A new book, The Heart of Fiction, offers teachers fresh strategies for analyzing character, theme, and craft. The book’s author, Kate Roberts, provides a framework for explicitly teaching transferable analytical skills that students can apply repeatedly.
The book is organized into three main sections, each focusing on a different aspect of analysis: character, theme, and craft. Each section includes strategies for teaching the skill, explaining what the skill entails, and discussing why it’s worthwhile.
Character, Theme, and Craft Analysis
Roberts approaches each skill as a series of steps to follow, making it easier for teachers to guide their students. The strategies are further divided into stages, including before reading, as the book begins, in the middle, and at the end.
Each strategy is presented as a short essay, complete with explanations, demonstrations, and coaching strategies. The book also includes templates for teachers, although Roberts notes that she doesn’t use them herself, instead allowing students to have ownership of their notebooks.
The book’s focus on independence is key, as Roberts emphasizes the importance of equipping students with actionable strategies they can internalize and apply on their own. This approach is particularly useful for long-term retention, as students can transfer the skills to future texts.
Rethinking Unit Design and Teaching Sequence
The Heart of Fiction has forced one educator, Rebecca Crockett, to rethink her unit design and teaching sequence. Instead of simply covering a checklist of skills, Roberts suggests focusing deeply on fundamental skills and revisiting them repeatedly across a common text.
Crockett, a 20-year educator and English department head, found the book’s section on theme analysis to be particularly helpful, as it changed the way she views the complexity of theme and how to help students recognize it. The book’s strategies for analyzing theme from different angles and reflecting on the author’s intent have been especially useful.
Related Post: Teachers Guided to Help Students Overcome Challenges
By the time Crockett reached the craft section, she was impressed by the sheer number of strategies presented and how seamlessly Roberts connects character and theme to the recognition of craft and author’s purpose. Crockett is excited to watch her students build confidence and skills in character and theme analysis, and use that foundation to analyze craft and purpose on a deeper level, with Roberts’ book serving as a guide for the school year, and its strategies are likely to be implemented in her classroom soon, starting with the character analysis section.
Crockett has taught at both elementary and secondary levels and currently teaches secondary English. She is also a district PLC lead and enjoys exploring new approaches to literacy and literature.
This connection has given Crockett a clear vision for how to scaffold complex analysis in her classroom.
Implementing the Strategies
Roberts offers strategies that students can apply repeatedly, making it easier for them to internalize and work with the skills independently. The strategies are organized into clear, actionable steps that fit directly into daily instruction.
She will have her students add the strategies to their interactive notebooks, allowing them to refer back to strategy numbers and remember their previous successes. By doing so, Crockett aims to equip her students with actionable strategies they can internalize and work with on their own.
The book’s emphasis on independence is key, as Roberts states that students must feel confident in their analytical abilities. With the book’s strategies, Crockett is confident that her students will become more confident readers, thinkers, and communicators.
Leave a Reply