No! I thought the bogosity meter only applied to AP Lit! :lol: Holly

Holy cow! I just stumbled upon an article that you guys have just got to read! It is written by an engineer who decides to learn about deconstruction. The only bad part about the article is that it ends......I absolutely wanted to keep reading. Parts of it are funny (my sense of humor) and at the end he actually shows you how to deconstruct. I didn't know a lot about deconstruction and this was the ticket. Much more fun and illuminating than Wiki! Read it!!! http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~pvr/decon.html

I'm still reading the Wiki article. Nan, your response is very interesting and I'd like to respond, but I'm still thinking.....:tongue_smilie: One very interesting component of the article states that deconstruction is NOT analysis, at least in the traditional sense. I'd like to make the point, although you all probably know this, that the OP was about analysis. I'd hate for someone to read through this thread and equate deconstruction with analysis and throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. Holly

I have read a lot of literary criticism recently. However, I've not noticed any critics saying that their interpretation is the "only" interpretation that is valued. In fact, they often give several different interpretations. This is actually important and I'm glad that you included it. In the case of a multiple choice question, there is not only one answer. However, there is only one BEST answer included and that is the one you are supposed to choose. There may even be better answers that have not been included in the multiple choice selections. That does not negate them. They are just not included as choices. You are preaching to the choir.:001_smile: As a lit. instructor, I first ask my students what they think. We discuss. Then I expand the discussion by informing them of what many experts think. We discuss. Often, the student and expert thinking overlaps and there is lots of agreement. Sometimes, not. I find that the kid react much more to the literature itself, than what the experts think. Well, I agree with you to a point........Because my degree is in music, I'm going to use a musical example to illustrate in what way I disagree. In the arts, there are "wrong answers." Consider a Bach cello suite played by a professional. Many musicians would consider an invalid interpretation to be playing the suite in a Romantic style. Playing the suite Romantically changes the suite to the point that many musicians would feel that the player is playing it "wrong." Even if the player feels that it is right, (according to their life experience) that does not make it so. There is a "Baroque musical box" so to speak. Everyone must play Baroque music within that box. You might deviate somewhat to musically interpret the suite. However, at some point you've completely left the box and your interpretation is no longer valid. After a while, this analogy begins to break down, but it is the best I could come up with. But, Ellen, I would be very interested in discussing an actual example that you might be able to provide. Can you provide a book where you came up with a theme that was considered incorrect? Holly

We did.

Sure, Julie. According to Encarta, literary analysis is "analysis of literary works: the process or art of analyzing, commenting on, and judging the contents, qualities, and techniques of literary texts." From reading the earlier responses, I get the feeling that folks are actually objecting to forms of literary *criticism* rather than literary analysis. Literary criticism provides different modes or prisms to view literature: feminist, marxist, historical, archetypal, freudian and new criticism. As a high schooler in the 80's, my teachers mostly taught new criticism. I teach literature and prefer to talk about all forms of criticism, but personally gravitate towards historical. Some folks use the terms literary analysis and literary criticism interchangeably. In fact, I (personally) think that criticism is a subset of analysis and that it is confusing to consider these two ideas as synonymous. Holly

As concise as I can make this: I think that literary analysis is as tied to literature as scales are to music. I don't think you can separate them. But, in order to actually have a discussion, we really can't go anywhere without defining terms. What *is* literary analysis? From the conversation thus far, I am pretty sure we all have different definitions. Holly

I'm HollyinNNV.

The doc I know said, "Oh, that might not be good. That could be a vascular problem." He also said, "Nobody will be able to diagnose this on the computer. Anyone-including a doc-would just be guessing." Sorry about your injury! Holly

:iagree: Lukeion is AWESOME!

I use allrecipes.com

french bow german bow pizzicato leggiero bass clef octave rosin mute forte mezzo forte piano (parts of the instrument) scroll nut fingerboard strings neck upper bout violin corners f-hole c-bout bridge tailpiece lower bout machine tuners

another plug for Nancy Drew!

Ditto mamabegood!:glare: Pearl Harbor-Never Forget.

I have degree in viola performance and I have never met a violinist/violist that plays "backwards."

I'll comment on this, too. A typical cheat website might have an essay available on the topic of "Enlightened Despots." In order to keep students from using this essay, a history prof might instead assign an essay where students compare and contrast the behavior of Peter the Great to their current university president. In this case, you are still using a traditional compare/contrast template. However, you must integrate current events with Russian history. I think the worst trend to come out of the "beat the cheaters" movement is that many professors are making students compare/contrast everything to their own personal lives. While some self-reflection is valuable, I think it is being taken to a ridiculous extreme in many current classrooms. Here's a literature prompt students might be asked to deal with, "What character do you most identify with in To Kill a Mockingbird. What specific instances have you dealt with in your life that most resemble the struggles of the TKaM character. etc. etc." I personally try to avoid these types of prompts. Most of my students don't have the life experiences to sincerely answer these questions with any depth. And yet, I've been including a few for my kids yearly because they will have to figure out how to conquer these types of prompts because they are being assigned more and more. I think that professors don't think you can buy this type of thing off the web-although you actually can. Nan, I think the best type of essay to master is the compare/contrast essay and the personal reflection essay. I think they are both challenging and used widely. I also think that the stranger prompts that profs are coming up with are hybrids of these two basic types. Holly

I have a lot of random thoughts on this subject because I've been involved in teaching writing for several years. The homeschool co-op I organize is specifically a "writing" co-op. Writing is one of those subjects that is so big that it is like a mountain. You can't see the top nor the sides of the mountain. At the beginning, you don't even know how or where to begin climbing the mountain. Some people stay at the bottom for a long time, thinking they are climbing, when in reality they are not. In fact the climb is long and (almost) nobody makes it to the top by the end of high school. It is the (sing with me) mountain that never ends.....yes it goes on and on my friends...... The problem with writing is often we "don't know what we don't know." I suppose writing is made up of conventions (grammar and such), critical thinking (logic and such), humility, writing stamina and creativity. Families that neglect any of these major skill sets often find that they are missing something essential within writing instruction. I've read student's writing that is so plagued by convention problems, I can't understand what they are trying to convey. I've read other papers where the logic is so faulty, the paper is meaningless. I've also met students so unable to take advice/criticism, that writing instruction is virtually meaningless to them. That's where the humility must come it. No writing program (even IEW) will teach you how to spot logical errors in your paper. You have to get in there and read each sentence closely asking yourself, "What did I really just write-precisely? Does my sentence make sense? Does it make sense within the totality of the paper?" It is this close reading that teaches students to be better, more precise writers. It is with a huge amount of struggle and challenge that I have watched the families in my writing group make progress. We have all learned together. As I have said on many occasions, if we meet and don't have questions and challenges, then we need to stop meeting. I've told my students the same thing. If they are not getting papers back with lots of markings, they will need to go somewhere else to be challenged. Humility is the other component of writing that I think is often neglected. My students learn that they will never get 100%. It is not a subject like math where you can "ace" it. I try to encourage my students to look at every suggestion as something precious. They will learn from that suggestion whether they agree with it or not. They will learn how others look at writing. And audience is everything, is it not? We write for others! Otherwise, what's the point? In terms of research writing, I think that once a student has mastered writing conventions (especially understanding what plagiarism is/is not), logical thought, writing stamina, humility and creativity, they should not have problems with the research paper. Rambling thoughts........ Holly

Looking at the sample, I can't help but find the font (color/size) really different. And the page almost reminds me of Miquon. It looks like an "acquired taste" type of thing. Holly

We also studied F. last year with a group of high schoolers. They all would concur with Lori's quibbles. My "take" on your question (with my lit. teacher hat on) is that liking a piece of literature is irrelevant. Holly

I suggest waiting on lessons until you can pay for a teacher. The teacher should be able to advise you on size and violin type. My dh is a violist and I have a degree in viola & music ed. We did not feel ready to start ds on viola until he was 9. I didn't start violin till age 11 and dh was 12. We both received great scholarships are are pretty competitive players. In other words-it won't hurt your dd to wait. Holly

The Blue Castle by Montgomery (of Anne of Green Gables fame)

No-it is not a good idea. I'd recommend dropping it until you can afford lessons again. Holly

I wake my dd as I go downstairs to make her breakfast. She likes hot cereal. After it is ready I call her and she'd rather get up than have cold food. Holly

It IS a problem. At the last time we checked (summer) there were no filters. You could only turn the web on or off. Holly

Absolutely! I think the high school board has discussed this, too. I only replied to this discussion to mention that one of the top mistakes I made at the beginning of homeschooling was to mention that we could be more efficient and have shorter school days-to my dh. He has mentioned this to me numerous times as dd has gotten older. In our household-it is completely untrue at this point. She spends full (till evening) days every day and frequently has weekend homework. Holly