1. Writer’s Workshop
Literary Essay

2. Day 1
Read “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury and write signposts in the margins.

3. Day 2
Read the rest of your text packet and record the signposts in the margins.
Entry 2.1 Homework: Choose two of the short stories from your text packet (not “All Summer in a Day”) and write a half page summary of each.

4. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR TEXT PACKET AND COMPOSITION NOTEBOOK WITH YOU TODAY!!!

5. Day 3 (2.2) Teaching Point: Narrative texts have themes within them,
and when literary critics start to look for those themes, they
ask questions like, “What is this text really about?” or “What
is this text trying to teach me about life?”.
Active Engagement: We will reread “All Summer in a Day”
and write about theme. Remember to look for your signposts-
they hint at the theme and/or conflict. Look at the prompts on
the poster to help.

6. 6th Hour - Problems Margot gets bullied and treated differently
Everyone, but Margot especially, wants to see the sun
The children lock Margot in a closet
Margot doesn’t get to see the sun
Nobody believes Margot’s memories of the sun and Earth
Margot’s health was at stake because she missed the sun so much
Margot is lonely, doesn’t have any friends
Other children are jealous of Margot
Teacher doesn’t notice that Margot is gone
Children realize that their actions were bad; they feel guilty
The children could get in trouble if the teacher realizes what happened
The sun only comes out for two hours every seven years

7. What can we learn from these problems?
Treat others the way you want to be treated
Just because someone is different from you doesn’t mean you can treat them badly
Don’t dwell on the bad things
Don’t take away from someone else’s happiness
Don’t take out your anger/jealousy on other people
Think about your actions before you do them
Don’t underestimate people

8. Theme Jealousy can make others feel bad Jealousy can overpower people
Jealousy can lead to judging people
Jealousy can harm people. It is important to control actions toward others so that they do not get hurt.

9. 7th Hour - Problems Kids tell Margot that she’s lying about the sun
Margot gets locked in the closet, so she doesn’t get to see the sun
Raining all the time, sun won’t come out for another seven years
Margot misses the sun
Margot is mentally and physically bullied
Margot wants to go back to Earth (would cost a lot of money)
Kids only get to be in the sun for two hours
Kids felt bad when they realized they left her in the closet
Children can’t remember the sun
Teacher doesn’t realize Margot is in the closet
Children are jealous of Margot because she has seen the sun and she might get to go back to Earth

10. Theme
Jealousy is ugly
Enjoy things while you can/don’t take things for granted
Actions can affect someone else’s life, so think before you act
Respect your peers/treat others the way you want to be treated
Don’t judge a book by its cover
Don’t bully other people
Jealousy causes people to feel angry, but people should control their actions so that no one gets hurt.

11. Independent Practice
Go to your chosen short story and reread, looking for the signposts. Use the poster to identify at least one theme that may pertain to your story.

12. Day 3- Homework (2.3)
Write one page in your journal that either digs deeper into the theme you identified today or explores another theme.

13. Day 4 (2.4) Teaching Point: Literary essayists dig deep into the
text they are writing about, looking for nuances and
details. They reread closely to see how their thinking
about the theme might evolve.
Active Engagement: Identify scenes from “All Summer
in a Day” that are critical in the topic of “jealousy
hurts people”.
Return to Day 1 paragraph to develop it more

14. 6th Hour – Critical Scenes
Para : “Aw, you didn’t write that!”
Para. 30: “You’re lying, you don’t remember!”
Para. 31: “They hated her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness, and her possible future.”
Para. 32: “The boy gave her another push.”
Para. 43: “They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet, where they slammed and locked the door.”
Para. 74: “Their faces were solemn and pale. They looked at their hands and feet, their faces down.”

15. 7th Hour Para. 13-14: “Aw, you didn’t write that!”
Para : “You’re lying, you don’t remember!”
Para. 31: “They hated her…”
Para. 32: “The boy gave her another push.”
Para. 41: “Hey, everyone, let’s put her in a closet before the teacher comes!”
Para. 74: “…lightning on their faces, blue and terrible.”

16. Day 4 Independent Practice
Repeat this process with the story you have chosen. Try
and find critical scenes that lead you to developing your
theme further. Record these scenes in your journal.
Continue collecting evidence to support or revise
your theme.

17. Day 5 (2.5) Teaching Point: Literary essayists identify the author’s
craft in order to gain a deeper understanding of the
story. They recognize how these craft moves are used
to develop the theme.
Active Engagement: We will complete the “Collecting Evidence
for Claims” worksheet for “All Summer in a Day”. This will help us
identify evidence other than direct quotes that we can use in our
essay. We will pay special attention to the author’s craft and how it
directs us to a theme.
Use Collecting Evidence worksheet
Author’s Craft Chart

18. Independent Practice
Complete the “Collecting Evidence for Claims” worksheet with your chosen short story. Begin to think about which pieces of evidence are the strongest.

19. Day 6 (2.6) Teaching Point: Literary essayists form a
thesis statement that identifies the main
objective of the essay.
Active Engagement: Think about the theme of
jealousy and the evidence we have to support
it. After watching the video, what might be a
good thesis statement for our essay?
Show “How to Write a Killer Thesis Statement” at

20. How to Write a Thesis Statement
Step 1: The theme of my chosen text is: Jealousy harms people. Step 2: This is the theme because: 1. Jealousy causes harm to Margot 2. Jealousy causes harm to the other children 3. Jealousy causes harm to the teacher.

21. How to Write a Thesis Statement
Step 3: The following textual evidence supports the theme: 1. The students are jealous that Margot has prior memories of the sun, so they act out by calling her names and ultimately locking her in a closet. This causes her emotional and physical pain. 2. The children realize the seriousness of their actions after the sun disappears and they realize that Margot has been in the closet the whole time. “They could not meet each other’s glances” (para. 74). 3. Although unintended, the children’s jealousy also causes harm to the teacher because she failed to perform one of the basic duties of her job (taking attendance). This damages the teacher’s credibility.

22. Sample Thesis Statement
Step 4 Using information from steps 1 & 2, the thesis
statement for my literary essay is:
As most of the other children on Venus have no memory of the sun, their jealousy emerges as the main source of conflict; this jealousy causes harm to Margot, the other children, and Margot’s teacher.
Driven by jealousy, the children’s behavior in the story ultimately causes harm to Margot, the other children, and Margot’s teacher.
(claim)
(reasons)

23. Independent Practice Use the “How to Write a Thesis Statement”
worksheet to help you formulate a thesis for
your essay. You may adjust your thesis in the
future as you continue to develop your essay.

24. Day 7 (2.7) Teaching Point: When essayists revise their work, they use
logic to clearly explain how the textual evidence connects to
the ideas being expressed.
Active Engagement: Logic is a conclusion that no one can
argue against. When two factual ideas are put together, a
third, logical idea is created. Let’s look at the logical fallacies
on the next slide. Glue these into your journals.
Independent Practice: Using the logical fallacies list, check
the thinking of your elbow partner. Have they used one of
the fallacies to try and prove their point? If so, help them to
find new evidence that does prove their theme/claim.

25. False Analogies – William, in “All Summer in a Day” treats Margot cruelly, the way a vicious lion hunts his prey through the jungle.
Correlation, not causation – William was looking out the window with the other children, and then he leads the kids to lock her in the closet. Clearly what he saw when looking out the window encouraged William to lock up Margot.
Straw Man – William believes that anyone different is totally evil and deserves punishment, which is wrong.

26. Day 8 (2.9)
Teaching Point: Literary essayists select and organize their
evidence to create a plan for drafting. They organize the
reasons that support the thesis in a way that logically builds
their argument.
Active Engagement: We will complete a drafting outline of
“All Summer in a Day” using the theme of jealousy.
Independent Practice: Use the Literary Essay Outline to
begin organizing and drafting your essay.

27. Day 9 (2.10)
Teaching Point: Literary Essayists consider the impact of presenting evidence through different body paragraphs.
Active Engagement: Look at the steps for writing an Extended Example Paragraph as well as a Connected Example Paragraph. Underline or highlight the sentences in the example paragraph that demonstrate the steps.

28. Independent Practice: Look at your claim and reasons, pick a piece of evidence that you believe is the strongest, and follow the steps to create an Extended Example Paragraph for your paper. Then, underline to identify the sentences that demonstrate the steps. If any of the steps are not used, figure out how to include all the steps in your paragraph.
Now trade journals with your Elbow Partner. Partners answer the following questions under the paragraph:
-Does the paragraph make sense?
-Does the paragraph support the claim?
-Does it read smoothly or is it choppy?
If the answer to any of the above questions is no, you should try get suggestions on how to improve.
Homework: Have two paragraphs written and revised for Monday – one extended and one connected. (2.11)

29. Connected Example
The person who is affected most by jealousy in “All Summer in a Day” is Margot. The jealousy that the other children have toward Margot causes her both emotional and physical pain. After reading a poem describing her memories of the sun, William, a boy in her class, shouts, “Aw, you didn’t write that!” (Bradbury, para. 14). In this instance, Margot is accused of lying because William does not want to admit that Margot remembers the sun. He is jealous of her memories and wants them for himself. Margot is hurt physically, as well as emotionally, when the other students lock her in a closet so that she cannot see the sun during the two hours that it comes out. “They stood looking at the door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself against it” (Bradbury, para. 43). The jealousy that the other students experience causes them to act out against Margot and harm her in multiple ways.

30. Extended Example
In addition to Margot, the jealousy present in “All Summer in a Day” also causes harm to the students. Margot’s classmates discover the consequences of their jealousy at the end of the story when they realize the seriousness of what they have done to Margot. “They could not meet each other’s glances” (Bradbury, para. 74) as they are overcome with the sense of guilt for locking her in the closet. They suddenly regret their actions of preventing Margot from experiencing the rare joy of the sun. This emotion hurts the students by taking away a piece of their childhood innocence and shows they are capable of acting evil.

31. Day 10 (2.12)
Teaching Point: Essayists are aware of places in their writing
where others may have a different perspective. They recognize
these differences and write to argue why their interpretation is the
best and why the other is not the best.
Active Engagement: Look at the paragraph on the next slide. Are
there any points at which someone could argue against the point?
Independent Practice: Now you and your partner should pick a
spot in your essay, a paragraph or a section, that you think
someone could see differently. When you are ready, point to it. Now
you should debate. Try and pick a different view than your partner
and argue it.

32. Where could someone pose a counterargument?
By the middle of the story the reader begins to see that the children, in their painful jealousy, hurt Margot with words and with force. First they mock her poetry and her memories, claiming she never saw the sun. Then they shove her. Finally, they lock her in a closet so she won’t see the sun. The text even describes the children’s hatred toward Margot more explicitly when Bradbury writes, “They hated her pale snow face, her thinness , and her possible future” (Bradbury, para. 31). The other children have never seen the sun, but dream of it every night. The children are jealous that Margot has seen the sun while Margot is grieving the loss of it. This shows that everyone in this story is hurting in his or her own way- Margot because she has lost the sun and the children because they have never seen it.
Where in this paragraph could someone argue a different point? Maybe they are just being mean like kids sometimes are?

33. Prompts to Argue a Point in an Essay
While some might argue…they forget that in the text it says…
Some people might interpret this to mean…but clearly…because…
Certainly it could be said…While this is a good point, it fails to account for…

34. Extended Example with Counterargument
Although unintended, the children’s jealousy also harms the teacher. The teacher’s credibility is negatively affected when she fails to fulfill one of the basic duties of her job- taking attendance. After returning to the room, she asks the students, “Are we all here?” (Bradbury, para. 46). The students respond affirmatively, knowing that Margot is not with the group. While some may argue that the teacher was simply caught up in the excitement of the moment, the fact remains that she chose to trust the students’ word rather than verify that everyone was present. Had the children not committed their jealous act, all of the children would have been able to experience the sun and the teacher’s responsibilities would not come into question.

35. Day 11
Use today to continue writing your three body paragraphs. Make any changes needed in order to improve your essay. Make sure the evidence you use supports the claim of each paragraph. Use the self-editing checklist to help you.

36. Day 12 (2.13) Teaching Point 1: Literary essayists begin their writing
with an introduction that identifies the mentor text (title and
author), a brief summary of the essay, and introduces the
theme. The introduction also includes a thesis statement
that clearly identifies the main objective of the essay.
Teaching Point 2: Essayists end their writing with a
conclusion that restates the introduction, but uses different
sentences. The conclusion also provides a brief summary
of how the evidence presented supports the theme.

37. Introduction
In the short story “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury, Margot, a nine-year-old girl, moves to the planet Venus after living the majority of her life on Earth. She struggles to fit into her new environment as she becomes depressed due to the constant rain; the sun only comes out once every seven years. As most of the other children on Venus have no memory of the sun, their jealousy emerges as the main source of conflict. This jealousy causes harm to Margot, the other children, and Margot’s teacher.

38. Conclusion
Jealousy is the prevailing source of conflict in “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury. Not only is the main character, Margot, hurt through jealousy, but her classmates and teacher are as well. By locking Margot in a closet, Margot misses the opportunity to see the sun, the students experience guilt, and the teacher falls short of fulfilling the duties of her job. All of these examples demonstrate the negative impact that jealousy can have on humankind. While it is difficult to overcome, it is important to recognize jealousy in its infancy to hopefully prevent severe consequences in the future.

39. Day 13
Continue to edit and revise your writing. Pay special attention to the introduction and conclusion. You will be peer editing tomorrow, so you need to have a complete rough draft ready. Rewrite your rough draft on a separate sheet of paper (double-spaced) so that it is organized correctly.

40. Day 14 (2.14) Teaching Point: Literary essayists accept constructive
criticism from their peers and determine whether or not
the suggestions will be applied to the essay. They ask
themselves, “How can I improve my work based on my
peers’ ideas?”.
Independent Practice: Read your essay out loud to
your partner, listening for any corrections that need to
be made. Then, trade your essay with your partner and
complete the Peer Editing rubric.

41. Day 15 (2.15)
Teaching Point: Essayists are aware of grammatical structures
and formats that are used when writing literary essays.
Active Engagement: We will review the use of third person and
Subject-pronoun agreement. We will then discuss MLA guidelines.
Independent Practice: Look through your essay and:
identify any instances in which you need to fix grammatical errors, such as number agreement.
highlight/underline any instances of “I”, “you”, or “we” and change them to the 3rd person.
begin publishing your essay using MLA format.

42. Day 16 (2.16) Teaching Point: Essayists publish their work using the
MLA guidelines.
Active Engagement: Review the guidelines for using
MLA format.
Independent Practice: Continue publishing your essay.
Homework: Your final draft must be submitted on
Google Classroom by the beginning of class on Monday.