Exploring diverse voices in literature: building analytical skills
KS3-4 students explore an unseen fiction extract from the beginning of Rachael Lucas' young adult novel, The State of Grace, published in 2017. It is about a teenage girl with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
There are three scaffolded activities for students to build their analytical writing skills, as a sentence and paragraph level. They select the most appropriate quotations to illustrate a point about the text, before considering which explanations are most effective. They then complete a GCSE-style analysis of the extract, perfect as a summative assessment or unseen fiction exam practice task. Includes answers for self- or peer-marking in class.
This resource is designed to introduce students to diverse writers and characters, as part of our Diversity in literature collection.
An example task from the classroom worksheet:
Produce a full GCSE-style answer by writing 3-4 paragraphs to answer the following question:
‘How does Rachael Lucas use language to present Grace’s thoughts and feelings in this extract?’
In your answer you should:
- Refer to how language is being used
- Give evidence from the text
