Clarity and Justification in Assignment Descriptions: An Exercise in Close Reading
I had started the Invisible Man unit trying to be more open and clear about my goals, objectives, and essential ideas, and as we approached the first major assignment, I wanted to attempt to communicate my rationale behind the assignment and explain its value to the students. This assignment was a close reading analysis based on a paragraph or two from the prologue of the novel.
Before handing out the assignment description sheet [Link assignment description and analysis], I explained to the classes why they were doing this writing, telling them that this kind of close language analysis would help them to better understand how Ellison incorporated key thematic and symbolic elements into the prologue that would reappear throughout the rest of the novel, and also how he developed the narrator’s voice and character.
Not only did I try to be explicit in explaining my rationale behind the assignment, I also tried to be very clear about the directions and how I would assess the writing. I described what I was looking for in the written analysis, and what aspects of the writing and style they could examine. I also tried to help them structure their initial observations and ideas by providing questions to answer and consider as they read over their paragraph.
Assignment Guidelines:
Close Reading of the Prologue
With your partner, you will do a close reading of one or two paragraphs from the Prologue. Your written analysis should discuss: the use of language, sentence and paragraph structure, and the overall significance of the paragraph in the context of the Prologue.
As you read and analyze your paragraph(s) with your partner there are many things to consider: diction, punctuation, syntax, sentence structure, narrative voice, tone and mood, use of figurative language, and connections to the overall themes and ideas presented in the rest of the chapter. Your written analysis is a collaboration with your partner and should be 1-2 pages.
Use the follow questions to guide your analysis. This sheet will be collected with your paper.
1. Description – paraphrase in a few sentences, define any unfamiliar words, take notes on everything you see going on in the paragraph
2. Analysis – Examine all of the different parts of the paragraph, what patterns do you see? What similarities and differences do you see?
3. Interpretation – Ask yourself “so what?” What are the deeper meanings in the paragraph?
Before handing out the assignment description sheet [Link assignment description and analysis], I explained to the classes why they were doing this writing, telling them that this kind of close language analysis would help them to better understand how Ellison incorporated key thematic and symbolic elements into the prologue that would reappear throughout the rest of the novel, and also how he developed the narrator’s voice and character.
Not only did I try to be explicit in explaining my rationale behind the assignment, I also tried to be very clear about the directions and how I would assess the writing. I described what I was looking for in the written analysis, and what aspects of the writing and style they could examine. I also tried to help them structure their initial observations and ideas by providing questions to answer and consider as they read over their paragraph.
Assignment Guidelines:
Close Reading of the Prologue
With your partner, you will do a close reading of one or two paragraphs from the Prologue. Your written analysis should discuss: the use of language, sentence and paragraph structure, and the overall significance of the paragraph in the context of the Prologue.
As you read and analyze your paragraph(s) with your partner there are many things to consider: diction, punctuation, syntax, sentence structure, narrative voice, tone and mood, use of figurative language, and connections to the overall themes and ideas presented in the rest of the chapter. Your written analysis is a collaboration with your partner and should be 1-2 pages.
Use the follow questions to guide your analysis. This sheet will be collected with your paper.
1. Description – paraphrase in a few sentences, define any unfamiliar words, take notes on everything you see going on in the paragraph
2. Analysis – Examine all of the different parts of the paragraph, what patterns do you see? What similarities and differences do you see?
3. Interpretation – Ask yourself “so what?” What are the deeper meanings in the paragraph?
When I later read through the submitted essays, it was evident that based on prior practice with close reading analysis and possession of analytical and interpretive skills, many of the students did well with their essays. There were a few students though who struggled with the analysis and wrote more generally about this first chapter and their paragraph rather than identifying key words and phrases that conveyed a particular theme or idea. The guidelines that I provided did help some students organize their ideas, but there were also some aspects of the assignment handout that were vague or unclear making it difficult for the students to fully understand what I was looking for.
My Annotations on Assignment Guidelines:
My Annotations on Assignment Guidelines:
- page 13 -