GOAL:
To have students examine what they liked and disliked about The View from Saturday by critiquing the plot, character(s), or setting
ASSIGNED READING:
None
WRITING PROMPT:
After finishing the book, write a critique of it. You may focus your critique on the plot, character(s), or setting. Specify what you will critique and stay focused on that area. Be specific and support your responses with examples from the text.
ONLINE PROMPT:
Use the Student Comment Form to share ideas and questions with your online peers. Check yesterday's Student Comments page to see if there are any comments you want to respond to.
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Judith Langer calls this last stance "stepping out." Remind students that after finishing a novel it is important for the reader to distance himself or herself from the story and reflect back upon it (think about it).
Readers can focus their critique on any aspect of plot, characters, or setting. Readers writing a critique should look at the novel with a "critical eye," meaning that they should use careful judgment. Hold a small discussion if necessary on what this means. It is also important to stress that any statements made in a book critique need to be specific and textually supported.
It may be necessary to review or give additional support on how to critique plot, character, or setting. Prior to today's lesson, encourage students in discussion to focus carefully on the story elements and generate questions they may want to think about when writing a critique. For example: Is the plot captivating and believable? How does the author make use of humor, dialogue, and language? Is the ending logical? How does the author develop characters? Are the characters believable? What kinds of description of physical appearances and action does the author provide? What images do the author's descriptions create? Does the setting fit well with the story? Is the setting realistic? Is the setting appropriate to the conflict? etc.
Click to go to Lesson 14.
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