annotating a text

HOW TO ACCESS DEEPER LEVELS OF LITERATURE

Annotating a text

Annotating

S speaker (narrator, point of view)A atmosphere (mood, tone, setting,

tensions)D diction

F figurative language (simile, metaphor, etc.)

I imagery (patterns, i.e. motifs)T tone

Annotating

The key is marking enough to be helpful, but not so much that it is distracting

When in doubt, think STOP SAD FIT

S symbolT themeO organization (chapters, sections,

narrator, etc.)P progression (shifts or changes,

chronology, etc.)

Another way…

FLITF: Form

L: Language

I: Image

T: Tone

Annotating

Quality over quantity This is not an exercise in labeling everything No “credit” for literary “name dropping”

Sample QUALITY annotating:

3 “Layers” of Text

Identify the literary device

What is the immediate impact/idea conveyed?

What is the greater significance to the work as a whole?

Practice with a poem…

“O no! it is an ever-fixed mark”

1. allusion to North Star

2. permanent guide, assurance of safety (nautical)

3. Love is eternal and true

What does this look like in your book?

Share with a neighbor your annotations from “Every Little Hurricane”

What is done well? What can be added to make it look at the layers of text

more explicitly? How did Alexie convey the messages of hope and

despair? What other messages are conveyed?