We read literature so that we don’t feel alone in the world. The characters’ struggles and triumphs; the settings around the world and beyond; the social and cultural mores – all help us to understand ourselves, our history, and our place in the world. Almost four decades ago, Jane Schaffer began her program providing English Language Arts instructors and coaches with the best strategies for teaching students how to read and write about literature and its impact on the human condition. For the College Board, Jane was one of the first AP English Consultants whose focus was on writing about literature and style. Years later, the Jane Schaffer Academic Writing Program® continues this mission and reaches ELA teachers and administrators all over the nation and world. From Pre-K through high school seniors, JSWP makes a difference in helping students to understand the various genres and multicultural texts available to them.
Whether a second-grade teacher presents Junie B, Dory, or Charlotte, the spider, to her students; whether a middle school teacher and her students read Lois Lowry’s The Giver or The Diary of Anne Frank; whether a ninth-grade teacher works her magic with Romeo and Juliet or a twelfth-grade teacher enlightens students on the intricacies of Hamlet, the Jane Schaffer Academic Writing Program partners with teachers by providing rich strategies, lessons, and insights regarding how students write with success about the adventures, the conflicts, and the universal themes that are learned from reading literature.
In order to write about literature, students must understand the subtleties and complexities of the literature that they read. Analyses of concepts – such as characterization, narrative structure, conflict resolution, and the impact of setting on a story – are all necessary considerations when examining and deconstructing a text. Dr. Louis and the Jane Schaffer Academic Writing Program train teachers how to approach and study literature in order to write successfully about it.
Teaching students how to analyze and appreciate an author’s or poet’s diction, imagery, details, figurative language, and syntax helps the students to discover and understand the tone and meaning of the literary work and the author’s purpose. JSWP provides training to guide teachers how to teach the important aspects of fiction and poetry so that students understand more than merely the plot and the identification of characters.
After thirty-five years of reviewing writing samples for ever-evolving high-stakes tests, including Advanced Placement courses, Dr. Louis and the Jane Schaffer Academic Writing Program provide teachers and students with literary analysis insight and skill in order to achieve higher scores on high-stakes tests.
With JSWP, teachers learn how to design the most effective literary writing prompts, and students learn the important skill of decoding writing prompts so that the students know the specifics of a writing assignment before the writing begins. There are no more blank stares or confusion about the purpose of the writing assignment.
