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Lightning Lit and MCT? Conflict?


dancer67
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If you look at the MCT presentation on how to implement, he recommends reading/discussing/analyzing one book a month. This is not included in the "regular" LA materials. The book he suggests using to help with this is called Classics in the Classroom, sold by RFWP, but I don't think written by MCT.

 

However, there are a bunch of people over on the MCT Yahoo list who have reported that they instead use Lightning Lit for that literature component, and as I recall, it's pretty universally been agreed that it's a good complementary program for MCT.

 

I'm planning on using LLit8 alongside MCTLA next year.

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Is using Light Lit, gr 7 and MCT overkill?

 

MCT program(Grammar Town) has a specific way of teaching how to write paragraphs.

 

In LL, they also teach writing.

 

Wouldn't that be conflicting?

Opinions?

 

I don't know what MCT is, but we used LL7 last year and are using LL8 this year. I don't consider LL as teaching writing. There are writing exercises, but no specific instruction. Towards the end of LL8, they are given opportunities to write several 5 paragraph essays where they are given a bit of instruction on how to outline the paper first.

 

So, we are using Analytical Grammar and Write Shop along with LL. It is not overkill.

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Classics in the Classroom gives Michael's thoughts on the matter and Socratic Dialogue. It has a booklist (1300 books) in the back of classics. It gives lists of questions to ask when reading literature which seems to be a modified Bloom's Taxonomy. I doesn't give instruction on literary elements but does mention them in implementation of classics in the classroom. I think Reading Strands would complement Classics in the Classroom nicely.

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I agree with Sue -- there really isn't writing instruction in LL7. Students do some writing assignments, but most of these are pretty brief and informal. They're just a completely different genre of writing than what's covered in Essay Voyage or the Academic Writing books. Even looking ahead at the writing assignments in the samples from the high school levels of LL, they don't really teach academic writing. There's nothing wrong with the assignments I'm seeing, and I don't think they're in *conflict* with the MCT assignments, but they're not of the same sort as MCT. I think both can be valuable. If I had to do only one, I'd go with MCT. But I don't have to go with just one. ;)

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So which one, in your opinion, is better. Classics in the Classroom, or Light Lit (Gr 7)?

 

The only thing I can see as a benefit to Classics, is that there is a list from my daughter to choose from, where LL already picks the books for you, and may not be books my daughter likes to read.

 

I just think it is better for her to start understanding literary terms, having serious discussions, since she is an above average reader.

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They are simply different things. I wouldn't choose one over the other. Classics in the Classroom is not a curriculum...it's a why book w/ some how to it. From my understanding LL7 is a curriculum. I'd go w/ LL7. MCT is not big on the literary terms, it's more about Socratic discussion. If you want help w/ literary discussion and need a reference, Reading Strands or Teaching the Classics or something like that would be better than Classics in the Classroom.

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