Questions about Kolbe Academy English and Literature?

[Kfamily]

Could anyone tell me more about this book and its study guide from Kolbe Academy for 9th grade literature?

 

http://books.kolbe.org/store/p/363-CLASSICAL-LITERARY-CRITICISM.html

 

http://books.kolbe.org/store/p/364-CLASSICAL-LITERARY-CRITICISM-STUDY-GUIDE.html

 

 

 

Has anyone used or seen these books?

 

Used in 9th English

http://books.kolbe.org/store/p/103-AN-ODYSSEY-IN-RHETORIC.html

 

Used in 10th English

http://books.kolbe.org/store/p/104-IN-CICERO-S-FOOTSTEPS.html

 

Used in 11th English

http://books.kolbe.org/store/p/105-EVERYMAN-S-JOURNEY.html

[Kfamily]

bump

[mchel210]

You can look inside the book on amazon. It is a lot clearer to read then I would have imagined.

[Janice H]

We found this book to be a good follow-up to Poetics. http://www.amazon.com/Aristotles-Poetics-Screenwriters-Storytelling-Civilization/dp/0786887400

 

Dd has reread both Aristotle's Poetics and the Tierno book linked above more than once. Poetics is very dense; it's more like a set of lecturer's notes belonging to somebody way smarter than anybody is now.

 

Please pre-read the Tierno book, and note that some of his references to movies will be ones you may not want your dc to view at this point in their lives. Dd and I did watch The Godfather trilogy together; it was an example of tragedy that Tierno referred to often.

 

As I recall, Kolbe assigned the part of the editor's introduction that concerned Poetics, and it was pretty dry. IMO another translation could easily be substituted. The Rhys Roberts trans. of A's Rhetoric also includes Poetics. (See http://www.amazon.com/Rhetoric-Poetics-Aristotle/dp/0075546027/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308115799&sr=1-4 (If you have any plans to do Cothran's Rhetoric course that is the translation he uses, although it's free online.)

 

I did buy the Kolbe guide; the questions for the student basically produced an outline of the Poetics. You could just outline it yourself and add some guidance from a good editor's preface, Cliff Notes, etc.

 

Also I don't remember if Kolbe assigned anything else from the book, other than Poetics. Poetics is all we read from the recommended Penguin edition.

[Kfamily]

Thanks so much ladies! I will take some time to look all of this over.

Thanks Janice H, your reply was very helpful. :001_smile:

[mchel210]

After you posted this question...I went book by book from the literature and history from Kolbe on Amazon. Every book has a look inside feature. I love the books. I really have never looked inside these books and I cant believe how much easier they read then I thought. It has really changed my view of the curriculum.

[chubbyhugs]

Kfamily wrote:

 

Could anyone tell me more about this book and its study guide from Kolbe Academy for 9th grade literature?

 

Has anyone used or seen these books?

 

Used in 9th English

http://books.kolbe.org/store/p/103-A...-RHETORIC.html

 

Used in 10th English

http://books.kolbe.org/store/p/104-I...FOOTSTEPS.html

 

Used in 11th English

http://books.kolbe.org/store/p/105-E...S-JOURNEY.html

 

Hi Kfamily,

The last three “books” you list are actually 5 ½ by 8 ½ inch booklets published by Kolbe. They come in sets of 2: one for the student and one for the teacher. They are identical except that the Teacher one has the answers to a brief “proofread and write” page and the grading sheets in grid form (pretty much half of the teacher booklet) for the oral presentations done by the student. I have “An Odyssey in Rhetoric” and “In Cicero’s Footsteps”. They are geared to the English syllabus/lesson plan, but there is no real instruction in the booklets. The content: definition of rubric terms; very brief academic paper standards; a list of phonograms to refer to for oral presentations; about 10 selections of poetry/prose that the student rehearses before doing an oral presentation for weekly or quarterly grades. It won’t help you teach your student rhetoric if you are looking for a text. On the other hand, the English syllabus gives very brief instruction which the parent can discuss with their student these short pieces to understand what the author expresses, and having the student interpret that expression in oral presentation. It really has to be used with another text to understand rhetoric – for us that meant the Plato and Aristotle readings, especially the Socratic readings (in the Kolbe Literature and History). My experience with “An Odyssey” is that dd simple learned how to speak in front of an audience. She became aware of being clear and logical; enunciation, pronounciation, volume, speed, eye contact, appearance, doing research, developing her own style, etc.. It's like the recitations/declamations I remember in school a long, long time ago.

 

The Poetics booklet set: The student's has questions geared to Aristotle's Poetics. You could probably use any translation because the questions reference the sections (not the page numbers) that seem to be universally accepted in different translations (we had two translations when dd read Poetics); it also includes a Poetics Project at the end . The teacher's booklet has the answers to the student booklet.

Edited June 15, 2011 by chubbyhugs
paragraph on poetics

[Kfamily]

Wow, wonderful! Thank you both! I have a lot to read and consider. I have much to learn about rhetoric.:001_smile:

 

Dd will reading some of the 9th grade literature from Kolbe's booklist but I haven't decided if I need the guides or not. I already have Fran Rutherford's guide which covers many of the same books, so I may be set. However, plenty of help and options are always good too.

 

We're already using Kolbe for science and math. I love and will follow somewhat their highschool plans for history and literature, so it is tempting to try their other guides and books.

 

I can't decide if I would like to add these books I've linked or not. I'll read about them and consider it. I may leave rhetoric to Classical Writing which I haven't given up on yet.

 

Ladies, you are always so helpful...thank you.