LToW/TOG users, how do you do your lit studies?

[M&M]

I have been thinking of changing the focus of our TOG studies by putting more emphasis on Literature. I have been toying with the idea of using LToW for years, once I read the Circe thread I knew it was time to take the plunge. So now I have LToW and TOG sitting here and I have having trouble deciding how to marry the two.

 

If you use TOG along with LToW, how do you structure your studies? Do you use the Lit questions in the SAP? Do you use the Frameworks and Poetics? Do you just work through LTW and just cover the basics of who the author is, and what the historical setting is and then just do the ANI?

 

If you don't use TOG, what do your literature studies look like?

 

[jibaker103]

I am using TOG with Classical Writing. I consider English to be CW and Winston Grammar to cover writing instruction, grammar, and vocabulary. I consider TOG to be my literature & composition course that includes reading, discussing, and writing about literature analytically.

[1Togo]

I don't know what types of literature papers are assigned by TOG, but if you use both TOG and LToW, your student would write two papers about the same book. It is probably better to focus on one or the other for literature. Every LToW essay is written about the book the student is reading. Also, while LToW may not cover literature analysis; i.e. theme, characters, plot, etc. in the form of an analytical essay, your student covers those elements with the 5 Topics and other parts of the essays. Paraphasing an idea from Andrew Kern, the student has to consider those elements as he works through LToW essays. We did not analyze literature during the year that we worked with LToW; i.e. 7th grade. We used just that for composition, grammar and literature, and our LToW usually filled our daily time slot for English; i.e. one hour. The first few essays are easy (deliberately so), so they don't take much time, but during the week, the student is either reading or working on a new invention, arrangement or elocution technique.

Edited August 7, 2012 by 1Togo

[M&M]

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Edited August 7, 2012 by M&M
iPhone posted before I finished writing

[M&M]

I don't know what types of literature papers are assigned by TOG, but if you use both TOG and LToW, your student would write two papers about the same book. It is probably better to focus on one or the other for literature. Every LToW essay is written about the book the student is reading. Also, while LToW may not cover literature analysis; i.e. theme, characters, plot, etc. in the form of an analytical essay, your student covers those elements with the 5 Topics and other parts of the essays. Paraphasing an idea from Andrew Kern, the student has to consider those elements as he works through LToW essays. We did not analyze literature during the year that we worked with LToW; i.e. 7th grade. We used just that for composition, grammar and literature, and our LToW usually filled our daily time slot for English; i.e. one hour. The first few essays are easy (deliberately so), so they don't take much time, but during the week, the student is either reading or working on a new invention, arrangement or elocution technique.

 

 

There are not a lot of literature assignments in T OG there is a lot of literary analysis. Your post has helped me think about how I can take some of the questions in the lit section and use them with LToW.

 

I think I am just going to have to start to teach this to see how it's really going to play out in our home. It has been hard work trying to see things in a different way but I think our studies will benefit from it. Thank you for your help and I welcome any more advise!

[dani3boys]

I used TOG and LToW together with my two 7th graders last year. We are not yet done with LToW because I'm moving through it very slowly with them. For the first few lessons we used The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe because that was the example they were using. After that we used either books that they were reading for literature or books they were reading for history, both from TOG. One of the papers they wrote was about whether or not the United States should have entered World War I. I think that writing about history makes more sense to them, and they understood what they were learning so much better. They really had to understand what they were learning so they could make an argument and support it.

 

We have never used the TOG writing, so I can't compare the two very well. I think LToW and TOG work well together. If you have any questions let me know.

[M&M]

Could you give me an idea of how your week was structured? Did you use the SAP's? Did have discussions ala TOG using he discussion outlines? We have never used TOG's writing either I am happy to see that I don't need to start.

 

We will be doing Y4, I am excited to see that was what you did last year! I like the example you gave about WWI.

 

This is so helpful. I have been overwhelmed trying to learn how to teach LTOW and plan for 5 children (my youngest starts 1st grade this year).

[1Togo]

Btw, every LToW essay begins with an issue, which is converted to a "should" question; i.e. Should Edmund have followed the White Witch? So, all LToW I persuasive essays examine an action by a character. We only used literature for our essays, which is the way Circe teaches LToW I, because using a literature book means that we didn't need to do research for the essay. Doing research is wonderful, but it will add time and complexity to your life as a mentor, especially if you are still working on how to teach the curriculum. If your goal is to finish LToW I in a year, using literature works well.

[dani3boys]

Could you give me an idea of how your week was structured? Did you use the SAP's? Did have discussions ala TOG using he discussion outlines? We have never used TOG's writing either I am happy to see that I don't need to start.

 

We will be doing Y4, I am excited to see that was what you did last year! I like the example you gave about WWI.

 

This is so helpful. I have been overwhelmed trying to learn how to teach LTOW and plan for 5 children (my youngest starts 1st grade this year).

 

We do the SAPs to cover anything they didn't write about. Each lesson takes three weeks, so we don't write about every book that we read or every history lesson. We always do the discussions, but if we have written about a certain topic the discussion goes much quicker.

[M&M]

I see that you are using IEW with your 9th grader, did you do LToW with him as well?

[M&M]

So, all LToW I persuasive essays examine an action by a character. We only used literature for our essays, which is the way Circe teaches LToW I, because using a literature book means that we didn't need to do research for the essay. Doing research is wonderful, but it will add time and complexity to your life as a mentor, especially if you are still working on how to teach the curriculum. If your goal is to finish LToW I in a year, using literature works well.

 

 

I will keep this in mind. I find I try to do too much and then don't accomplish much at all.

[fiddle]

:iagree:

 

I'm planning on using LToW year after next when dd will be 8th grade. I had been wondering what to do for literature/analysis, etc. But I like the idea of scaling back a bit. This year we're doing a light intro to literary analysis through LL, so I think doing just literature and learning the persuasive essay with LToW will be a great fit.

 

I'm still all :bigear: though- love hearing people that successfully used this. I was also curious about the question of whether someone here had used IEW and LToW together? That seems like a bit much- we're doing IEW this year and I can't imagine doing these 2 simultaneously:tongue_smilie:

 

Paula

[dani3boys]

I see that you are using IEW with your 9th grader, did you do LToW with him as well?

 

My 9th grader has always loved IEW, so I let him keep using that while my 7th graders used LToW. I think combining them would be too much. I should change my signature because I now have a 10th grader and two 8th graders!

[1Togo]

Paula,

 

No, I wouldn't use LToW and IEW at the same time. If you try to cover LToW I in one school year, it will keep you busy. I know posters on this forum combine several writing programs with sentence work with grammar work with..., but that has never worked for us. When we used IEW, we did use a grammar curriculum because IEW doesn't include grammar. When we used LToW, that's all we used because it does include grammar. For us, it's worked to use one curriculum, work through it, and mine everything in it. Also, using one curriculum reduces confusion for student and mentor because you are working with one method and set of expectations. Whenever you decide to use LToW, I wouldn't worry about typical literature analysis. LToW will take your student deep into their books.

Edited August 7, 2012 by 1Togo