Introducing the Literary Essay to a Primary School Student after Reading a Retelling of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

I am in my twelfth year of homeschooling, and part of that means I am able to do more improvising of lessons with my children, observing the children's engagement and readiness for particular skills and introducing content that stretches them--even when it isn't part of the curriculum.

While teaching my eighth grade daughter how to write the literary essay, I looked over at my third grade son, who so thoroughly enjoyed our reading of Geraldine McCaughrean's retelling of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales that it came to me, "Why don't you compose a literary essay too?" My son immediately protested; after all, a literary essay sounds so complicated, and it'll require so much work.

But then I assured him. You don't have to write anything. I'll ask you questions, and I'll just type your answers. When I made the task sound so doable, he agreed. Within a week, after dictating to me a paragraph a day, my son finished his first literary essay.

In composing this essay, I asked my third-grader questions like these:

Out of all the tales, which tale did you enjoy the most? Look at the table of contents to remember the stories we've read.

When you say that this is the best tale in the book, it is your opinion. This is your thesis. In an essay, you have to convince readers that your thesis, your opinion, is true. You do this by giving good reasons.

So why did you enjoy this tale the most?

Can you give me a reason? Good, let's put that down. What's another reason? And what's another reason?

Can you point to me the part of the story that supports this reason? Remember, if you tell me a movie is good, will that convince me--just saying "it's good"? No, you have to give me convincing reasons; otherwise, I may not believe you that the movie is good.

Can you give me more than one example for each of your reasons?

What about this part of the story do you like? Why do you think this?

You used the words "interesting," "funny," and "also" so many times in this essay. Let's go back and try to use synonyms for these words so the reader doesn't see you using the same word again and again. My son then learns how to properly use a thesaurus. Don't randomly choose a word. Choose a word that fits, which means you have to look up the word you want to use in the dictionary to make sure it's really the right word to use.

In the sentence, "This helps you get why the Friar believes him," "get why" sounds a bit too casual, conversational. In writing there is conversational language (how you talk to people casually) and essay writing language. "Get why" is too conversational for an essay. What is another way to say "get why"? "This helps you __________________..." After getting some clues from me, my son says "understand."

For the introduction to the essay, you have to give your readers an idea of the book and story you are going to talk about. Can you summarize what The Canterbury Tales is about? Can you also summarize what your favourite story is about? Your thesis goes at the end of the introduction.

To conclude your essay, you need to remind the reader of the main points you've made. They've read so many words that they might have forgotten and need a reminder. But don't say your main points in the same way. That would bore your readers.

To close off your essay, you can write a final sentence that tells your readers whether you recommend the book and why.

By having him answer the questions above and my drawing out his thoughts, my third-grader was able to dictate to me his first literary essay. Here it is. Enjoy!

Josiah - First Essay on Canterbu (1).pdf

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