How to teach history/lit. the WTM way?

[Jean in Newcastle]

I am using TWTM method of teaching history/lit. to ds14. We've never done this before and so we're finding our way a bit. We're studying Ancients. So our basic methodology is this: Choose a great book from the list in the time period (we're trying to do it chronologically). Research the time around when it was written. Write historical essay. Add to a timeline. Focus on the author, his other works and major events during his lifetime. Write biographical essay. Read the work. Write an essay on the book or an aspect of the book. If you've done history/lit. this way, are we doing it right?

 

I just posted ds14's essay on Agamemnon. Regentrude made a very good point about ds14 not understanding enough of the background on Agamemnon. I know she's right, because despite doing what I wrote above, ds did not delve into the background of Agamemnon himself. How can I catch needs like this in the future so that we make sure we study things in enough depth? (I really am trying to be a good teacher.)

[regentrude]

I just posted ds14's essay on Agamemnon. Regentrude made a very good point about ds14 not understanding enough of the background on Agamemnon. I know she's right, because despite doing what I wrote above, ds did not delve into the background of Agamemnon himself. How can I catch needs like this in the future so that we make sure we study things in enough depth? (I really am trying to be a good teacher.)

 

I find that many literary works need to be interpreted and viewed in the historical context and that I, as a non-expert in the field, simply do not possess the expertise to teach this view to my children. Reading of a history text and reading of the work itself does NOT give me enough information. So, we bring the experts into our house by using books, and lectures form the Teaching Company, where scholars specialized in the field share their knowledge.

For Ancients, I can highly recommend all lectures by Prof. Elizabeth Vandiver. She has 12 lectures each about Iliad Odyssey, Aeneid; 24 lectures on Greek Tragedy, and 24 lectures on Classical Mythology. By having a classical scholar teach us about the interpretation and cultural context, we understand the works much better than we could from mere independent reading.

Currently we are studying medieval history/literature and are reading Dante's Divine Comedy. This is another work where the help of an expert is absolutely essential to navigate and understand the poem. One possibility is to get a commentary book. We have chosen to use TC lectures again.

 

One more word about classical mythology: TWTM is based on the repetition of the history cycle in grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages. So, a rhetoric stage student who had followed a classical education tradition would already be thoroughly familiar with classical mythology from his studies during the logic stage and could build upon this foundation.

If you are just starting, you might want to look over the logic stage book lists and see what kinds of things TWTM takes for granted as a prerequisite to high school.

 

Hope this helps.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I find that many literary works need to be interpreted and viewed in the historical context and that I, as a non-expert in the field, simply do not possess the expertise to teach this view to my children. Reading of a history text and reading of the work itself does NOT give me enough information. So, we bring the experts into our house by using books, and lectures form the Teaching Company, where scholars specialized in the field share their knowledge.

For Ancients, I can highly recommend all lectures by Prof. Elizabeth Vandiver. She has 12 lectures each about Iliad Odyssey, Aeneid; 24 lectures on Greek Tragedy, and 24 lectures on Classical Mythology. By having a classical scholar teach us about the interpretation and cultural context, we understand the works much better than we could from mere independent reading.

Currently we are studying medieval history/literature and are reading Dante's Divine Comedy. This is another work where the help of an expert is absolutely essential to navigate and understand the poem. One possibility is to get a commentary book. We have chosen to use TC lectures again.

 

One more word about classical mythology: TWTM is based on the repetition of the history cycle in grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages. So, a rhetoric stage student who had followed a classical education tradition would already be thoroughly familiar with classical mythology from his studies during the logic stage and could build upon this foundation.

If you are just starting, you might want to look over the logic stage book lists and see what kinds of things TWTM takes for granted as a prerequisite to high school.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thank you. The Vandiver lectures are all now ordered from the library. We have done all the history cycles from grade 1 but ds has been purposefully choosing works that he had missed in the past.