Writing Skills (and I do mean skills!)

Recently in my 7th and 8th grade writing skills class, I wanted to attack the daunting task of literary analysis (how to write about books). But I didn't want to take the time to read anything very long - I wanted to just dive into some tips on writing. Therefore, I decided to have them analyze shorter works. Children's books, to be precise. I had them tackle such classics as "Go Dog, Go" and "The Cat in the Hat." I told them to be super intellectual and make up deeper meanings and such. I was incredibly pleased with some of the results, and want to share some highlights.

Paper 1:
"Bears on Wheels" by Stan and Jan Berenstain, is a unique, contemplative novel, about a group of bears who have encounters with a variety of life-changing experiences with wheels. Even though this story may seem like a cute children's story that has been read and enjoyed by children all over the world, through many generations, it also was written for an important purpose. Through "Bears on Wheels," the Berenstains engage in an armed conflict with the popularized view of the Renaissance."

Wowwwww. Have you read that book?! The basic text is "One bear, one wheel. Three bears, two wheels," and has pictures of collisions and such. Armed conflict with Renaissance ideas? Not bad, not bad!

Paper 2:
"Go, Dog. Go!" was written sometime before 1961 when it was published by Random House Inc. P.D.Eastman..strongly believes that unity brings out the best in people, and separation only leads to sadness and bad relationships with others. Eastman was not a transcendentalist."

Awwwww yeah, Eastman was anti-transcendentalism. Not too shabby! :) Of course, I don't think he himself even knew that, by my 7th grader sure figured it out...

Paper 3:
The renowned childrens' book "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss, under great speculation, is shown to contain more than just rhymes. In fact, Dr. Suess is trying to say that we all have a Cat in the Hat within us: a daring inner turmoil that breaks loose when trying to find something to do on a rainy day. This Cat in the Hat, that is part of the nature of man, likes to release a wild childlike behavior. As Seuss says, 'I will pick up the book. You will see something new. Two things, and I call them Thing One and Things Two' (Seuss,33). These proverbial "things" unleash a freedom inside us that seems nice at first, but can destroy many items with simple shenanigans.

Hahaha - awesome.

Of course, I realize I'm setting up a difficult scenario for myself in future years with these students. As it is, students already tend to question whether an author meant all the things that literature teachers say they meant... I distinctly remember sitting in a high school class, thinking my teacher was totally making things up that the poet probably had no idea of while he was writing. I also remember one of my students saying something about how he was going to write a story in which there was no deeper meaning at all, and just see what lit teachers did with it.

But I pointed out to them that we were just practicing with these children's books, and making things up that may not really be there (although more is probably there than they're aware of!) but that when you're dealing with the great authors of history, like Shakespeare, and Melville, and Milton, those deeper meanings absolutely are there, which is what makes them so great!

So we'll see if, in three or four years, I have succeeded in making students thirsty for the depths of literature, or if they just figure it's all made up, like their analyses of children's books. Whatever the result in the future, the short-term results of the assignment made me laugh - and that, after all, is what's most important.