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Jumping off the high school in a box post, if we're using SL and want to add in a book or resource that teaches lit. analysis that we could then use on a few of the SL books, does anyone have a suggestion? I have IEW Structure and Style that we used in elementary (well, we used 1/2 of it and then I started to really dislike how all of her papers sounded alike.) Anyway, any ideas? I don't want a complete grammar or lang. arts program, just something to teach those valuable lit. analysis skills. Thanks!

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We recently finished this (1 semester) and it was very good. I love lit. and have been a strong reader all my life, but this program was eye opening to me. It introduces various styles and techniques, then has some example and practice activities. You can use your own lit. selections if you want to and still use her exercises.

 

I also thought it was broken down into manageable parts. Studying literature can be overwhelming for dc, even adults, but each lesson contained the right amount of new info. to absorb.

 

We will refer back to this book often while doring writing assignments. We have not and do not plan to use any other IEW products.

 

I'm sorry this is so long-winded. I guess I'm tired today and probably should not be posting. :tongue_smilie:

Denise

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I needed some type of format to teach ME how to teach lit analysis. For this I used Teaching the Classics:A Socratic Method for Literay Education. Find this at www.centerforlit.com

 

 

THEN, I went back and read AGAIN, The Well Educated Mind by SWB and it made sense to me.

 

I got it.

 

I think we make this WAY harder than it has to be at the high school level. We need to relax and read the books with our kids and discuss them. Really!

 

Hope that helps!

 

Brenda

(Who gets to give SWB a GREAT BIG HUG next weekend in Memphis! And thank her for showing me how to teach my kids.:D)

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I don't know as though I've seen a single resource that covers all aspects of literary analysis... Below are (more than one! -- LOL!) ideas to get you started. BEST of luck -- and enjoy entering The Great Conversation with The Great Books! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.


1. Learn the TOOLS of literary analysis
First, when you analyze literature you are looking at the big underlying ideas in the work, usually expressed in themes, worldviews, and characterization. To see those things, you use tools, called literary elements (or literary terms), such as as metaphor, irony, foreshadowing, symbolism, imagery, alliteration, etc.

There are a number of free online resources you could use; here are 3 to get you started:
- Kim's Korner for Teacher Talk: Literary Terms and Devices
- Meyer Literature: Glossary of Literary Terms
- University of North Carolina: Glossary of Literary Terms

A book resource we found helpful for learning about literary elements: Figuratively Speaking. Each term is defined in a paragraph, then shown in several examples from classic literature, and then there is a page or so of exercises to practice looking for and/or using the literary term.


2. Start to use the tools
Start simple/gentle, using a picture book, poetry, or short story. Or, even easier (I think) -- look for literary and visual elements in a TV show or film. (Check out the Movies as Literature beginning literary analysis program. Then think about/discuss together what those things you saw might all be pointing towards -- that will be some sort of motif, theme, symbolism, characterization, etc. -- the "big ideas" of what literary analysis is all about. :)

Some great posts by KarenAnne who contributes on this board:
- ways to visualize and start a literary analysis discussion
- another example of how to get started with a literary analysis discussion
- ideas for writing literary analysis that are not just about literary elements


3. Use resources to help you along the way
The first few chapters of SWB's The Well Educated Mind, Adler's How to Read A Book, or the homeschool curriculum "How to Teach the Classics" are all resources to help you learn how to look at, think about, and discuss literature.

Deconstructing Penguins can give you a feel for what "book conversations" or literary analysis can look like, while How to Read Literature Like a Professor explains a lot of common symbols used in literature.

Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus, or Using Picture Storybooks to Teach Literary Devices are helpful beginning literature discussion / literary analysis resources.

Literature guides help with detailed background information on the author's life and times to give you inside info on what themes might have been important to the author, or what social/political/historical events might have influenced the author. Good Lit. guides also provide helpful discussion questions to "springboard" you into discussion/analysis, and even have teaching information on specific literary terms and examples of how they are used in the work. Here are ones we have found useful:

- Discovering Literature series: Challenger Level
Individual lit. guides by Garlic Press publishers; detailed background on the summary of every chapter; great discussion questions for every chapter; literary element explanations and specific examples of how used in the text; good writing assignment ideas; additional resources

- Glencoe Literature Library, Sparknotes, Cliff's Notes, Shmoop = free online literature guides
- Portals to Literature (secular)
- Parallel Shakespeare (secular)
- Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide to Six Shakespeare Plays (Christian)
- Progeny Press (Christian)
- The Great Books (Christian worldview guided discussion, rather than literary analysis)


And, if you REALLY want a single program... Again, no one program I've found does all of the above, but these 3 have helped us the most:

- Windows to the World (gr. 8-12)
How to annotate; specific help in how to write a literary analysis; and teaching text on some of the major literary elements. 1 semester course; Jill Pike syllabus expands the program to 1 year.

- Literary Lessons to the Lord of the Rings (gr. 7-10)
Very detailed chapter notes with loads of information on various literary elements and how they were used in the chapter; also repeatedly helps you pick out specific themes and suggests what to look for in future chapters; and several units on various literary topics (setting; theme; genre; plus several units of guided literary analysis on several other works).

- Lightning Literature & Composition 7 and 8 (gr. 7 and 8)
Very gentle, but helpful intro into beginning to understand what literary analysis is. Each unit focuses on a single literature term and how it is used in the piece of literature being read for that unit. Also helpful is the wide variety of types of literature covered -- different genres of novels; short stories; poetry; biography/autobiography.

Edited by Lori D.
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I'm currently using this and love the lessons that Jill Pike put together. It is helping me get through these programs step-by-step. We completed the TTC lessons and are in the allusions lesson now in WTTW. Really great stuff, so far. My son is learning a lot and he's enjoying it. I haven't completed WTTW yet, but so far, I highly recommend it.

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I will throw another option out there---we are using Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings and it is chock FULL of literary analysis and literary terms, styles etc. To me, this is also a very unique and exciting study because of the genre also. Both of my high schoolers are using this study and absolutely LOVING it this year! For regular literature, I second the suggestion for the IEW products WTTW and TTC using Jill Pikes schedule.

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:bigear: Continuing to listen...

 

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I tried to find the Jill Pike schedule for TTC (Teaching the Classics, right?) I couldn't find it. I'd like to see it to see how she breaks down, what looks like a very complicated program, into daily chunks.

 

Also, for those of you using LLoLoTR, is this your central curriculum? Would it be too much with SL?

 

Thanks again. And I'm still taking suggestion/thoughts/comments!

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:bigear: Continuing to listen...

 

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I tried to find the Jill Pike schedule for TTC (Teaching the Classics, right?) I couldn't find it. I'd like to see it to see how she breaks down, what looks like a very complicated program, into daily chunks.

 

Here's the link for Jill Pike's schedule: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IEWfamilies/files/Lessonshare/Jill%20Pike%20Windows%20Syllabus/

 

We've had great success using her syllabus this year.

 

Louise

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Here is an idea that we have tried in our homeschool co-op. This co-op meets 6 times a year, so nothing overwhelming. (Sept, Oct, Nov and Feb Mar and April)

 

We started this group as a Boys lit discussion. We aimed it for 4th-7th grades. And we used the ideas out of Deconstructing Penguins. And we even started with Mr. Popper's Penguins!

 

We taught the boys basic lit analysis including Plot, Characters including Protagonist/Antagonist, Conflict, and Theme. And then later in the year, we showed them how to "chart" all of that using the methods in TTC. And we tried to vary the genre with each month.

 

Here is the key: We started with easier books, fun books, and included fun activities that we did together with the lit analysis. And I'm telling you what!(southern phrase....;)) Now, those boys are ready to discuss high school pieces with the best of them! The key is to start early. And to start simply.

 

I would put these boys, who are now 7th graders, up against my own high schoolers any day.

 

 

There are some of the 7th graders of our group who have also started a Hewitt 7th grade lit course to also prepare them for high school work. But as for my family, we just try to keep it simple with the TTC style/WTM style and throw in CLE reading for a little more structure.

 

Here are the books we used for last year and this year.

 

Last year: Mr Popper's Penguins, Homer Price, Door in the Wall, The Phantom Tollbooth, and From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and one biography of their choosing.

 

This year:By the Great Horn Spoon, Brady, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Westing Game, The Cay, and Biography of their choosing.

 

Just what we have done. Hope that helps!

 

Brenda:001_smile:

This was such a success, that we now have a Girls books club(4th-7th) and Book buddies which is aimed at 2nd/3rd grade. Not sure what we will do for next year. Only time will tell.

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Emma, Just wanted to offer a quick apology-- I just realized that last night I neglected to start a new thread w/ my question re: 7th and 8th grade prep; I never meant to hijack yours! So sorry about that!

 

No apologies needed! We all share on these threads. It's how we learn!

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Here is an idea that we have tried in our homeschool co-op. This co-op meets 6 times a year, so nothing overwhelming. (Sept, Oct, Nov and Feb Mar and April)

 

We started this group as a Boys lit discussion. We aimed it for 4th-7th grades. And we used the ideas out of Deconstructing Penguins. And we even started with Mr. Popper's Penguins!

 

We taught the boys basic lit analysis including Plot, Characters including Protagonist/Antagonist, Conflict, and Theme. And then later in the year, we showed them how to "chart" all of that using the methods in TTC. And we tried to vary the genre with each month.

.

 

Do you think it would be fun to choose books made into movies, meet to discuss the book, then watch the movie and discuss the differences? I've considered starting a group like this for my son either next year or the following. I was thinking of books such as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Because of Winn Dixie, The Indian in the Cupboard, etc.

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:bigear: Continuing to listen...

 

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I tried to find the Jill Pike schedule for TTC (Teaching the Classics, right?) I couldn't find it. I'd like to see it to see how she breaks down, what looks like a very complicated program, into daily chunks.

 

Also, for those of you using LLoLoTR, is this your central curriculum? Would it be too much with SL?

 

Thanks again. And I'm still taking suggestion/thoughts/comments!

 

 

My dd is using it with Core 400, so yes it is possible. Her language arts WITH 400 includes LLfLOTR, Write Source 12, Easy Grammar Ultimate and Wordly Wise----and this is the child who is VERY vocal about overscheduling of curriculum and she loves this :tongue_smilie: For 9th lit, how about using Drawn Into the Heart of Reading. Their website talks about incorporating this into SL by just using the books in a Core that correspond to the genre being studied. My son is using it over 2 years with MFW high school programs.

 

"Q: I use KONOS or Sonlight, or Tapestry of Grace, can I still use this program?

A: Yes, the "Teacher's Guide" and "Student Books" work well with literature you are already reading for those programs. Simply match the unit from "Drawn into the Heart of Reading" to the type of book you are assigned to read. "

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Ok-- this is a really silly question... but HOW do you copy part of another's person's post into your own (a quote) so that you can reference it in your reply? I'm so technologically ignorant... I cannot figure it out!!

 

As for your thoughts, Brenda-- I LOVE your book/lit club idea!! I really must buy TTC *now* so that I'll be ready to use it in the fall. And in the meantime, I'm going to grab a few buddies so that we can put it into action for next year. I can see where such an endeavor would be highly beneficial and super fun, too!!. So thank you for sharing-- I'm really excited by that possibility!!

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When my older kids used Sonlight books (and Ambleside books too) we used Sparknotes and Pink Monkey for lit analysis, comprehension quizzes, summaries and essay prompts. Best of all, they are free and cover all aspects of literature study including literary terms and literary response essays.

 

Faithe

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The Well Educated Mind has worked fantastically for us. It is divided according to genre. It gives you a quick history of each genre and then a procedure for analyzing a work, any work, in that genre. In other words, it walks you through the process of reading works of your choice. The best part is that because this is a general procedure that works for all books, your children will begin to learn the procedure and automatically do it on their own. The other thing I found helpful was Reading Strands, which has sample parent-child conversations about literature for various ages, along with a list of literary terms and their definitions. The list is only a few pages long, nothing overwhelming. Reading Strands is an inexpensive paperback. TWEM looks like TWTM - a hardcover, but don't be intimidated by that. Most of the book is summaries of works that you might like to read. GRIN You can skip that part. You can also skip the whole beginning part, which is an introduction to great books and to reading. I found it very readable, but you don't need to read it if you don't want to. All you have to read is the historical background section (which is rather entertaining) and the procedure/questions for each genre. Even better, the procedure/questions is broken up into three levels, so if you have a child is who is younger or new at literary analysis, you can just do the first part of the procedure. Both books are meant to be used as reference books, not read straight through. I've been using TWEM without doing any planning ahead of time. I just grab the book off the shelf when we are done reading the work and ready to discuss, open it to the right genre, and start reading the questions aloud, pausing while we answer them. It is amazingly effective for something so simple.

 

I did this with my non-academic boys. We used it for everything from Plato's Republic to Hamlet to scifi. We read most of the books aloud together in front of the fire with the dog on our feet, or on the dock paddling our feet feeding crumbs to the sunfish. After awhile, my boys began to point out things as we read! And they began coming home from seeing movies with their friends and telling me about the movies in a WEM fashion. I was flabbergasted. It was a far cry from, "Did you like the movie?" "Yes." "Why?" "It was good." "What was it about?" "A dog." LOL. Instead, I get something more like, "The movie was cool. It was about a man who was trying to save the family store. It was set during WWII, in England, so there's all this dark stuff that is happening in the background all around this happy family. It is told from the point of view of the dog, which makes it interesting. The love story part was stupid, but the rest was really good. You shouldn't see it, though; it ends sadly. It has to, to work, but ït isn't a movie you would like."

 

HTH

-Nan

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A Lit group like I mentioned is BEST done with a buddy. Know your skills as a teacher. I do more of the "serious" part of the discussion, but my buddy does more of the "fun" stuff. She is just GREAT at coming up with ideas for the boys to do.

 

When we did Door in the Wall we had a whole bunch of "knighthood" type games for them to do outside and even had a "knighting" ceremony with cape and certificate at the end. (They LOVED that!)

 

For The Cay, which we are doing this month, they will have to build their own raft model. It has to be 8'' by 10'' in size. And it should include all the items that the boys think might be necessary for you to survive an indefinite time at sea. They will bring these from home and share them with the group.(Also works on public speaking skills.;))

 

Remember that we have ALL BOYS. So, we try to do activities that are just for boys. The girls book club is completely different.

 

Our co-op group lasts about 2hours.

 

And Heather, I don't know how to do that "quote thingie" either.:D

 

Blessings,

 

Brenda

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The Well Educated Mind has worked fantastically for us. It is divided according to genre. It gives you a quick history of each genre and then a procedure for analyzing a work, any work, in that genre. In other words, it walks you through the process of reading works of your choice. The best part is that because this is a general procedure that works for all books, your children will begin to learn the procedure and automatically do it on their own. The other thing I found helpful was Reading Strands, which has sample parent-child conversations about literature for various ages, along with a list of literary terms and their definitions. The list is only a few pages long, nothing overwhelming. Reading Strands is an inexpensive paperback. TWEM looks like TWTM - a hardcover, but don't be intimidated by that. Most of the book is summaries of works that you might like to read. GRIN You can skip that part. You can also skip the whole beginning part, which is an introduction to great books and to reading. I found it very readable, but you don't need to read it if you don't want to. All you have to read is the historical background section (which is rather entertaining) and the procedure/questions for each genre. Even better, the procedure/questions is broken up into three levels, so if you have a child is who is younger or new at literary analysis, you can just do the first part of the procedure. Both books are meant to be used as reference books, not read straight through. I've been using TWEM without doing any planning ahead of time. I just grab the book off the shelf when we are done reading the work and ready to discuss, open it to the right genre, and start reading the questions aloud, pausing while we answer them. It is amazingly effective for something so simple.

 

I did this with my non-academic boys. We used it for everything from Plato's Republic to Hamlet to scifi. We read most of the books aloud together in front of the fire with the dog on our feet, or on the dock paddling our feet feeding crumbs to the sunfish. After awhile, my boys began to point out things as we read! And they began coming home from seeing movies with their friends and telling me about the movies in a WEM fashion. I was flabbergasted. It was a far cry from, "Did you like the movie?" "Yes." "Why?" "It was good." "What was it about?" "A dog." LOL. Instead, I get something more like, "The movie was cool. It was about a man who was trying to save the family store. It was set during WWII, in England, so there's all this dark stuff that is happening in the background all around this happy family. It is told from the point of view of the dog, which makes it interesting. The love story part was stupid, but the rest was really good. You shouldn't see it, though; it ends sadly. It has to, to work, but ït isn't a movie you would like."

 

HTH

-Nan

 

This sounds brilliant! I had no idea that that's what that book was like. Thanks for the review.

 

To quote another person's response, you hit the "quote" button on the bottom right of the screen. It'll bring up a box with the quote in it and you can type before or after it. You can also delete portions of it if you want to only respond to a part of it.

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And Heather, I don't know how to do that "quote thingie" either.:D

 

Blessings,

 

Brenda

 

See the little box in the bottom right corner of this post that says "QUOTE"? Tap it. You'll open up a reply box that has all of the post in it, starting with brackets that have QUOTE in them, and ending with brackets that have /QUOTE in them. The bracket things are what tell the system that you want an onset quote box. You can delete part of the quote itself, or add your own stuff -- preferably using a different color or font -- just be sure to leave the brackets and their contents!

 

You can also multi-quote from several posts by tapping the box with the quotation marks on all the posts you want to include, then using QUOTE on one of them. They'll all pop into your reply, you can cut and paste to organize, etc.

 

Okay, back to our discussion about lit analysis, about which I know NOTHING.

Edited by GailV
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My younger son will be doing Sonlight 100 American History this fall. I have pulled 3 of the books off the sonlight schedule and reschedule them each over 6-8 weeks to be completed with a Progeny Press Guide and he will also be doing the Progeny Press Poetry guide.

 

I am not a literary elite like many on this board so maybe my standards or goals aren't' as high but my sons learned and enjoyed the guides:001_smile:

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Swimmermom and others... LOVE the idea of using the Teaching the Classics/WTTW syllabus for 9th grade. What would you recommend for 7th and 8th grade to adequately prepare a student for that course in 9th?? Anything in particular??

 

Lori D's post is full of wonderful ideas and resources for getting your student ready for more extensive analysis. Starting in 5th grade through the end of 8th grade (our next school year), we will have used:

 

Lightning Literature 7 & 8

Figuratively Speaking

LLfLOTR

some of the Jamestown Best series

 

We worked through most of LL7 in 5th grade. It is a gentle program but some of it was a stretch for my very literal youngest child. We used bits and pieces of LL8 and a fair amount of Figuratively Speaking for 6th grade. We did start LLfLOTR when we reached ancient Greece in our history studies. At that point, we used Unit 5 on Epics for the end of the year. This year we are continuing with LLfLOTR and FS.

 

Oh, I forgot. I keep one class open online at K12 and kind of bounce around with their English classes. I like their literature selections and their narrowed focus. We tend to use short stories, poems, or chapters for analysis instead of entire works. Obviously, we spend too much time on literature.

 

Lori D. brought up the author, Tara McCarthy, in another thread. Her books are helpful in creating writing assignments that relate to literature. I especially like Teaching Genre.

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Lori D's post is full of wonderful ideas and resources for getting your student ready for more extensive analysis. Starting in 5th grade through the end of 8th grade (our next school year), we will have used:

 

Lightning Literature 7 & 8

Figuratively Speaking

LLfLOTR

some of the Jamestown Best series

 

 

 

Thank you, Swimmermom, for all these great ideas!! And thank you MaryCatherine and Gail for help with the "quote thingie"... it worked!!

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  • 3 years later...

I am looking into Lit Analysis recommendations for my dd who will be in 8th grade.  (5th child--have used SL for older 4, but am wanting more lit analysis that SL has as well as essay questions.)

This thread has been helpful. However, please help me with some abbreviations:

 

What is LLfLOTR?

 

What is Jill Pike's program called?

 

Thank you

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Jill Pike created a syllabus/guide to accompany IEW's Windows to the World lit analysis text. My 8th graders used WttW as part of a small co-op this year and it went very well. I think Jill Pike's syllabus, with the additional short stories, book, and writing assignments would have made it a stronger program, if you have the time.

 

LLLOTR is Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings.

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Windows to the World is the best for an introduction to literature for 8-12 grades. Teaching the Classics is a great introduction for the younger grades.

I have used Progeny Press guides in the past. Progeny Press gives you vocabulary words, with comprehension questions. They gives literary terms as they come up in the book. But they do not give you much instruction on how to write about the literature like Windows to the World does. Progeny Press includes a lot of Christian viewpoint questions though.

Smarr Publishers has vocabulary along with comprehension questions, and some literary terms. It gives you some essay instruction.


Another resource is the Eternal Argument by Robin Finley.

http://www.analyticalgrammar.com/index.php/analytical-products/the-eternal-argument.html

One thing I like about Windows to the World is that it has an allusions project. The students learn about allusions.
Allusions are interspersed in good literature as well as some modern day books and advertising. A well rounded student needs to know about allusions.

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In Eternal Argument, I do not see a particular flavor of Christianity presented. She does go into history and write about what happened though, some about the indulgences and Marin Luther's 95 Thesis. But she says students need to understand many parts of the Bible, because that is what the Western Civilization was built upon. You might want to check out what Cathy Duffy has to say about it.

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