Identify Literary Analysis Essay Goals-Choose Goals, Steps, & Reflect

As teachers, we want our students to feel confident when writing essays. The 21-page, low-prep resource, Identifying Literary Analysis Essay Goals-Choose Your Goals and Steps, Then Reflect is an editable google docs lesson which will give your middle school students the tools and strategies to develop their skills as literary analysis essay writers through effective goal setting and reflection. Over two class periods, students will learn to identify their strengths and areas for improvement, set clear and actionable goals, and create a plan to achieve these goals. By focusing on criteria such as thesis, evidence, analysis, organization, and conclusion, students will gain tools to monitor their progress and foster a growth mindset. This process not only promotes self-awareness and resilience in writing but also equips students with the skills needed to produce engaging and well-crafted literary analysis essays, supporting their overall development as writers.

Designed for differentiation, students choose one goal in each criteria--either a Foundational Goal (a goal to reach proficiency) or an Extended Goal (a goal designed for those who want to or have surpassed proficiency). This way all your students, GATE, ELL, RSP, Gen-ed students, can feel like they have a chance to be successful. Once they have chosen 1 goal for each criteria, they then move on to what steps they will take to achieve their goals. Each goal has two steps, and they choose one of the two to focus on. Finally, they put all their goals and steps together on one chart, and from there, they choose two or three of their chosen goals to work on while writing their literary essay. Before writing their essay, students reflect on their chosen goals by answer some guiding questions. When they have completed their essay, the return to their reflection, and answer new questions about their experience of setting goals and action steps.

The lesson plan includes the following:

• A hyperlinked Table of Contents

• About this Resource- a handy guide that has everything you need, including links to the student handouts, in one place

• Essential Question: How can setting and reflecting on specific writing goals improve my literary analysis essay writing skills?

• 6 Guiding Questions

• Standards

• Objectives

• Learning Targets

• A detailed lesson plan

• 4 student handouts:

  • Literary Analysis- Choose Your Goals

  • Literary Analysis- What Steps Will You Take to Achieve Your Goals?

  • Literary Analysis- Goals and Steps- Putting Them Together

  • Literary Analysis Essay- Goals and Writing Reflection