Guided Inquiry: Prose Fiction
This guided inquiry unit is designed to develop….
- knowledge and understanding of the core characteristics of prose fiction. How writer’s use plot, characters, narrative perspective, and structure to tell a story and develop ideas and issues within a work.
- interpretation and analysis skills that appreciate the ways in which an author’s broader literary choices might be significant to a story and the reading experience.
- an independent and personal response to the work.
- confidence and autonomy.
- metacognition. Students are asked to set their own goals and be aware of their strengths, limitations, and needs throughout the guided inquiry process.
The resources in this unit include:
- An activity portfolio
- Slides with lecture notes to accompany the assigned readings and activity portfolio
- An assessment menu with rubrics
- Sample student work
Guided Inquiry Teaching Approach
In this unit, students are invited to choose their own prose fiction work to study. Teachers may have students choose from a list, within a set of restrictions (time, place, author profile, etc.), or make the choice completely with the caveat that the work be of “literary merit”.
The unit is designed to guide students through the elements of prose fiction, focusing on plot, character, ideas/issues, narrative perspective, and structure. For each element, students read chapters from one of the following publications:
- Foster, Thomas. How to Read Novels Like a Professor. Harper Perennial,2008.
- Foster, Thomas. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Harper Perennial, 2003.
- Eagleton, Terry. How to Read Literature. Yale University Press, 2013.
The specific chapters for each literary element are outlined in the Activity Portfolio and in the slides. The slides guide students through short lectures about each literary element, based on the supplemental readings, and have students complete collaborative activities to develop their understanding of each. In the Activity Portfolio, students record their own ideas in response to their work with the help of guiding questions.
Guided Inquiry Assessment Approach
This unit includes an “Assessment Menu” that lays out mandatory and choice assessments. This allows students to choose assessment tasks based on their individual learning and writing goals. Rubrics are included for each assessment task (with the exception of IB rubrics; these have been removed for copyright purposes).
Teaching Resources
Word
Student Sample Work
The sample Activity Portfolios give an idea of the depth of thought students can achieve through this approach. (Note: the activity portfolios look slightly different in aesthetics and labeling, but the activities are the same.) The response posts illustrate how a single question can prompt discussion across several works, but also achieve quite a bit of depth in its 500 word response. Lastly, the choice assessment samples can give an idea of the ways in which students can use choice assessments to engage with a range of skill, from writing a review of the work to a comparative essay.
The responses show engagement with the work and a good appreciation for its features (IB 5-7 range). They are student responses, so there are errors in grammar, spelling, etc. All of the works represented in the samples are translated works. They include: Mulberry and Peach, The Setting Sun, Snow Country, Waiting for Godot, The Outsider, Woman at Point Zero, The Sorrow of War, Naruto, The Thief and the Dogs, and Persepolis.
Sample Activity Portfolios and Response Posts
Sample Choice Assessments
Sample Essays
A Rationale for Choice
- Increases student engagement.
- Instills a life-long appreciation for reading.
- Allows students to choose works build upon an existing schema, which is helpful for students coming from diverse cultural backgrounds.
- Allows students to choose new works to explore.
- Helps teachers choose works that are an appropriate level of difficulty while meeting standards and course requirements.
- Encourages authentic collaboration and inquiry around literature and literary topics.
- For choice assessments, this allows teachers to engage in authentic discussions with students about their assessment goals, and make appropriate assessment choices to meet those goals.
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay