2. Sharing responses to a story... Response to Literature In a response to literature, you can share your interpretation of a piece of literature. You may include your feelings about a character, your impressions of the story, and any similarities and differences the story might have to your own life.

3. B a s i c s i n a B o x Response to Literature at a Glance RUBRIC STANDARDS FOR WRITING A successful response to literature should include an introduction that names the literary work and clearly states your overall response to it tell enough about the literature so that readers can understand your response contain clearly described, specific reactions and responses to the literary work support your statements with quotations and details from the story summarize the response in the conclusion Introduces the title and author and a clear statement of your response Introduction Summarizes the response Conclusion Body Supports the response with evidence from the work Examples from the story Quotations Connections to your own life Evidence

4.  Write down your reactions to some of the short stories in this unit.  Jot down the names of characters that most affected you.  Think about whether you have had similar experiences to the ones described in the story. To select a short story for your response: Writing Your Response to Literature 1 Prewriting

5. Planning Your Response to Literature 1.Carefully reread the short story. As you read, write down insights you might have. 2. Freewrite about your responses. Spend five minutes writing down your overall response to the story. Identify your reactions, such as sadness, anger, excitement, or curiosity.

6. Planning Your Response to Literature 3. Focus your response. Decide whether you will respond to the entire story, to a character, to a particular event, or to the author’s style. Think about the scene that most impressed you. Did it remind you of your own life? What did it make you think or feel?

7. Planning Your Response to Literature 4. Identify your audience. How familiar is your audience with the story you are discussing? What will they need to know in order to understand your response?

8. Writing Your Response to Literature Remember that you get to express your opinion in a response to literature. As long as you describe your understanding of the story and support your statements with examples, you’ll be on the right track. 2 Drafting

9. Writing Your Response to Literature 2 Drafting  Use your introductory paragraph to tell your readers what they need to know about the story and to introduce your response.  Give reasons for your response and examples in the body of your essay. Explain why you felt as you did.

10. Writing Your Response to Literature 2 Drafting  Include quotations and descriptions of scenes, among other things. Describe how these examples relate to your own life.  Summarize your response in the conclusion of the essay.

11. TARGET SKILL SUPPORTING YOUR RESPONSE WITH QUOTATIONS Using the actual words spoken by a character can help readers understand a character’s personality and shows that you know the work well. Dialogue can also support your own thoughts about the story. Writing Your Response to Literature 3 Revising

12. TARGET SKILL CORRECTING RUN-ON SENTENCES A sentence expresses one complete thought. A run-on sentence is two or more sentences written as though they were one. Correct run- ons by rewriting long sentences as two separate sentences. 4 Editing and Proofreading Writing Your Response to Literature