x-post: The Grammar of Poetry - NEW Curriculum

[jenL]

Has anyone else seen this? http://www.romanroadsmedia.com/the-g...of-poetry-dvd/

 

I stumbled upon it today since their ad popped up on the sidebar of my Facebook page. I went to the site, watched the 2 videos (they've since added a 3rd), and then I emailed the writers with a few questions: age/grade level, approximate length of lessons, and if the student is to watch and then complete lessons in accompanying text afterward.

 

They responded within 2 hours! I love great customer service!

 

Here's what they said.

1. The Grammar of Poetry video is designed for the 6th-9th grade range, but is built in such a way that even older students can benefit from it. I'm expecting more than a few adults to buy this course for themselves! As we say in one video, the Grammar of Poetry is really for anyone who can ready proficiently.

Have you seen the video "Homeschooling with The Grammar of Poetry"? http://www.romanroadsmedia.com/2012/04/homeschooling-grammar-poetry/ This video explains some of this, and gives additional insight for the homeschooler.

2. Because of the "imitation" approach, there is a variance in lesson length. The concept lessons are 15-20 min in length with a few longer ones towards the beginning of the course that go over the practice sessions in more detail, and the imitation lessons are about 10 min. long. The video "Course Structure of The Grammar of Poetry" ( http://www.romanroadsmedia.com/2012/04/course-structure/ ) addresses the "modules" that the course follows.

 

And yes, you are correct! The student is encouraged to watch the video and enjoy it without the book while he teaches the concepts, and then pick up the book as he starts going over examples. Matt Whitling will typically do the a sample assignment on video for the student, and then give a few additional comments of how the student should fulfill the rest of the assignment. Some lessons will have several small assignments, in which case we would encourage the student to pause the video (especially younger students), finish the assignment, and then watch him explain the next assignment. Each assignment/example and section of the lesson is a DVD chapter marker, so it will be easy to navigate.

 

Thanks for your interest! Feel free to ask more questions.

 

I'm bummed that my son is only entering into 4th grade because it looks like an excellent program - very thorough and the examples of poetry they use to instruct are classics.

 

Hopefully, this will help someone on here! I'd love to hear from anyone who tries it.

[RobinL in Canada]

Hmmm... The "look"--and the videos--are new, but from what I can tell, this is a program which has been around for some time. I used it way back when in a co-op class and found it--limited, shall we say. It's rather dry and not very engaging on its own as it focuses primarily on a few technical aspects of poetry (meter, rhyme) whike omitting so much (imagery, figurative language, diction, etc --at least that's how it was set up when I used it--the book had a grey cover back then). Since my own background is in literature, however, and I enjoy/ feel capable of teaching poetry without a curriculum, I never used it again. Overall, I have found materials form Logos School not terribly engaging.

 

If you want a technical approach to poetry which is nonetheless highly engaging and fun, try The Ode Less Traveled by Stephen Fry (yes, of "Jeeves" fame). Brilliant! It's not a curriculum/ program, but he does provide exercises in every chapter and you can draw so much from it for any poetry study. And although I have not used this, I have heard very positive things on the WTM boards about poetry from MCT.