Literary Devices
Teaching Analysis 1
Literary Criticism
Teaching Analysis 2
Educational Jargon
100

A figurative comparison, using the word like or as, used by an author to describe.

What is a simile?

100

When students first write about a literary work, it is not uncommon for them to write THIS instead of an analysis.

What is a summary?

100

This type of literary criticism considers texts with the knowledge that societies treat men and women inequitably.

What is feminist criticism?

100

An essential part of the writing process is that students see sample of the writing they are to complete. This student sample is known was THIS.

What is an exemplar?

100

This term is used when a lesson plan or lesson plan element is modified to support a struggling or excelling student.

What is differentiation?

200

When an author starts a story in the midst of the plot.

What is "in medias res"?

200

Before students write a formative or summative analytical piece, they need to learn how to use THESE effectively to integrate quoted evidence.

What are signal phrases?

What are lead-ins?

200

This type of literary criticism considers texts with the knowledge that history and culture is largely a struggle between economic classes, and that literature is a reflection of the attitudes and interests of the dominant class.

What is Marxist Criticism?

200

Before students integrate quoted evidence into a body paragraph, it is essential that they are taught to provide a reader with THIS.

What is contextual information?

200

The process through which a teacher adds supports for students in order to enhance learning and aid in the mastery of tasks.

What is scaffolding?

300

A major event in a story, for better or for worse, that alters the path of the story irreparably.

What is the climax?

300

Students need to see examples of, and practice using, these words and/or phrases that tie ideas in an analytical essay together, and make the overall analysis more cohesive.

What are transitional words and/or phrases?

300

This type of criticism views the themes, conflicts, and characterizations of a work primarily as a reflection of the needs, emotions, states of mind, or subconscious desires of the author.

What is psychoanalytic criticism?

300

If a student writes too many simple sentences in a paragraph, you might provide them with feedback informing them that they are establishing THIS type of writing style.

What is a list-like writing style?

300
This motivational theory in psychology comprises a five-tier model of human needs.

What is Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

400

An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly.

What is an allusion?

400

Students should be gathering THIS throughout the unit, and not solely as part of the writing process at the end of the unit.

What is textual evidence (quotes)?

400

This type of criticism looks at the impact of the historical context (politics, ideologies, and social customs of the author’s world) on the themes, images, and characterizations of a text. 

What is New Historicism criticism?

400

It is important, at least for more advanced writers, that they learn to establish THIS type of voice in their analytical writing pieces.

What is active voice?

400

According to Appendix B of the CCSS, when considering a text for instruction, these three considerations should be taken into account.

What is complexity, quality, and range.

500

This term is used to denote an image, sound, action, or other figure that has a symbolic significance, and contributes toward the development of a theme.

What is a motif?

500

High scoring students, if they rely to heavily on simple sentences in an analytical piece, might need an intervention to help them improve THIS.

What is voice?

500

This critical approach that shifts the emphasis to the reader. This approach focuses on the individual reader’s evolving response to the text. The readers, through their own values and experiences, “create” the meaning of the text and therefore there is no one correct meaning.

What is Reader-Response criticism?

500

When a student writes an analytical essay, and one body paragraph is over a page long, and the two paragraphs that follow are quite short, you might provide them with feedback that uses THIS phrase to describe the error they have made.

What is an "uneven analysis".

500

A set of three hierarchical models used to classify educational learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity.

What is Bloom's taxonomy?