Best Practices
Mrs. E. Chamberlain
English III and English IV
Power Point Presentation
As an English teacher, it is my responsibility to prepare my students (mainly juniors and seniors) for college, not to just pass the TAKS. The College Board neither awards nor punishes the use of formulaic writing on SAT or AP composition tests. I give my students a writing packet entitled “Tips for Writing Analytical Essays,” which requires that the body paragraphs follow Jane Schaffer’s formulaic format. I choose this because I want the students to write their own interpretations and/or analyses of the selections assigned. Without a format to follow, students tend to copy material straight from the literary criticisms available in the library or on the internet. Furthermore, many students have no idea how to begin an essay, how to organize it, or how to develop the supporting paragraphs, or write a conclusion. I not only rely on writing guidelines from texts adopted by the school district, but also from Writer’s Inc: A Student Handbook for Writing and Learning, for introductory and closing paragraphs, and from Writing Essays about Literature: A Guide and Style Sheet. These texts are excellent for college bound students and college students. The handout that I give my students must also be used in writing their research papers, which keeps them from printing one off the internet and/or submitting one without these guidelines.
This particular power point is entitled “Writing Analytical Essays.” Second semester English IV students usually are assigned William Blake’s poems. They do not have to write an essay analyzing his poems--“The Poison Tree,” “The Lamb,” and “The Tyger.” They receive this as a handout to see sample paragraphs for the introduction, body, and closing. If this guide is helpful to you, feel free to use it and/or create one that is relevant to your particular writing assignment. Also remind students that this guide is NOT for TAKS writing, but for analyzing literary essays. Also, give credit to Jane Schaffer for the format on the body paragraphs, also to the above-mentioned texts, and to any sources you may choose to consult.