Analysis Paralysis

This past week I focused on analysis with my junior classes, both the AP Language and Honors American Literature classes. Both classes had summer homework that guided this instruction as I read too many sentences declaring that “This quote shows” without much further discussion as to “how,” or “why,” or “So what?” Students reflected that they knew they had to explain the quote and connect it back to their thesis, but that they often felt repetitive as their essays progressed. I was on the hunt to find ways to articulate the difference between “explain” and “analyze” and how to facilitate a deeper discussion of evidence. I have this book on my shelf to read and hope it might help.



Until I get to it though, I found a resource that I tried and think it was a move in the right direction. It was created by a teacher in Massachusetts whom I follow on Instagram (@thetownieteacher). She offers links to her products from her profile (instead of selling them on Teachers Pay Teacher, which I appreciate and could have another post addressing my thoughts on). It’s an analysis pyramid that asks students to work their way up a pyramid of discussion to break down a piece of evidence.



I find that most students stop at the second level, and appreciate the next three that have students break down the specific diction, question why the author made those choices, and to consider the implications beyond the text. I didn’t want students to think that this work could simply be moved into a body paragraph, nor did I want them to think that every quote had to be worked through all of the levels. I modeled my own work, then asked students to complete the work for one quote. After that, we discussed how this would be worked into a paragraph and how to use it as a tool when writing and revising their work.


I’ve read drafts and conferenced with students but the final essays are due this week so I’ll be able to reflect more on the success of the strategy. Students also rate themselves and reflect along the way and I have noticed that the pyramid helped them to articulate their confidences and struggles more specifically.


I would love to hear ideas on helping students to analyze more thoroughly and deeply!

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