Analytical Essay Writing Can Be Fun - Follow This How-To For Middle Schoolers

When I first realized I had to incorporate analytical essay writing into one of my units for my sixth grade honors classes, I panicked as a rookie might do.

 

I had never instructed students on this type of essay writing before, so I went to the handy dandy internet to find tips on how to do so.  Despite my gratitude for the abundance of resource on the world wide web, I was still nervous.  I feared that I would not explain the concept well and feared that my explanation would, quite frankly, be boring.

 

The students in my honors classes were very studious, eager-to-learn, kind-hearted individuals, so I was fearful that my lack of experience in teaching this material would be a disservice to them (again, a feeling that I felt as a rookie teacher). 

 

Essay Writing And Pizza

While embarking on what seemed to be the impossible (aka teaching my students about analytical essay writing), I did not get past explaining that an analytical essay has a thesis before one of my cheerful, outgoing students inquisitively proclaimed, “Thesis?!  That sounds like pizza!”

 

The whole class, including me, started to genuinely laugh. 

 

I excitedly ran with the “pizza” comment and said that a yummy pizza needs three toppings to be exciting, just like a thesis statement in an analytical essay needs three points to prove to make the essay exciting for the readers.

 

My students were enamored by this pizza notion – some students even excitedly shouted their favorite pizza toppings.

 

After establishing that a thesis has three parts to it (just as an extravagant pizza has three toppings), I showed my students a sample essay in which I had color-coded each of the three points in the thesis.  Then, I used each corresponding color in the body paragraphs to show the examples and evidence used to prove each part of the thesis.

 

Note: Use visuals whenever possible 😊

Class Discussions

While still in the introductory/learning phase about how to write an analytical essay, my students and I then moved on to having a class discussion about the novel we just finished reading, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.

 

We discussed ideas for potential arguments/theses for this novel.  Topics included proving some of the following: who was the hero, who was the villain, the importance or lack of importance of a particular event, how the story would have been different without character X or event X, what the most challenging conflict was for the protagonist, and how a particular conflict could have been handled differently.

 

Note: The above list of arguments/theses can be used universally for any literary work!

 

Next, I had my students work in small groups to find text evidence to support each part of their chosen argument/thesis.

 

Both while I walked around the classroom to listen and when each group shared their stances with the rest of the class, I was pleasantly surprised.  My critical-thinking-minded students spoke of analytical stances that had not occurred to me, though were absolutely valid.

 

They identified examples and evidence in the novel that I had overlooked.  My sixth graders presented views about the literary work that opposed other classmates' points in ways that were respectful, productive, and eye-opening.

 

During my absorption of the maturity and depth in those conversations, I felt very proud and very humbled.  While reflecting on my students’ profound comments, I said to myself, “Darn, I need to make sure my analytical reading hat is on a bit more snuggly next time." 😊

 

Some, if not most, ELA teachers are guilty of this: becoming too comfortable with our interpretation of a text because we know that text (detrimentally) too well OR when reading a new text, we feel rushed to get it done for the sake of creating our lesson plans that we simply make sure we understand the text "enough to teach it" and just "wing it" with the analysis as we go through each day with our students.

 

Facilitating the class discussions was eye-opening for me and (I like to think) was helpful for my students.  This activity provided my students with ideas for when the time came for them to write their individual essays.   

 

I find that the collaborative effort amongst peers is a helpful strategy to generate ideas, provide guidance, and present clarity.  The discussions are even more so a resource for students who don't consider writing and/or analyzing texts to be areas of strength.  Bouncing thoughts off of peers can do wonders for students to make sense out of previously confusing concepts.

Writing And Grading The Analytical Essay

Before I left my students on their own to write their analytical essays, I assigned them each with the task to complete a graphic organizer.  I provided a selection of several different graphic organizers to choose from, as I wanted each student to pick a format that worked best for his/her method of organization.

 

Now, the most subjective part of all: grading the analytical essays. 

 

Disclaimer: I tend to be a lenient grader.  While of course proper use of grammar and conventions of the English language are extremely important, I often focus mostly on the overall structure of the essay, such as having a clear thesis statement, relevant examples and evidence with explanations, and a concise conclusion to drive the argument home.  I always review the criteria with my students on a rubric handout prior to them writing their essays. 

 

My emphasis on the overall structure is because of this: Some students have more of a knack for grammar and conventions than other students do, so I never want those struggling students to be penalized when the actual content they are exploring in their analytical essays is amazing.  I use my handy-dandy red pen (or whatever color matches my vibe on “analytical essay grading day”) to correct grammar-related errors in my students' papers.  Of course, I write feedback as well!

 

There should be no surprise when I say that the students who were actively participating and/or actively note-taking during our pre-essay discussions were the students who wrote the most impressive analytical essays.  Just like my response to the well-thought-out comments and evidence shared in the class discussions, I was so pleased by my students' well-crafted papers.

 

As with anything in the educational realm (and life in general), there may be trial and error in finding the best approach to teach your students how to write an analytical essay or to hone their skills in doing so.  Find which approach(es) your students like and are most successful with and run with that.

 

When all else fails, remember, "thesis = pizza" in an analytical essay.  With that metaphor in mind, teaching analytical essay writing will be a piece of cake, I mean a slice of pizza!

 

Thank You To My Students

Thank you to my sixth period sixth grade honors class for unknowingly being the inspiration for me to write this blog post more than two years after the “thesis = pizza” revelation!  I am forever grateful! 😊

 

My hope is that this blog post will serve as a resource to help you guide your students through the process of effectively writing analytical essays.

 

What suggestions do you have for teaching your students to write analytical essays?  Share below!

 

 

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Peace.  Love.  Reading & Writing.

 

💗 Miss M