Analyzing Informational and Literature

Texts using S-A-L-T-Y-P

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

Monday, April 8, 2016

Southland Learning Conference

Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle School

Caroline Sweiss

English Language Arts Teacher, 8th Grade

Conrady Junior High School

North Palos School District 117

csweiss@npd117.net

https://twitter.com/sweissELA

“What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote.” –E.M. Forster

Quick Facts About Me: Bachelor of Arts in English, Minor in Secondary Education

Master of Arts in Reading

Taught 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade (Honors, Regular, and Collab) ELA for 10 years

Published in two peer-reviewed journals of the International Reading Association:

"The Secondary Literacy Coaching Model: Centrality of the Standards and Emerging Paradigms." (Summer 2010 issue of The Journal of Reading Education.)

"Negotiating the Role of Change Agent: Challenges Faced by U.S. High School Literacy Coaches" (Fall 2011 Reading Professor Journal)

Taught Graduate Level Education course at Concordia University

Participated in ELA Common Core Committee in North Palos School District 117

Written Summative and Formative Assessments for ELA, 8th Grade

Presented Common Core Reading History Standards/Worked with Social Studies Department at Conrady Junior High School in Implementing Reading History Standards

Presented Common Core Reading History Standards to Hickory Creek Middle School

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

Today’s Objectives:

Part 1: Introduction to S-A-L-T-Y-P

Part 2: S-A-L-T-Y-P and the ELA Common Core State Standards

Part 3: Explanation of S-A-L-T-Y-P

Part 4: How to Introduce S-A-L-T-Y-P to Students: Lead by Example (Interactive Practice)

Part 5: Writing in Response to Literature and Informational Texts using S-A-L-T-Y-P (Sample Student Responses)

Part 6: Testimony and Reflection

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

Part 1: What is S-A-L-T-Y-P?

S-A-L-T-Y-P is a strategy that helps middle and high school students ANALYZEliterature and informational texts.

S-A-L-T-Y-P PROVIDES A COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK for students to refer to when analyzing and/or writing about literature or informational texts.

“GUIDED” Approach to Literature/Informational Analysis

“Catchy” Acronym

Origin of S-A-L-T-Y-P: Inspiration from preparing lessons analyzing Ford and Clinton Apology Letters to Japanese Americas

S-A-L-T-Y-P Chart

S: Structure

A: Author/Audience

L: Language

T: Tone

Y: Year

P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

Part 2: Why S-A-L-T-Y-P? The Common Core State Standards:

An Emphasis on Analyzing Literature and Informational Texts

When planning and preparing for instruction in the ELA classroom, lessons should align to the Common Core State Standards.

Task: 1. Read through the ELA Common Core State Standards Grades 6-8, 9-10, or 11-12,

depending on the grade level you teach. 2. Observe how often the CCSS ask students to “ANALYZE” or to complete an

“ANALYSIS.” 3. Observations and Implications for Instruction?

Link to CCSS-ELA Grade 6

Link to CCSS-ELA Grade 7

Link to CCSS-ELA Grade 8

Link to CCSS-ELA Grades 9-10

Link to CCSS-ELA Grades 11-12

Part 3: Explanation of S-A-L-T-Y-P

What TO DO with S-A-L-T-Y-P… What NOT TO do with S-A-L-T-Y-P…

Model for students the Thinking Process behind each component. A Teacher Think-Aloud is a great way to show students how to use S-A-L-T-Y-P during an analysis of a text.

Print out S-A-L-T-Y-P Cheat Sheet to guide students as they analyze a text, make in-text annotations, and/or engage in class discussion.

Tailor the S-A-L-T-Y-P Chart for your students (feel free to add or remove bullet points)

Remind students to use it as a GUIDE, not a BE ALL, END ALL! It’s a flexible framework of reference.

Teach important vocabulary words from the S-A-L-T-Y-P chart, as befitting your students’ needs (i.e., motif, allegory, connotation, etc.).

Force students to analyze every component afterreading a literature or informational text. Some texts do not lend themselves to each component.

Administer a Quiz or Test on S-A-L-T-Y-P; it’s a strategy, not a skill!

DO NOT teach it like the scientific method. It’s a flexible tool.

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure

Hooks or Attention-Getters: Text Structures: Patterns of Text:

Quote Fact or Statistic Anecdote Definition Powerful Description Rhetorical Question Establish Comparisons

Compare-Contrast Chronological Order Sequential Order Cause-Effect Problem-Solution Description

Repetitions of Significant Words/Phrases

Parallelism Motifs Symbolism Allegories Allusions Flashback or Foreshadowing

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

A: Author & Audience

Author: Audience: Point of View:

Who is the author?

What is the significance of the

author writing about the topic of

the text?

Author Credibility?

Is there author bias?

Who is the text addressed to? Isthis significant?

Is the content and tone appropriate to the audience?

Point of View? (1st, 2nd, 3rd Omniscient, Limited, or Objective)

What is the impact of the text’s point of view?

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

L: Language

Word Choice: Word Connotations: Language of an Argument:

What is the impact of an author’s

choice of words, phrases, quotes,

and/or dialogue?

How does word choice impact the

tone or purpose of a text?

Word repetitions? Significance?

Impact of Figurative Language

(alliteration, similes, metaphors)

Dialect? Significance?

Positive or Negative Connotations Significance of a Word

Connotation Is there a pattern of word choices?

The author uses language of…(hope, despair, light, darkness, triumph, etc.)

Example: “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus and the language of “light”: lamp, golden, sunset, flames, and glows

Pathos (Emotional Appeal) Ethos (Author’s Credibility) Logos (Facts, Statistics, Logic) Relevant/Irrelevant Information Subjective/Objective Tone Assumptions Generalizations Strong or Weak Claim Strong or Weak Counterclaim

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

T: Tone

Examples of Tone: Questions to Consider:

Objective, Serious, Cheerful,

Apologetic, Apathetic, Arrogant,

Confused, Inspiring, Optimistic,

Pessimistic, Loving, Critical,

Angry, Mocking, Joyous,

Sympathetic, Grateful, Nostalgic,

etc.

What is the tone of the text? How does the author develop the tone? How does the tone contribute to the author’s purpose, theme,

and/or or central idea?

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

Y: Year

Step 1: Identify the Year Step 2: Analyze the Significance of the Year

Date (Day, Month, Year) of Publication

Time Period in History

Setting of Text (where does the text take place?)

What is the significance of the year a text was published?

Analyze the impact a time period may have on a text.

What is the significance of the setting of a text? Does it contribute to the language of the characters, the tone, the theme, etc.?

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

P: Purpose

Why Write This? Identifying Author’s Purpose is Important Because…

Examples of Author’s Purposes:

Persuade, Inform, Entertain, Explain, Apologize,

Glorify, Criticize, Argue, Present, Provide, Mock,

Celebrate, Mourn, Warn, etc.

Impacts the way an author presents information Impacts the words (Language) and Tone an author will

use Impacts the Text Features an author will use (visuals,

graphs, quotes, etc.)

Text Annotations Using S-A-L-T-Y-P

Part 4: How to Introduce S-A-L-T-Y-P to Students: Lead through Example

Teacher Think Aloud using “I Hear America Singing” and S-A-L-T-Y-P Chart

Read “I, Too, Sing America” by Langston Hughes

Working with a partner, complete the “Analysis of ‘I, Too, Sing America’.”

Sharing of Responses

Online Stopwatch

Model, Model, Model Text Annotations Teacher Think-Alouds

Provide Opportunities for Students to Practice using the S-A-L-T-Y-P ChartShare Sample Student Written Responses using S-A-L-T-Y-P as a Guide

You WRTE an AWESOME Sample Response and Share!

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

Analysis of “I, Too, Sing America”

Structure Opens with an allusion to

Whitman’s poem

Speaker introduces himself in the beginning as the “darker brother”

Stanza one is in present tense; stanza two is in the future (optimistic) using word “tomorrow” and describes freedom for African Americans

Parallelism: Opens with “I, too, sing America; ends with “I, too, am America.”

The poem is physically divided into stanzas (connection to the separation the speaker feels)

Author/Audience Author:

African American Rights activist

Takes prides in Black heritage

Audience:

Whitman and his poem

All of America

“They” = Whites who tell him to

“eat in the kitchen”

Analysis of “I, Too, Sing America”

Language America is repeated twice (opening

and closing line)

Language of Optimism: (but I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong/nobody will dare say to me “eat in the kitchen”/they will see how beautiful I am)

“They send me to eat in the kitchen”- showing how Blacks were treated unfairly

“I, too, sing America”: speaker is saying that he also has the right to take pride in being a part of America’s identify, even though he is treated unequally

Tone Optimistic

Hopeful for change

A little scornful of the way

Africans have been treated

Analysis of “I, Too, Sing America”

Year 1945 (Civil Rights Era)

Published during a time when African Americans were seeking to fight for equality

Purpose Purpose: to prove that African

Americans are a big part of

America’s identity

Show the “now” and “then”

dichotomy for African Americans

Part 5: Writing using S-A-L-T-Y-P

Task:

Read the “Sample Student Responses using S-A-L-T-Y-P”

“Turn and Talk” to your partner and discuss students’ use of S-A-L-T-Y-P

Whole Class Sharing of Observations

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

Part 6: Teacher Testimony and ReflectionTeacher Testimony:

“SALTY-P is a wonderful tool to help students analyze all texts. It provides teachers a practical sequence for the kids to think through different attributes of a piece of text so they can effectively analyze a text. It helped me take the kids from proving the central idea of a text to showing how the author developed the text which is the standard for RL 8.2 and RI 8.2. SALTY-P is a great tool!” (Beth Nowicki)

“The strategy is easy to use and students are able to effectively analyze all types of complex reading.” (John Rabig)

“SALTYP is a thorough way for students to analyze difficult text. Although it was initially meant for eighth graders, it was easily adapted to the needs of sixth graders. What is especially great about saltyp is that it readily differentiates for students. In my classroom, I did not have a student look at it in its entirety-- I would have small groups look at the same piece of text. Student a might be responsible for the structure whereas student b might be responsible for the audience or purpose. What was awesome is that the students could work collaboratively to break down and understand complex pieces. I plan on using this again-- students made great gains using this!“ (Jamie Albon)

“I've seen great gains in my 6th graders since we started implementing this tool. Thank you for including the student samples; it gives me a better idea of what to model and expect as we continue using this tool for the rest of the year.” (Megan Sumner)

Reflection:

What are your final thoughts on this strategy? Could you see yourself implementing it in any way?

“What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote.” –

E.M. Forster

Special THANK YOU to…

Jeannie Stachowiak (Superintendent of North Palos School District 117)

Melissa Murphy (Curriculum Director/Assistant Superintendent of North Palos School District 117)

Andy Anderson (Principal of Conrady Junior High School)

Sean Joyce (Assistant Principal of Conrady Junior High School)

And my wonderful 8th grade students at Conrady Junior High School who have continuously inspired me…

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose

S: Structure A: Author/Audience L: Language T: Tone Y: Year P: Purpose