Kelly on the prairie Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I am thinking of getting Windows to the World and am wondering if anyone has a copy that they could review. I have looked at the samples online, but I wanted a more personal review. What do you like about it? What don't you like about it? I have seen some literature studies that I thought were time fillers lacking substance and before I make this purchace, I thought I ought to ask here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janice in NJ Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 We are using Windows; it is working well. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22266&highlight=windows+janice Peace, Janice Enjoy your little people Enjoy your journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhondabee Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Janice, I'm so glad you linked to this. I really needed to hear what you said about middle school literature (& plot) - what a breath of fresh air! I have been trying to "rest" and "trust" WTM in spite of the flurry of literature analysis threads awhile back. I was certain this was a high-school level skill, that we *would* get to it, and master it. But - hey, what do I know, my oldest is only going into 8th?! Thanks for the head-up. I love getting a glance at this journey from your vantage-point. Many times it seems I'm just wandering without a map! Good to "see" you! Rhonda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I was certain this was a high-school level skill, that we *would* get to it, and master it. But - hey, what do I know, my oldest is only going into 8th?! Rhonda If you are looking for a lit. analysis program for middle school, Christian Light Education does an excellent job with lit. analysis plus more in their 15 week reading program. Here's what's covered in grade 8 (which we are using): SUNRISE READING 800 – Where Roads Diverge 801 Analyzing story characters Working with the Latin word roots annus, quattuor, and junctum Identifying setting in a story Defining and identifying foreshadowing Identifying figurative language: metaphor, personification, simile Understanding and identifying allusions Considering the results of respecting older people Understanding and identifying conflict Relating characters’ actions to “where roads diverge†Understanding what an essay is Identifying the theme of an essay and a story Interpreting unusual figures of speech Rewriting a passage to eliminate a figure of speech Identifying the lessons taught in a fable Identifying the theme of a fable Identifying paraphrases Paraphrasing passages Identifying personification Extracting lessons from characters’ mistakes and examples Identifying the parts of plot: conflict, crisis, climax, resolution Labeling a plot map for a story Understanding and identifying prejudice in story characters Identifying a strategy for avoiding wrong judging Interpreting symbolism in literature Considering anger as a response to stimuli Considering and identifying satire Identifying the main ideas of paragraphs Writing the main idea of a paragraph Interpreting a metaphor from a Scripture verse Gaining information from letters, dialogue, and narrative Identifying allusions Comparing a character’s situation to a Bible character’s Identifying the main points of stanzas of poetry Identifying summaries of stanzas of poetry Marking the rhyme scheme of a poem Identifying eye rhyme Contrasting two characters Interpreting the meaning of a poem Applying the message of a poem to life 802 Identifying first- and third-person narrators Considering how point of view helps develop a story Identifying characters as static or dynamic Identifying a selection as romantic or realistic Identifying the theme of a selection Determining the likely veracity of statements Analyzing a poem’s structure Identifying beautiful language in a poem Working with the Latin roots jactum and dentis Identifying the possible varying sides of a story Interpreting description Analyzing character in relation to ‘‘where roads diverge†Analyzing how characters took responsibility Analyzing setting Identifying foreshadowing Applying principles from the story to life Interpreting passages from an essay Inferring from the essay Identifying onomatopoeia Marking the rhyme scheme of a poem Identifying similes Identifying a paradox Interpreting poetry Comparing a poem and an essay Identifying mood-creating words in a poem Telling why the first person to declare his cause usually seems right Understanding unity in a poem Writing an additional stanza for a poem Marking meter in a poem Learning the term iamb Identifying the thesis of an essay Identifying examples that support the thesis Identifying the double meaning of a title Working with the French root para Comparing characters’ actions to Scripture passages Determining character traits from actions Interpreting symbols in a story Using context clues to determine word meanings Identifying the elements of setting Interpreting and applying Bible verses Identifying an allusion Identifying proper response to life situations 803 Identifying a story frame Telling how a character obeyed a Bible command Telling how someone could have better obeyed a command Defining denotation and connotation Identifying the denotation and connotation of words Identifying the climax of a story Determining the broad setting of a story Working with the Greek roots biblos and philos Identifying reasons for characters’ feelings Interpreting figurative language Describing how different views of the same thing can be both right and wrong Choosing the most likely correct view of an incident Identifying the lesson taught by folktales Describing the characteristics of folktales Comparing two versions of a folktale Determining word meanings from context clues Inferring details from the story Identifying character qualities from characters’ actions Paraphrasing text from the story Interpreting an allegory Summarizing a list of items Identifying a statement that best states the idea of a number of statements Interpreting symbolism Describing the results of jealousy and envy Analyzing characters’ actions in light of “where roads diverge†Identifying irony Thinking clearly about disagreements Tracing the internal conflict in a story Identifying a character as static or dynamic Working with the Latin root centum Understanding the reasons for a character’s actions Identifying an allusion Understanding stereotypes Identifying indications of prejudice Explaining the irony in a statement Applying a verse to the story Paraphrasing a poem Interpreting symbolism in a poem Identifying the main idea of a stanza of poetry Learning the term anecdote Identifying the keyword in an anecdote 804 Identifying problem-solving skills Identifying actions that show persistence, observation, and understanding Identifying protagonist and antagonist Relating setting to mood Identifying character traits from actions Identifying the elements of plot: conflict, climax, resolution Working with the Greek root hydro Analyzing a character’s actions in light of ‘‘where roads diverge†Explaining how “talk leads to penury†Identifying the resolution of the story Determining word meanings from context clues Paraphrasing lines of poetry Explaining the poem title Identifying mood or atmosphere of stanzas of poetry Identifying the theme of a poem Matching paraphrases to lines of poetry Completing two parodies of a poem Identifying four types of fallacies in thinking Marking rhyme scheme and rhythm Identifying alliteration in a poem Identifying the moral Paraphrasing a verse Working with the Latin roots terra and pedis Identifying unfair judgments Determining character by observing actions Identifying couplets Identifying refrains Telling how a refrain affects the mood of a poem Identifying irony Identifying the theme of several verses Matching a popular saying to a proverb from Proverbs Explaining the meaning of unusual phrases Identifying foreshadowing Analyzing character in light of the story verse Noting the descriptive language used to describe setting Inferring details from the story Matching figures of speech to their meanings Describing aspects of the story setting Explaining characters’ actions 805 Determining meanings of words from context clues Inferring details from the story Analyzing characters’ actions in light of “where roads diverge†Understanding the historical background and setting Identifying four types of fallacious thinking Comparing and contrasting two characters Considering how others can stereotype you and your family Relating setting and mood Identifying the double plot of a story Identifying the theme of a story Considering the effect of one’s actions on others Matching lines of poetry to paraphrases Identifying the theme of a poem Paraphrasing lines of poetry Matching lines of poetry to anecdotes that illustrate them Identifying foreshadowing Determining character from actions Identifying how different characters would respond Identifying “victim†and “overcomer†responses Identifying how characters obeyed a Bible commandment Defining parallel Identifying three types of parallelism in Hebrew poetry Identifying the meanings of stanzas of poetry Identifying an implication of the poem Identifying the part of the plot Working with the theme of the story Identifying a character as an “overcomer†or a “victim†Identifying protagonists, antagonist, and conflicts Explaining irony in story events Drawing lessons from story events I highly recommend it! 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Janice in NJ Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I used the first 1/2 of the CLE Level 6 Program with my youngest last fall. Liked it. Good stuff! It was just what he needed at the time. :001_smile: Of course I TOTALLY understand that we all need/want different programs at different times. But I just thought I would throw out some thoughts: One of the advantages that I see with the WtW program for high school is that it teaches annotation. It actually FOCUSES on it - and teaches the literary analysis THROUGH the annotation process. I haven't been able to find many programs that do that (I don't know if CLE level 800 does; I know that level 600 didn't - which was fine; it did what I wanted it to do! :001_smile:) I really think that the lack of annotation instruction is an economics issue. Many programs that teach literary analysis well are designed for classroom use - the VERY place where anthologies need to be passed down year after year from student to student. So they aren't focusing on TEACHING students HOW to write in their books. That back-n-forth/pitcher-n-catcher relationship that Adler, Bauer, and many others encourage (require? demand? INSIST upon?) is never mentioned. The goal for those great text-book programs seems to be to answer the questions ABOUT the text rather than to learn to ask the right questions. (Please don't misunderstand me - I LIKE textbook programs and have MANY of them sitting on my shelves. I realize that most programs are probably shooting to develop students that learn to ask the right questions; it just didn't work for me. I NEVER learned to do that. *I* just never made that leap as a student; I was one of those good students who always did what I was TOLD to do, but I never made the jump and started scribbling outside the lines on my own. Because I'm tutoring one-on-one, I'm trying to capitalize on teaching my kids to constantly break out and push beyond to a place of asking the questions... It helps to have them staring at a BLANK margin with just a set of objectives. tee hee Sink or swim, baby! :D) THAT is the place where I fell down when I got to college and then into my adult life. I didn't know what kinds of questions to ASK. I waited to be asked - rather than having something to say about nearly EVERY sentence. So of course your mileage may vary. I TOTALLY respect that - but I enjoy reading SO much more when I'm scribbling in my books. I want my kids to head in that direction ASAP. So WtW is a good thing for us right now. I was looking for a program that would teach literary analysis THROUGH that process of annotation. WtW does that for us - plus a few other things that I want to make sure that we cover before we head into next year's literature list. Peace, Janice Enjoy your little people Enjoy your journey P.S. Oh - another thought. I was also looking for a program that I could use in a VERY interactive way. I'm sure that there are lots of ways to use WtW, but I was looking for a program that would stimulate discussion with my oldest. I set aside A LOT of time to work with him this month on this, and I was looking for a program that would give us LOTS of things to talk about when we had face-time - every day! He preps on his own (and so do I) and then we meet and bounce our ideas around. A traditional text-book program is designed just a little too tightly for that. I really wanted to use something that was just a little bit roomier. But as Michele showed - that CLE program covers a LOT of ground! It really worked well with my youngest last fall. In OUR case, he was a bit TOO needy when it came to reading; that program really shoved him away from me and helped him to see that he could do this "stuff" without the momma! So for us, that program allowed me to use our face-time for other things - YMMV. Thank GOODNESS that there are so many great programs that we can use to educate our kids EXACTLY where they are in life. Skills, content, and life lessons - all in one tight package! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhondabee Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 So, when you say "annotation" you mean writing down your thoughts, notes, etc. in the book, right? That *is* hard to teach! It's not that we never do "literary analysis", and it's certainly not lack of mom-materials - I always say it took Teaching the Classics to help me "get" Reading Strands, but it took WEM to make TtC accessible to *any* book I read! (But, I couldn't have started there.) And *I* get WEM, and I use it for myself to guide our literature discussions, and dabble down bits and pieces to my kids as they seem able to absorb/appreciate it. But, my ds isn't ready for all that, yet. Though he is making connections, and starting to see the "story behind the story" (starting!), he isn't ready to make it his own. Definitely not ready to write about "his thoughts" on the subject. He's still in the "absorbing the world around him" stage and discovering how different other people's worlds can be. He's still firmly entrenched in the one-page summary and one-or-two-sentence evaluation. But one day, he'll get bored with that and be ready to move on. This year he has seen some of *my* notes in his books, so I'm hoping that will give him a paradigm that - hey, this is ok. But, next year we are going to try to do library books. Hmmmm......I'll have two doing the WTM 8th grade Lit list, and I'm planning a little Nan-inspired, everyone listen while reading their own book time. (They are ALL on Cd at the library!) I just can't see buying books ($$$-wise). OK - I'll compromise and get sticky notes and write on them! (Sorry, I'm thinking and typing at the same time - LOL!) Again, not forcing them to write, but just letting them know more what *I* would write as an example to follow when they're ready. And, on writing (not in-the-book, but "about the book"), I haven't found WEM very helpful on that regard, which may be my own fault, so I'm definitely putting this in the margin of my WTM. Rhonda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Now when we read books (other than CLE readers) we "see" what we otherwise would not have seen. Knowing what metaphor, simile, forshadowing, alliteration, allusion, parody, etc. are from CLE reading (& applying it) has helped tremendously. No, CLE reading 8 doesn't teach annotation, but it teaches so many other lit. analysis, poetry & criticial thinking skills. Have you looked at Roman Reading? It teaches how to annotate. Download ROMAN reading pfd to read the whole program. On the website, it suggests starting annotation with Poe's A Telltale Heart (love this short story). Writing About Literature by Edgar Roberts is very similar to Windows on the World but for the college crowd. I just got my hands on Windows on the World an hour ago so I'm going back to reading it! Pax, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janice in NJ Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 No, I haven't heard of "Roman Reading" - will check it out. Thanks! I have Roberts text on my shelf. Like it! But I needed quick-n-easy rails to run on for this month; WtW fit the bill for me - open and go. :001_smile: We'll see how far we get. Gotta' dash... Peace, Janice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan P. Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 What kind of supplements or book suggestions does Mrs. Myers suggest for making the course a year long one for high school? I looked at samples, and I love the way this book teaches. However, I want a full year course. I guess I could start with Windows to the World and then move to our own books. Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly on the prairie Posted June 9, 2008 Author Share Posted June 9, 2008 I wish to thank you all for your answers:001_smile: I got to preparing for our Vacation Bible School and completely forgot I posted this question until yesterday. The student I am considering using this with is going into seventh grade next year and unlike many, I was unimpressed with Hewitt Lightening Literature. It sounds as though Windows may be over her head a tad, but when I read the samples, it looks very doable for her. I'm not sure I am ready to invest in Teaching the Classics. However, I will say I kick myself all the time for not having purchased IEW earlier. I have the summer to consider it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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