Students will answer this question after reading and discussing the ten-line poem "Deaf Donald," from Shel Silverstein's book of poems,
A Light in the Attic
. For this activity to be successful the class must reach a consensus as to what "effective" literature is. In past classes that have tackled this question, students seem to agree that most stories that are effective have these three elements: (1) a conflict or a problem that needs to be resolved, (2) a character that grows in understanding, and (3) a lesson or universal theme. While "Deaf Donald" is a poem, it is also a story, and has these three elements.
Because it is a short "story" poem, it is ideal for introducing the "effective literature" CAPT question. Once the students learn how to look for these elements in this poem, they can also look for them in the children's stories they will read, and subsequently in other fiction that they read. This is not to say that every single story or novel has these three elements; they merely make up one framework by which students may make a judgment about the stories they read.
Because this may be the students' first exposure to the question, "Is this effective literature?" I will model, using a graphic organizer on an overhead projector, how to identify the conflict and how to find evidence to support that observation. Students will help in this activity. Using graphic organizers and the overhead projector, I also will model, with the students' help, how to show that a character grows in understanding or changes, and how to make an observation about a lesson or universal theme, supporting both of these with evidence from the poem.
Each of the three graphic organizers in the following chart represents a page that I hand out to my students. Naturally, the organizer is blank when the students receive it, but I have filled these in to model the activity that I would do with the students on an overhead projector.
Once the students have made their observations and found evidence for each, it is time to begin the five-paragraph essay. Remind the students that they have been looking for answers to the question, "Is this story 'effective' literature?" They have been using three measurements: the presence of a conflict, the presence of a character who grows or changes, and the presence of a lesson or universal theme. Model how one takes the question, "Is this story/poem Deaf Donald effective literature?" and turns it into the thesis of the essay, "The story/poem Deaf Donald is effective literature because it contains the elements present in most good literature: a conflict, a character who grows or changes, and a lesson or universal theme." They now have crafted their thesis.
I teach my students that following the thesis, they will write three more sentences in their introductory paragraph: one that states the conflict in the story, one that states how the character grows or changes, and the last one that states the universal theme or lesson in the story. These statements should come from the left side of their graphic organizers where they have written their observations. Thus the introductory paragraph has four sentences, a thesis and three controlling ideas. I explain that these are called "controlling ideas" because it is these three sentences that serve as topic sentences for paragraphs two, three and four. This model is very predictable and should give the students a sense of confidence.
I show the students that they open paragraph two with the first controlling idea in their introductory paragraph and they follow it with the evidence they have recorded on the right side of the graphic organizer. They do the same with paragraphs three and four, open with a controlling idea sentence from the introductory paragraph and follow with the evidence recorded on the right side of the organizer. If they are writing about an actual story, I ask them to record, on their organizers, the page number where they found the evidence and to include this in their essay. Students can see how the graphic organizers make the actual writing very straightforward; they actually have done the work by the time they begin to write the essay.
The final paragraph of the essay is the conclusion. I model how the conclusion, which is the fifth paragraph, is something of a shadow of the introductory paragraph. I explain to the students that it is effective to restate the thesis and restate the three controlling ideas. I refer to these restatements as a shadow thesis and shadow controlling ideas because they cannot be word-for-word from the introductory paragraph. The students see that the introductory paragraph and the concluding paragraph have four sentences. They can use this essay as a model five paragraph essay.
This essay is somewhat "bare bones," but many of my at-risk students have never learned how to master the formula for writing an essay. I have found that this exercise gives them confidence and a sense of independence.
I have even gone so far as to relate the five paragraph essay to the parts of a flashlight: the thesis is the bulb that does not shine unless the three batteries (the three support paragraphs) are charged and put in right, and the conclusion is the end that must be screwed on so that the batteries will all make contact and the light will come on. My students have responded very enthusiastically to this metaphor that can be elaborated upon.
(chart available in print form)
