serendipitous journey Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 (edited) The Junior Great Books anthologies/training program came up in another thread, and it seems of general interest so I thought I'd try to give it its own home ... will come back with relevant links after the littles are tucked in and the kitchen's somewhat recovered from today. :) Edited June 18, 2012 by serendipitous journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shann Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Looking forward to the info you have. I have the series 3 book 1 set here for summer but I haven't looked through it much yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 (edited) Looking forward to the info you have. I have the series 3 book 1 set here for summer but I haven't looked through it much yet. Ooooh, you have more hands-on experience than I do! I'd love to hear what you think of it, once you've looked at it a bit. For everybody: This is the link to the Junior Great Books homepage (I think :)). one*mom provided this link to a page describing Shared Inquiry (a trademarked name), a method of "learning through discussion" developed by the Great Books Foundation. This is the post by one*mom on the original thread (the William and Mary Language Arts preview thread), in which she describes her very positive experience with training in the Great Books Foundation's Shared Inquiry paradigm. If you want to register to download a sample unit for a particular grade level, go here. Of particular interest might be the Science series. The Foundation seems to trace its origins back to Mortimer Adler and Robert Maynard Hutchins. The original group described a western canon of classics (see Adler and Van Doren's How to Read a Book and the Center for the Study of Great Ideas ). At some point Adler retired from the Foundation; also, the Foundation seems to have thrown a wider net than the original founders in terms of what constitutes Great Books, so that their "canon" is deliberately less canonical and white-guy-centered (that last infoid came from Wikipedia). Note that the Foundations group has formal links to K12 and Connections Academy, so those are two sources of support for at least some of the Great Books Foundation's philosophy/resources. Edited June 15, 2012 by serendipitous journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 There is a catalog of Great Books stuff here, it's fairly large at 42 pages. The training I took was about a week in length. You'll see in the catalog different councils (regional) sort of set ups with dates and such. If you have a basic grasp on Socratic discussion techniques, that's really what it's about, but literature based goals for discovery. It's all just very premeditated guidance. The basic handbook is about five dollars or so, don't get misled by copies that cost forty bucks or so (amazon, etc.), it's right there on the website for five bucks. I would have to say it's a pretty easy thing to do, it just takes some time to pre-think and prepare the flow of questions prior to discussion; and usually those fly right out the window anyway with interested readers. I know there's some connection to Great Books and (don't laugh) and the Pope, but for the life of me tonight I can't come up with the degrees of separation on that one. It'll hit me tomorrow about 3:30 in the afternoon right out of the blue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenbrdsly Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 I did Junior Great books when I was in school. My son's school has it as well, but just not in first grade. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 There are teacher manuals that come with books, right? Is there not enough info in the TM to pick up on the methodology? I'm a trained teacher and we did lots of Socratic questioning at the secondary level - well at least I did when I taught, so I'm not seeing the mystery that would require extensive training. :confused: Am I missing something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 No real mystery about it, it's just question led learning but the emphasis is on the discovery of literature and it's pieces. It's no pressure/no quiz/terms type learning. It's also about second readings (you wrap back around at each meeting, a reread of passages) and compare and contrast thoughts of the group for insight. Changing your initial impressions, and digging deeper are a big part of it. Where solitary reading reveals certain aspects of literature, active discussion uncovers a deeper layer of intent. Learning how to listen to the opinions and views of other readers is also a big part of it. Not always is this type of reflective listening a natural skill, group discussions help foster that ability. I think learning though, how to immerse yourself in the questions of the group and steer those toward discovery is not a natural state; that's where the questioning / leader guides come in really handy. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higginszoo Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 I got hold of a 3rd-5th grade set a few years ago. My dc were using it in their ps GT classes -- ds wasn't really that willing to continue at home because of negative experiences (not with JGB, but in general) at school, so I didn't have a discussion group and it doesn't really work well 1 on 1 with dd. I need to drag it out again. I can probably get my 6th grader to discuss along with my 3rd grader. He had a slow start to reading (dyslexic), and still need to work on comprehension/analysis skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higginszoo Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 There are teacher manuals that come with books, right? Is there not enough info in the TM to pick up on the methodology? I'm a trained teacher and we did lots of Socratic questioning at the secondary level - well at least I did when I taught, so I'm not seeing the mystery that would require extensive training. :confused: Am I missing something? Yes, I found the teachers' books did a good job at stepping through the process. I sat in on some of dd's classes (her classroom teacher was trained), and what she did followed fairly closely to the guide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAR120C Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 It was ages ago (and now I feel old! LOL) but for what it's worth.... We had a group of five or six kids, once a week, and we did two years' worth... maybe 3rd and 4th grade? over the course of a year or a year and a half. The mom that led it didn't do official training but we did use the teacher's guide almost exactly as written. It was really an excellent introduction to literary analysis and writing. Not that the kids wrote much, but to have a very short story (easy enough to read three or four times), and a specific quest, plus very closely guided, gave them an extremely good handle on how to approach longer works with less guidance. And having the closely-managed discussion group set them up well for wide open discussion in the following years. We switched to a book group format after JGB, and you could really tell which kids had been in the original group and which hadn't, just because of their ability to discuss and disagree respectfully, and to argue with evidence and not personality. That carried over into writing as well, in later years. My favorite memory of that group was from two years after JGB when we were reading Tom Sawyer and one of the kids noticed how much more detail was spent on describing animals than on describing adults. It was one of those aspects that could really get missed, but it contributes to much to the story -- the animals, even dead animals, are of much more immediate interest to the (young) characters than the adults around them! In that book group meeting, I had six kids flipping through their books finding and marking passages to share, describing either animals or adults. It was great! I don't know that you have to do more than a year or so to get the benefits, but I do think it's worth the effort to get a small group together. I think six to eight is perfect. Fewer and you might not have much discussion; more and it would be hard to manage. Our group went on in later years to become our Shakespeare class, which has been one of the most amazing resources we've had in all our homeschooling years. Even if DS grows up to be a geeky engineer (lol) Shakespeare will always stick with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Of particular interest might be the Science series. This series looks amazing - anybody seen it IRL? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted June 17, 2012 Author Share Posted June 17, 2012 We had a group of five or six kids, once a week, and we did two years' worth... maybe 3rd and 4th grade? over the course of a year or a year and a half. The mom that led it didn't do official training but we did use the teacher's guide almost exactly as written. ... I don't know that you have to do more than a year or so to get the benefits, but I do think it's worth the effort to get a small group together. I think six to eight is perfect. Fewer and you might not have much discussion; more and it would be hard to manage. ... Sigh. This sounds like a very worthwhile investment of time, and a great experience. I wonder if I could try to start one here ... the homeschooling community around me leans much more toward unschooling or toward Waldorf than toward more "formal" classical schooling: they are kind and supportive, but the academic goals are quite different esp. in the early years ... maybe I should just give it a whirl. This series looks amazing - anybody seen it IRL? Not me! but am tempted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwg Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 It was ages ago (and now I feel old! LOL) but for what it's worth.... We had a group of five or six kids, once a week, and we did two years' worth... maybe 3rd and 4th grade? over the course of a year or a year and a half. The mom that led it didn't do official training but we did use the teacher's guide almost exactly as written. It was really an excellent introduction to literary analysis and writing. Not that the kids wrote much, but to have a very short story (easy enough to read three or four times), and a specific quest, plus very closely guided, gave them an extremely good handle on how to approach longer works with less guidance. And having the closely-managed discussion group set them up well for wide open discussion in the following years. We switched to a book group format after JGB, and you could really tell which kids had been in the original group and which hadn't, just because of their ability to discuss and disagree respectfully, and to argue with evidence and not personality. That carried over into writing as well, in later years. My favorite memory of that group was from two years after JGB when we were reading Tom Sawyer and one of the kids noticed how much more detail was spent on describing animals than on describing adults. It was one of those aspects that could really get missed, but it contributes to much to the story -- the animals, even dead animals, are of much more immediate interest to the (young) characters than the adults around them! In that book group meeting, I had six kids flipping through their books finding and marking passages to share, describing either animals or adults. It was great! I don't know that you have to do more than a year or so to get the benefits, but I do think it's worth the effort to get a small group together. I think six to eight is perfect. Fewer and you might not have much discussion; more and it would be hard to manage. Our group went on in later years to become our Shakespeare class, which has been one of the most amazing resources we've had in all our homeschooling years. Even if DS grows up to be a geeky engineer (lol) Shakespeare will always stick with him. That sounds great! We have a book group that I may pitch the idea for next year. Did everyone just purchase their own student book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Sigh. This sounds like a very worthwhile investment of time, and a great experience. I wonder if I could try to start one here ... the homeschooling community around me leans much more toward unschooling or toward Waldorf than toward more "formal" classical schooling: they are kind and supportive, but the academic goals are quite different esp. in the early years ... maybe I should just give it a whirl. Not me! but am tempted. Maybe you should. You might be surprised. The community here is the same and yet some really interesting workshops and classes are popping up everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Sigh. This sounds like a very worthwhile investment of time, and a great experience. I wonder if I could try to start one here ... the homeschooling community around me leans much more toward unschooling or toward Waldorf than toward more "formal" classical schooling: they are kind and supportive, but the academic goals are quite different esp. in the early years ... maybe I should just give it a whirl. Not me! but am tempted. I'm wondering if we are in the same part of Northern California? ;) The homeschoolers around here seem to be the same as you describe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 I'm wondering if we are in the same part of Northern California? ;) The homeschoolers around here seem to be the same as you describe. We're in Marin. There is a group trying to get a Classical Conversations going here, so that's one good omen :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAR120C Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 That sounds great! We have a book group that I may pitch the idea for next year. Did everyone just purchase their own student book? It really has been forever, but that sounds right... The mom in charge had one of everything and I think the kids just had the readers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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