if you create own hs lit. . .

[Guest Barb B]

Do you just read? Assign essays? Test? If you test, do you create your own or did you find a study guide or something with tests?

 

Barb

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

I want to know this too. :)

[Michelle in AL]

We read, assign essays and test. I teach a co-op though. I never totally make things up on my own.

 

For essays I get my ideas from sparknotes and cliff notes which are free online. I also get ideas by searching the title of the book+lesson plan. Cliff notes has test too or I do a google search for the title of the book+quiz.

[SkateLeft]

I build our literature courses using Teaching Company courses, developing a reading list and essay topics. Many of the essay topics from last year's course came out of the course outline. I developed the rest.

 

I don't test. I find that between our discussions and her essays there's no need to assess for comprehension. The essays function as thematic assessments.

 

Last year, we used "Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature's Most Fantastic Works." Next year, we'll be using "Classics of American Literature."

 

In practice, my daughter would read, then watch the lecture. Afterward, we'd talk about it, and then she'd respond to an essay prompt. Some would be brief, and some would be longer. Often, she'd also go and respond in an artistic form (painting or drawing) as well, since art is her passion.

[JennW in SoCal]

This is what I do too -- build a reading list and use Teaching Company courses to add depth. I have yet to completely follow a Teaching Company literature survey course -- I mostly use lectures from Western Literary Canon in Context and Great Authors of the Western Lit. Tradition for individual books. We did use the entire series of lectures on the Iliad earlier this year.

 

I've found great material by googling the title plus the words "lesson plans", BUT the really good stuff comes from only about 5-10% of the resutling hits. It takes patience and a geeky streak of enjoying the hunt when researching.

 

Essay topics come from discussions, from questions in the WEM, from Sparknotes, from Teaching Company material. I don't have essay topics planned in advance -- I throw ideas at my ds and we settle on something.

 

I don't test. Just don't see the need. I can tell my ds comprehends the material and I'm more interested in his honing his essay skills.

[TravelingChris]

This year she just reads and discusses since she is having an additional writing course. Next year, if she is with me, she will read and write essays. Actually she will do the same if she is with another teacher too.