analysis will be a major part of your career. It’s everywhere! Why Analysis 2: Literary analysis requires high level reading, thinking, and writing skills.

Analysis=S.P.E.S. Examine what is presented Develop an opinion/interesting idea Provide textual evidence to support your claim Seamlessly explain evidence Create a fluid connection between the claim and the evidence

Analyze This!

Analyze This! “Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.” - MLK, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail 1963

What can I analyze in literature? Common Core High School Reading Standards 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. 2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. 3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. 4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. 5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole. 6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. 7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.* 8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence. 9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

Objective 3: Critical Reading To recognize a text’s purpose involves inferring a basis for choices of content and language To recognize a text’s tone and persuasive elements involves classifying the nature of language choices To recognize a text’s bias involves classifying the nature of patterns of choice of content and language

Steps to Read Critically Read with a purpose, and hunt for the speaker’s tone, intent, purpose, etc. Annotate constantly, noting important devices, plot points, changes in tone, etc. (anything you find peculiar) When reading literature (or poetry), the most basic purpose is theme, the message that the author is trying to teach the audience. Trying to unearth the theme is a good place to start with purpose. When reading informational texts, your primary purpose (unless otherwise stated) should be to find and evaluate the arguments. There are really four major parts to an argument. Pay attention to all of them. Main idea (also called the thesis) Claims (these are reasons that support the main idea) Data/Evidence (these support the claims) Explanation (a good writer should explain how their data supports their claims or thesis) If you want a different purpose, here are some other ones to consider: analyzing characters, analyzing plot structure, analyzing rhetoric, analyzing tone, analyzing diction, analyze images, etc…

Steps to Critically Read Be skeptical of everything Symbols are often times layered within plot devices Deduce and infer character traits based on his/her actions, statements, non-statements, etc. Search for symbolic meanings in everything Make connections to other things you’ve read, seen, heard, or experienced Archetypes – characters, plots, symbols that appear in literature across time and across cultures. Archetypes represent the shared conscious of all humans. Allusions – These are direct (or less direct) references to past pieces of literature (or art or famous people). Allusions are more purposeful than archetypes. Archetypes are in literature because we are humans; allusions are in literature because the author is trying to make a point. The most common allusions in our culture come from these three places.

In other words: Read like a detective—writers always have an agenda/hidden message Ask yourself, “why,” when deducing through a text Do not skip over words/ideas you do not understand—you may miss a vital piece of information Plots, characters, themes, etc., have layers or meaning, which you must extract, examine, and interpret in order to fully understand a text

Critically Read This! “His hand burned. Still, still, long after they had snuffed out the torch they used to sear his bloody stump, days after, he could still feel the fire lancing up his arm, and his fingers twisting in the flames, the fingers he no longer had. He had taken wounds before, but never like this. He had never known there could be such pain. Sometimes, unbidden, old prayers bubbled from his lips, prayers he had learned as a child and never thought of since, payers he had first prayed with Cersei kneeling beside him in the Sept at Casterly Rock.” -George R.R. Martin, Storm of Swords