Saw an instagram post that followed a ladder like this: if you can do 10 doorway squats, you can do 1 body weight squat; if you can do 10 body weight squats, you can do 1 single leg squat.... all the way to doing pistol squats.
Of course you need to build your ability to go from a single body weight squat to 10 of them... but the ladder is apparent.
I've been thinking about this in terms of education -- how do you get to writing a full poetry analysis essay.
Claude says:
If you can do 10 [Level 1], you can do 1 [Level 2]
- Identify 10 concrete images → Write 1 observation about what a single image might suggest beyond its literal meaning
- Write 10 observations about imagery/word choice → Make 1 claim about how a pattern of language creates meaning
- Make 10 claims about patterns in the poem → Write 1 paragraph connecting a pattern to the poem's deeper meaning or theme
- Write 10 body paragraphs with evidence → Craft 1 complete thesis statement that makes a defensible interpretation about how poetic elements create meaning
- Write 10 thesis statements for different poems → Write 1 full essay (intro, body paragraphs, conclusion) analyzing how multiple poetic elements work together
- Analyze 10 poems with complete essays → Write 1 sophisticated essay that examines complexity, ambiguity, or tension in the poem (true AP Lit level)
The idea: You can't skip steps. Master the volume at your current level to prove you're ready for the complexity of the next.
Perfect! Here are examples for levels 1-4:
Level 1: If you can identify 10 concrete images → you can write 1 observation about what a single image suggests beyond its literal meaning
Example of "1":
The image of "Last week's snow is brittle now and unrecognizable as the soft, white hair that bearded the face of the city" suggests not just aging snow, but the way time transforms something once pure and soft into something hardened and unrecognizable—perhaps reflecting how the city (or life itself) loses its innocence or beauty over time.
Level 2: If you can write 10 observations about imagery/word choice → you can make 1 claim about how a pattern of language creates meaning
Example of "1":
The speaker repeatedly uses language of emptiness and negation—"sidewalks empty," "mind empty," "solitude is my companion," "silence so complete"—to create a sense that the speaker finds freedom or authenticity not in fullness or connection, but in absence and isolation.
Level 3: If you can make 10 claims about patterns → you can write 1 paragraph connecting a pattern to the poem's deeper meaning
Example of "1":
Throughout the poem, Ai uses images of transformation that are attempted but incomplete, revealing the speaker's struggle between transcendence and earthly limitation. The speaker wishes to "turn myself into a bird like the shaman I was meant to be," but immediately counters with "but I can't I'm earthbound." Yet when the music begins, the speaker momentarily becomes "the unencumbered bird of my imagination, / rising only to fall back toward concrete." This pattern of rising and falling, of briefly achieving flight before returning to earth, suggests that art offers only temporary escape from suffering and solitude. The music doesn't permanently transform the speaker's reality—each note is a "black flower / opening, / mercifully opening into the unforgiving new day"—but it does provide momentary transcendence. The poem ultimately argues that art's value lies not in permanent escape, but in these brief, repeated moments of beauty within an otherwise harsh existence.
Level 4: If you can write 10 body paragraphs with evidence → you can craft 1 complete thesis statement
Example of "1":
In "The Man with the Saxophone," Ai uses images of emptiness, transformation, and music to argue that art provides temporary transcendence from isolation and urban alienation, offering brief moments of spiritual freedom that are valuable precisely because they are fleeting and must be continually recreated against an "unforgiving" reality.
Does this give you what you need for your students?
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