Literary criticism should be utilized "in order to make what is implicit in a book finely explicit" (Bloom, 2000, p. 19). Readers, students and teachers, should use the tools of critical literary theory and not be used by them. Literary criticism is a method of understanding, but the theory relies on developing self-understanding as well, and it is that desire to understand ourselves and the world that pushes me and my students to read.
This course contains a series of videos and interactive activity sheets that are designed to help Middle School Students in their preparation of essays, including the creation of structured and well-supported body paragraphs, introductions, conclusions and titles.