Teaching lit in a high school co-op class: what would be your choices? (m)

[StaceyL in Canada]

I'm considering once again running a high school lit course next academic year--largely because all my efforts to "do lit" one-on-one with my sons always come to naught! :tongue_smilie: A few years ago, I taught the Literary Lessons from the LOTR course to a large co-op class and had quite a bit of fun; however, now that the excitement of the LOTR movies has faded, I don't think such a course would be a big draw. Also, the contextual focus of that course is Epic and Old/ Middle English lit--something we have already covered here (not terribly deeply but enough that I know the boys think it's *enough*!) What I'd like to do is focus on fiction and poetry, keeping in mind that the oldest of my still-at-home-sons has only grade 11 and 12 to go,while the next would just be starting gr 9. One thought was to use some Progeny Press guides to work through both poetry and some classics (I've used the poetry guide before and liked it very much, and their discussion questions are very good). But which "classics"?? And if I tried to cover "the basics" for the older son over the next two years, how would that affect the next son who would have two more high school years to go? Would I just backtrack chronologically and revisit the same time periods but with different books? (Please note that we are not keeping to the WTM 4 yr cycle at present--next year will be Canadian history and then 20th C the next).

 

I do have at least one hs'ing friend interested in my doing this; I haven't yet sent out word of this possible venture elsewhere. I'd love to hear some thoughts on what *you* would like to see if your child were attending a high school level co-op lit course focusing on fiction and poetry. TIA!

[StaceyL in Canada]

xx

[Maverick]

We do lit at co-op, and to be honest the book list is not critical to me. So I think you should pick what you like! I put my kids in lit at co-op because ours includes essay writing and I need someone else to teach my kids writing and grade it. Also, I think they get a lot out of discussing the books in class. I think if you pick several "classics" it doesn't really matter what author, time period, etc. they come from. And there will always be plenty more to do with your younger ds! Have you looked at the Total Language Plus book guides? We have a mom teaching lit to younger kids (9-12 yos) using those and they have been a big hit--I think they come at various levels.

[Michelle in AL]

I know you didn't say you had an interest in this, but I seem to remember you saying your sons were interested in drama. I did a Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet class over 6 weeks this yr using this: Shakespeare Set Free

http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Set-Free-Teaching-Midsummer/dp/0743288505/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211251933&sr=8-1

It's mostly taught through drama and everyone learned more than I could ever imagine and they all enjoyed it so much.

I taught poetry when we came to Shakespeare's use of iambic pentameter & sonnets.

 

Another thought I had was to use one of the Omnibus Volumes and just pick and choose what you like. Omnibus seems to lend itself well to a group.

 

I'm glad you're getting back to yourself. I've always kept up with you on the boards and have been praying for your family.

[Michelle in AL]

2 more you probably already looked at: Teaching the Classics and Windows to the World by IEW.

[Gretchen in NO. CA]

Our co-op will be offering a High School Literature class this fall (if we can get enough students, we have had a huge number of kids go to public high school so we'll see if we can get enough). Our plan is to use a combination of Smarr Literature and Total Language Plus. We liked the structure this gave the teacher so that she didn't have to make up worksheets with daily assignments and she can devote more of her time teaching and grading writing. Since this is for the fall, I have no idea how well it will work.

Gretchen in No. CA

[Chris in VA]

We did Omnibus 1 and 2, and Sonlight 300. Any of those would be good for a coop, but there's a lot of reading--you could easily pare down each list.

 

I am going to use 50 Short Stories by Crane with ds, picking out 20-25 of them, and using the companion book, Teaching 50 (Great?) Short Stories. It has quizzes, discussion questions, etc. The stories are very good, by authors such as Hemingway and O'Connor. It would lend itself well to a co-op. You could easily add in a poetry component. You could pick out the American authors and add it to an American Lit course--just make the other novel reading lighter (maybe doing Scarlet Letter, Huck Finn, Red Badge, a little Thoreau and Emerson, and one or two others).

 

Just some ideas!

[DollyM]

I've been teaching the high school lit courses at our co-op for five years now. We rotate thru Brit Lit, American Lit and either "Contemporary Lit" or "World Lit" - within each of those we try to iread some novels, some drama (esp Shakespeare in BritLit) and some poetry.

 

Mostly my goal is to introduce the kids to various aspects of literary analysis - covering terms, concepts, etc. When we read Ethan Fromme we understand symbolism, when we read Huck Finn we discuss the use of dialogue, and so on. I make them READ (on their own) then DISCUSS (in class) then RESPOND (either with an essay or a "creative response.") The class discussions are 1/2 me teaching them about tone, or characterization, or themes, or WHATEVER, and then 1/2 them discussing how the class 'lecture' applies to what they read that week. So, my 'lectures' are designed to prime the discussiom pump, so to speak. Later, their essays (or "creative responses") are designed as a forum for them to tell me what they've learned about the piece.

 

For my money I'd have them write an essay for every work we cover, but sometimes kids have different intelligences and I like to allow them to 'respond' in the area they are gifted ... SOMEtimes. I still make them write a good number of essays, however. LOL

 

The "course grade" is suggested by me to the parent from an averaging of their essay grades and we use the Glencoe Literature Guides for their work at home, so I give them some percentage of the grade on the work they do (or don't do LOL) in the Guide.

 

We organize the literature by 'nationality' (Brit, American, Everythingelse) but you could also organize it by time period ala WTM study. I had a mom teach "Contemporary Lit" last year to some mature female students - but in general, I'm not a fan of modern stuff ... at least not for a high school audience. But we purposefully DO pay attention to the book list - at least insofar as we limit our choices to the 'nationality of the year' - but within that I do get to "choose what I like." I agree that when the teacher is competent to flesh out the literature concepts from each book, that it doesn't REALLY matter WHAT you read, the work is simply a vehicle for discussion and introduction to the concepts. However, OTOH, as a conservative teacher with a Christian world-view, teaching kids of parents with a like mind, I *do* think the "choices" I make are important - so we purposefully avoid A LOT. LOL.

 

WHOA GIANT THUNDERSTORM HERE - GOTTA LOG OFF. Later!

[StaceyL in Canada]

How many long works (novels, plays) would you tend to cover in a co-op year? How long per work? Just wondering what others have done or would like to see done in such a class. I'm not particularly concerned with doing an American Lit class per se, since we're Canadian :001_smile: though as I mentioned in another post, it is tough to find really worthwhile Can. lit for high school level students (or even adults--sigh). I suppose I'm leaning more towards British Lit and/ or a combination of works from various time periods and nationalities with the focus on learning how to discuss and write about literature analytically. I'm likely going to get hold of Windows to the World and consider using it as a jumping-of point but I'd also really love to get some of those "classics" under the kids' belts (especially those of my own poor unsuspecting sons :) ).

[Brigid in NC]

If you are planning to teach a class to kids other than your own, the choice of works can be tricky. I have used the Tapestry of Grace year 3 and 4 rhetoric level literature selections as my spine for the last couple of years. I didn't use all of the Tapestry recommendations -- and I added a few that were not on the list -- but it gave me a planning framework that was very helpful.

 

Using the Tapestry list gave me a bit of a safety net in terms of:

1. acceptable literature (controversial or mature themes)
   
2. quantity of books (although I did not teach as many as TOG recommends)
   
3. rigor (what I can expect of the kids)
   

 

Good luck with your choices!

~Brigid

[Faithr]

I am just concluding a year long class in British Lit and History. For the literature I relied heavily on Lightning Lit from Hewitt. I also incorporated Progeny Press for A Tale of Two Cities and Heart of Darkness. For a couple of books (Milton's Paradise Lost and Gulliver's Travels) I relied on internet resources plus analytical essays found in different editions of the books. Then I pulled my own thing together. I just culled from all these resources and didn't use any of them exactly as they were written.

 

I only had six high school students in my little group. Our last class is next week. We just finished listening to T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets. I got an old tape of Eliot reading his own poetry. At first the kids didn't know what the heck he was talking about but we worked our way through it and at the end I think they had a new respect for him, though they liked Gerard Manly Hopkins better. Much more accessible and shorter poems too!

 

It was a very rewarding experience. The first time I'd ever done anything like it. Next year we are doing American Lit and History.

 

I say go for it! I have enormous fun planning these things!

 

Next year, I'm planning 6 novels then several short stories, lots of poetry and speeches and at least one play (maybe two).

[DollyM]

It depends on the class and the kids' abilities, but I've never been able to do more than about one major work every 3-4 weeks, and another month on the poetry unit. We REALLY COVER about 6-7 novels, 1-2 plays and some poems each year. This seems skimpy to me on paper, but in class it's a good bit of meat.