AUTHOR'S CRAFT LITREARY ANALYSIS UNIT

This Author’s Craft Literary Analysis Unit gives your students the tools, language, and structure they need to become confident literary analysts—not just readers who summarize. Through six scaffolded lessons, students move from identifying author’s craft to analyzing and writing about it, all while developing their understanding of how an author’s choices shape meaning, tone, and theme.

Resource Snapshot:

Grades: 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th
ELA Standard Strand: Writing, Literature
Total Lessons: 6
Daily Lesson Time: 55 minutes
Unit Duration: 2-3 weeks
Low Prep: Mostly Copies
Digital and Print: Yes
Standards: RL.1, RL.2, RL.3, RL.4, RL.5, RL.6, RL.9, W.4, W.9, SL.1, SL.4, SL.5
Hub Collection: November 2024

Using short mentor texts, guided practice, and creative application projects, students learn to read like writers, identify craft techniques with purpose, and build strong, text-based analysis skills that directly align with middle school ELA standards.

✨ Here’s what they’ll learn:

Author’s Craft Techniques – Understanding and identifying figurative language, tone, structure, and style.
Close Reading Skills – Analyzing how an author’s choices impact meaning, theme, and mood.
Text Evidence & Explanation – Citing examples from multiple texts and connecting evidence to analytical claims.
Comparative Analysis – Examining how different authors use similar craft techniques to achieve unique effects.
Analytical Writing – Crafting short responses and multi-paragraph essays that go beyond summary to interpret and explain.
Creative Application – Demonstrating understanding through a one-pager project that merges creativity and literary insight.

Differentiation for 5th–6th vs. 7th–8th Grades

This unit was designed intentionally to support a wide range of middle-grade learners through built-in scaffolds, flexible pacing, and layered rigor:

For Grades 5–6:

Focuses on identifying, naming, and explaining author’s craft techniques with guided modeling.
Provides interactive notebooks, quick notes, and structured response frames to help students move from recognition to explanation.
Writing expectations center on paragraph-length responses and supported reasoning using text evidence.
Great for upper-elementary or early middle school classes transitioning into analytical writing.

For Grades 7–8:

Pushes students toward independent analysis and written interpretation of how craft shapes meaning, tone, and theme.
Includes prompts for comparative analysis between multiple texts or authors.
Essay structures and rubrics emphasize thesis statements, commentary, and deeper analysis of author’s intent.
Perfect for preparing students for formal literary essays, high-stakes assessments, or advanced discussion-based classrooms.

This built-in flexibility allows you to use the same lessons, slides, and passages across grade levels while adjusting expectations for depth, writing length, and independence.

Why this works

This unit doesn’t just hand students a list of literary terms—it builds the thinking behind analysis. Students learn to notice, question, and connect an author’s choices to their impact on the reader. The lessons use a gradual release approach: you model, they practice collaboratively, then apply independently.

With ready-to-use student notebooks, editable slides, and built-in writing supports, the unit works seamlessly in 45–60 minute ELA blocks or extended class periods. It’s flexible enough to use as a standalone mini-unit, a bridge between reading and writing instruction, or a literary analysis launch before a novel study.

Lesson Breakdown

Lesson 1 – Introduction to Author’s Craft
Students define key elements of author’s craft using interactive notes or quick reference pages. They learn how techniques like figurative language, tone, and structure shape meaning.

Lesson 2 – Practice with Author’s Craft (Station Activity)
Students rotate through four reading stations with short texts and poems to identify examples of author’s craft, discuss their purpose, and explain how they affect tone and mood.

Lesson 3 – Application: Identifying Craft Moves (Part 1)
Students closely read two short texts, annotate for craft techniques, and explain how each author’s choices influence the story’s tone and theme.

Lesson 4 – Application: Identifying Craft Moves (Part 2)
Students analyze a third text, comparing how different authors use similar craft elements (like symbolism or dialogue) to achieve unique effects.

Lesson 5 – Analysis through Writing
Students write a short literary analysis essay connecting an author’s craft to meaning and tone, using structured outlines, sentence stems, and mentor examples.

Lesson 6 – Author’s Craft One-Pager Project
Students create a visual one-pager that combines quotes, analysis, and illustrations to showcase their understanding of author’s craft in a creative way.

What’s Inside

Six full lesson plans with pacing and teacher notes
Editable teaching slides (Google Slides + PowerPoint/PDF)
Student notebook pages (print and digital versions)
Practice passages, station texts, and teacher answer keys
Writing prompts, scaffolds, and exemplars for analysis essays
One-pager project templates and rubrics
Literary Analysis Reference Booklet for ongoing support
Standards alignment for grades 5–8 (RL.4–6, W.1, W.9)

Perfect for:

Teachers launching or reviewing literary analysis before a novel or testing season
Students who need structured, step-by-step practice moving from identification to analysis
ELA classrooms balancing standards-based instruction with authentic engagement