MerryAtHope Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 So, how have you used this book with your kids? Do you read the books mentioned in it & discuss them & read the book to them? Just use the "methods" and discuss any book you want? Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennefer@SSA Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 :bigear::bigear::bigear: I read this book awhile back but have still not practically applied it in any way. Just hoping someone comes along and starts a group like theirs at my local library! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiegirl Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 I read DP last year but was paralyzed as to how to implement it in our book discussions. Then a few months ago, at our hs book club, I took the plunge and used some of the methods used in DP with our book. The discussion went very well. This gave me the incentive to keep doing it with my kids. My dd and I are reading Treasure Island right now. I mix together the methods used in DP and Teaching the Classics. It is working out well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 I found DP to be more of a "why" book, a book for inspiring book discussion, rather than a "how" book. I appreciated the shot in the arm it gave me, but I have used other materials (Teaching the Classics, etc.) to carry it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 I am still using the book, and we are really enjoying the process. I began with 'Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil.......' and dd11 as she had just finished reading it. I basically followed the questions, comments that are in DP with DD11. I was floored! It was as if she had her own copy of DP and was reading it back to me -- in some cases, word for word, she addressed the issues I presented. She thoroughly enjoyed the exchange, and she made associations and comments about the book as a result of our discussion (which we had in Starbucks :D). Next was Mr. Popper's Penguins which dd 9.5 read last year while in second grade in private school. It is dd 9.5's favorite book along with Phantom of the Toolbooth. I could barely get a word in edgewise --she practically had a one-person discussion as it was all I could do to get the word 'yes' uttered when she paused for breath.:D We all did Frindle one night instead of having a read aloud -- it was good. Not a book with alot of 'meat' if you ask me, but a great book for ds9.5 as we are all still modeling the 'good example' of reading partly to influence him to do the same. We then listened to and had a real aloud of The View From Saturday -- we have dicussed this book a la DP in about 6 different sittings - most of them at the dinner table b/c dh is loving this stuff. TVFS is chock full of topics for dicusssion. I tend to start the dicussions by asking the kids questions that involve us in a discussion of protagonist/antagonist and we go from there. I use DP as a map so to speak. HTH:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 Mariann - you just gave me our reading list for the summer! Thank you! Capt_Uhura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 Mariann - you just gave me our reading list for the summer! Thank you! Capt_Uhura :) Glad to be of help! The View From Saturday is an excellent, thoroughly enjoyable book. Reading or listening to it (which I highly recommend) and using DP was a wonderful experience! Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted May 31, 2010 Author Share Posted May 31, 2010 I mix together the methods used in DP and Teaching the Classics. It is working out well. Can you tell me more of what this looks like? It's been a couple of years since I've looked at TTC (need to get that one sometime!), but I was just wondering last night (after reading several chapters in DP) how the two compare & what different things TTC discusses that DP doesn't etc... Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i.love.lucy Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 I loved DP!!! I wish they would come out with a step-by-step guide. Of course, it's all there in the book, but I'd like a bit more hand holding. I was just this morning thinking about literature for my dd (going into 5th) and want to do more of this. A great place to start is just with the books they have in DP (some of which we have not read yet) and by the time we are done with 3 or 4 of them I should have a good idea of how to do it with any book. Thanks for the reminder! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 I loved DP!!! I wish they would come out with a step-by-step guide. Of course, it's all there in the book, but I'd like a bit more hand holding. I was just this morning thinking about literature for my dd (going into 5th) and want to do more of this. A great place to start is just with the books they have in DP (some of which we have not read yet) and by the time we are done with 3 or 4 of them I should have a good idea of how to do it with any book. Thanks for the reminder! YES! My suggestion would be to approach with the protagonist/antagonist delineation in mind. This has worked well for me when we are sitting at the dinner table and I have to pluck something out of the air.:D Also, I have tried to keep in mind if there are characters who might be protagonists in one part of the story and antagonists in another. That is a good thing for the kids to see. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 YES! My suggestion would be to approach with the protagonist/antagonist delineation in mind. This has worked well for me when we are sitting at the dinner table and I have to pluck something out of the air.:D Also, I have tried to keep in mind if there are characters who might be protagonists in one part of the story and antagonists in another. That is a good thing for the kids to see. I'm partway through DP now and thoroughly enjoying it! I love how it describes how to find the protagonist/antagonist in a book and how the theme of the book follows from that. I do feel like that gives me a good starting point for the conversation, and a way to tie different literary elements together. I've also got Reading Strands (a very good list of questions, but still just a list), and TTC, of which I've watched about half the DVDs. Somehow among all these I've got to be able to start leading good discussions! But I think that DP might have been the most helpful so far (or maybe it's just freshest in my mind :tongue_smilie:). Now I've just got to finish watching those TTC DVDs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 (edited) I'm partway through DP now and thoroughly enjoying it! I love how it describes how to find the protagonist/antagonist in a book and how the theme of the book follows from that. I do feel like that gives me a good starting point for the conversation, and a way to tie different literary elements together. I've also got Reading Strands (a very good list of questions, but still just a list), and TTC, of which I've watched about half the DVDs. Somehow among all these I've got to be able to start leading good discussions! But I think that DP might have been the most helpful so far (or maybe it's just freshest in my mind :tongue_smilie:). Now I've just got to finish watching those TTC DVDs... I noticed immediately that dd11 (who reads voraciously) was SO thrilled that we were discussing what we had been reading that she would bite at the first tidbit I would throw out there and she could run with it. A few times at the dinner table, I was able to sit back and watch the three of them carry on their own discussion and use the terminology that we had used previously: protagonist, antagonist, plot, and symbolism, etc. I was 'unsure' about facilitating such a discussion at first, but I could almost say with confidence that they WANT to discuss the books. And, there is typically a natural point in the discussion where the facilitator says: 'That's all for now - we'll pick this up again at another time.' Edited May 31, 2010 by MariannNOVA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my2boysteacher Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 Does this work equally as well with non-fiction as with fiction? Would it give me the information I need to help my 3rd and 4th grader analyze historical books and narratives? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 Does this work equally as well with non-fiction as with fiction? Would it give me the information I need to help my 3rd and 4th grader analyze historical books and narratives? Thanks! I would say yes, it will work well with non-fiction as well as fiction. At the third and fourth grade level, I would be certain to keep it on their level, relevant, concise, and not get bogged down with too much. I usually have to stop myself from 'beating a dead horse' so I would try to always keep them wanting more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my2boysteacher Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 I would say yes, it will work well with non-fiction as well as fiction. At the third and fourth grade level, I would be certain to keep it on their level, relevant, concise, and not get bogged down with too much. I usually have to stop myself from 'beating a dead horse' so I would try to always keep them wanting more. Thanks Mariann! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiegirl Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 Can you tell me more of what this looks like? It's been a couple of years since I've looked at TTC (need to get that one sometime!), but I was just wondering last night (after reading several chapters in DP) how the two compare & what different things TTC discusses that DP doesn't etc... Merry :-) I have to answer this quick as I am getting ready to go out the door. From DP, I learned how to figure out who the protagonist/antogonist is and how to figure out the parts of the story (the rising action, conflict, etc.) I never had a clue about that before. To find out what the author's message truly is is fun. From TTC, I was given questions to ask regarding the various elements of the story (character, setting, plot, etc.) TTC gives me tools to carry on a discussion. hth, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 I'm partway through DP now and thoroughly enjoying it! I love how it describes how to find the protagonist/antagonist in a book and how the theme of the book follows from that. I do feel like that gives me a good starting point for the conversation, and a way to tie different literary elements together. I've also got Reading Strands (a very good list of questions, but still just a list), and TTC, of which I've watched about half the DVDs. Somehow among all these I've got to be able to start leading good discussions! But I think that DP might have been the most helpful so far (or maybe it's just freshest in my mind :tongue_smilie:). Now I've just got to finish watching those TTC DVDs... Are you sure we're not the same person? :lol: I have found between Reading Strands, TtC, and DP, I got most bases covered. :lol: Luckily, I bought two of the three used for a great price - I bought DP through Amazon. I was shocked, that after having defined protagonist and antagonist to my 4th and 1st grader, when we read "Two Eggs, Please" which is a TtC book, I ask my 1st grader who is the protagonist. He cried out, "All of them!" And he was right. Mr. Andrews pointed out that this book was unusual in that all of the characters were protagonists and all were antagonists....there was no central character. I thought my 1st grader would get hung up on good guy vs bad guy but nope he didn't! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 I loved DP!!! I wish they would come out with a step-by-step guide. Of course, it's all there in the book, but I'd like a bit more hand holding. I was just this morning thinking about literature for my dd (going into 5th) and want to do more of this. A great place to start is just with the books they have in DP (some of which we have not read yet) and by the time we are done with 3 or 4 of them I should have a good idea of how to do it with any book. Thanks for the reminder! Yes, I wish there was a step-by-step guide! I loved DP and we used it for The Giver, The View From Saturday, From the Mixed Up Files. We will use it for Animal Farm next week. I am also watching TTC's dvds with ds13. It's yet another nice way to get him to think about what he reads. And I agree with a PP, who said that kids love having the opportunity to talk about literature. DS is a boy of few words, and in non-threatening discussion, he can interact with books in a manner that he never realized was possible! And he actually likes it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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