When I read nonfiction, I usually read through two lenses: a reader interested in the topic and a writer interested in the craft. I’m pretty much always on the hunt for those little gems that give both student and teacher writers a glimpse at what writing for authentic audiences and purposes can look like. The gems that are especially valuable to me are the texts that are great examples of what Rebekah and Alison call “analysis in the wild.”
If students are only exposed to analytic writing in the form of a literary essay, it runs the real risk of being formulaic and downright boring. And now, given the ubiquitous nature of AI like ChatGPT, if we don’t expand our definition of analytic writing beyond the literary essay to offer students opportunities to analyze topics and texts that are important to them, the motivation to authentically engage in the craft is at an all-time low. Which is why finding engaging gems of ‘analysis in the wild’ is so exciting to me.
While I always recommend keeping a stash of shorter articles and other texts that do the work of modeling engaging, authentic analytic writing, today I’m writing about two books that I found quite by accident while browsing the new books shelves at my library, but that I recommend for any high school teacher who may need some go-to mentor texts for analysis in the wild. (Note: Both books are written for an adult audience, so you will find the occasional swear word or reference to sex within the context of analysis. I still think they have great potential in the context of mentor texts for high school students and teachers.)
While there are certainly some students who will be interested enough in these topics to want to read the books in their entirety, where I think they have special value to teachers in the treasure trove of mini-mentor text opportunities. If you read it with a pack of sticky notes handy and mark whenever you see the authors employ one of the skills you want your students to do more artfully, you’d have a handy resource for mini-lessons at your fingertips. Some of the skills I found myself sticky-noting include:
Introducing evidence
Analyzing a small detail
Analyzing cultural impact
Analyzing personal impact
Transitioning to additional evidence
Breaking down a thesis
And so much more (Seriously, my copies are sticky-noted within an inch of their lives.)
Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson’s Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television
As its title suggests, in this book, Thea Glassman traces the impact of seven TV shows for teenagers. While the whole book could certainly provide an opportunity to trace a multi-part thesis across an extended text, there are gems of mini-mentor texts throughout, too. In the chapter about the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Glassman zooms in on key scenes to analyze their impact, and in the chapter about Freaks and Geeks, she dives into rhetorical decision-making that affects the craft of the show – all while weaving together a broader analysis of the shows’ cultural impacts.
Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games
This book, edited by Carmen Maria Machado and J. Robert Lennon, brings together individual essays written by incredible writers like Hanif Abdurraqib, Alexander Chee, and Larissa Pham. Each essay brings about unique opportunities for mentor texts of analysis in the wild, including in the introduction written by Machado. MariNaomi’s personal essay provides a particularly engaging and unique opportunity for mentor texts to bring analytic writing out of the literary analysis box as it’s formatted as a comic. Video game analysis is about as far away from my own wheelhouse as it gets, but I found myself engrossed in each essay, which in and of itself is a testament to the craft the writers employ.
Where have you found great examples of analysis in the wild lately? What books would you recommend teachers and writers mine for mini-mentor opportunities?
- Megan
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