Literature Questions

[Ann.without.an.e]

First of all, dd is a great reader. She is primarily a math and science kid though and she is really struggling with literature. When they ask thinking questions that require her to read into motive or the thoughts of the author, she really struggles. She said today, "they are leading me to make conclusions that I really can't since I honestly don't know what the author was thinking or what the main character's motives were, etc, etc." I assume this would be a struggle with any literature program?

 

DD reads great books, so in some ways I feel like a literature program is not necessary. What about literature terms though? How important are they?

 

Does anyone here have a literature program they love? If so, why do you lvoe it?

 

I think I either need to switch or sign her up for the BJU online lit. class next year. I can't decide :confused:

[Susan C.]

BJU didn't help very much with that, I used it w/ dc#1. There was some literary analysis, it would be better than nothing. Now that I am finishing up dc#2, I am shocked at how much BJU doesn't cover.... I am using Scott Foresman's England in Literature, along with Windows to the World, and it is better prep for college for my dd18. I'm sure SF isn't the only literature text than can be used, but it was recommended here, I got it, and love it. These are the things it covers:

 

- historical background for each time period

- author biographies

- very meaty questions, really teaches literary analysis

- good paper prompts

- section in the back that explains literary analysis terms

- breakaway sections that cover types of writing or literary elements common to that time period

 

Windows to the World covers implying in more depth. My dd18 got a lot out of the annotating and allusions sections. We will read the section that covers implying before she graduates. Something happens when you write all over the piece and "talk" with it. WttW shows you how. It is like the commentary you would get from an English teacher.

[Candid]

First of all, dd is a great reader. She is primarily a math and science kid though and she is really struggling with literature. When they ask thinking questions that require her to read into motive or the thoughts of the author, she really struggles. She said today, "they are leading me to make conclusions that I really can't since I honestly don't know what the author was thinking or what the main character's motives were, etc, etc." I assume this would be a struggle with any literature program?

 

No, a good program is going to give her a toolbox which she can use to see how the author is thinking. Things don't just happen in good literature, someone wrote them that way. So what elements of the story can we use to tip us off to the author's mind.

 

Now, it's not like learning 2 + 2 more like geometry proofs. It will take several years in a good program that is systematic in its approach.

 

And in blunt honesty I'm not totally surprised that a in the box program doesn't do as well as getting this across.

 

I use Tapestry but I am sure there are other stand alone programs that would help.

 

The other thing to find is a local teacher who can get her to begin to use the tools and see how to do that.

[mumto2]

I have the same basic problem. What I am doing about it is having them work through some inexpensive workbooks by McDonald -- literary genres and forms and elements of literature. They are getting their terminology down first.

 

I also discovered that Laura Berquist's " The Harp and the Laurel Wreath" seems to be a treasure for poetry analysis. The middle section has a poem followed by a couple of questions using proper terms--with explanation of term. They seem to be enjoying poetry now. Also giving good answers.

 

We can move on to more complicated things later. Right now I am working on a better foundation! I have only been doing this a couple of weeks but so far its going well.

[Ann.without.an.e]

Thank you so much for your thoughts.

 

 

Anyone else want to chime in? I am very open to new ideas right now :001_smile::001_smile:

[kRenee]

As an adult I read "How to Read Literature like a Professor". It was a fun read, gave me my first insight into analyzing literature and lit a fire under me to learn more. Now I am slowly working through some Teaching Company lectures.

 

Maybe this approach would work for your daughter by giving her lots of examples of analysis before asking her to do it herself.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

No, a good program is going to give her a toolbox which she can use to see how the author is thinking. Things don't just happen in good literature, someone wrote them that way. So what elements of the story can we use to tip us off to the author's mind.

 

 

 

I love the bolded quotation.

 

How to Read Like a Professor is a good book. Not the last word in criticism, but a good summary of a number of features of novels.

 

Deconstructing Penguins didn't click for me the first time I flipped through it. But when I read it again, it made more sense. One nice feature is that many homeschoolers are already familiar with the books mentioned.

 

I found a cool data sheet intended for use in AP classes. My intention is to start my kids using this now, so that when they get to the point that they are taking AP exams, they will have a binder with notes from various books they've read.

 

I also recently found a couple series of books that assemble together essays about popular books or movies. This one is about Harry Potter. What I liked is that there are some sophisticated essays about literary topics like heroic quest, why Dumbledore had to die, feminist theory, etc that were all about works that my kids know quite well. (NB: There is one essay about the trend in fan fiction to cast Snape as a romantic hero, in some cases in R or worse detail. I suggested my kids skip that one.)

 

ETA: I should clarify that the essay about the Snape fan fiction is specific (as would be a court report or a news article about an incident) but isn't graphic itself. Still, it was specific enough that I recommended my kids pass on it.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Sebastian (a lady)

[TechWife]

I found a cool data sheet intended for use in AP classes. My intention is to start my kids using this now, so that when they get to the point that they are taking AP exams, they will have a binder with notes from various books they've read.

Thank you for the great data sheet and the idea!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Thank you for the great data sheet and the idea!

 

I found another version of the .doc"]data sheet that is in .doc format, so you can type into the fields. Depending on the age of the student, this might be more helpful.

 

Evidently the data sheet was shared at some point by the AP folks at College Board. If you search AP English Literature Data Sheet, you can find several versions, as well as some that have been filled out for various books.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Open ended questions for AP English literature exams 1970-2012.

 

You could use this list to help focus on the work mentioned, to use as a prompt for another work or to help develop a theme or thesis for an essay. Or just to practice for AP exams.

 

Usually the AP exam will give a list of possible works that could tie into the question, but they also will give the escape door of using another work that the student is familiar with that is of similar literary merit.

 

I'm teaching Windows to the World in coop this year and I'm hoping to work at least one if not both of my older kids up to taking AP English Language and English Literature exams in 10-12 grade. I'll pop in when I find other cool stuff.

[Beth in Mint Hill]

...When they ask thinking questions that require her to read into motive or the thoughts of the author, she really struggles. She said today, "they are leading me to make conclusions that I really can't since I honestly don't know what the author was thinking or what the main character's motives were, etc, etc."...

 

I was planning to major in science in college, and whenever I took lit classes and they did endless analysis of the work, I felt like screaming. And now I am a lit and Latin teacher. :tongue_smilie: Go figure.

 

We do tend to over-analyze literature, rather than simply experiencing it and appreciating it. But because I know that the students need to develop their ability to understand what the writer is attempting to do, I still teach them to analyze some parts. But I also just ask them to write down their thoughts about the work.... just some of their more "impressionistic" responses.

 

When I ask students to analyze a story I word it something like this:

"Find evidence in the pages that will help you understand what the character might be thinking or feeling. And find evidence of what question the author might be trying to answer through writing this work. In other words what is its "theme?"

 

She is right, we cannot know in a scientific way what the author was thinking or intending, but we can learn to read discerningly and carefully so that we can put 2 and 2 together to come up with a better understanding of what the words on the page communicate to us.

 

One of my favorite literature guides is Barron's The Principles of Literature by Myers-Shaffer.

[datimasa]

:bigear: