Introduction to literature

[Chris in PA]

Hi all,

I am looking to create an introduction to literature course. What types of books would you read? Also what types of writing assignments or projects would you do? I am sure this has been discussed here before but I am having a horrible time searching for stuff.

 

Thanks!

[dharmacat]

For what age? You could go by time period, geographic location, theme, etc...

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Windows to the World is a nice gentle approach.

 

You might look at Excellence in Literature to see her sequence of works over 5 years.

 

There are some lists of frequently cited books from ap English exams. That would give one view of frequently taught books in public school (I find the AP list skews toward books that represent a group or viewpoint rather than the best writing. Ymmv)

 

The Well Trained Mind by Bauer has some good suggestions too.

[Chris in PA]

For what age? You could go by time period, geographic location, theme, etc...

 

This would be for 9th grade.

[Chris in PA]

Windows to the World is a nice gentle approach.

 

I do have Windows to the World. I guess I should pull it out again. I personally found it difficult to implement with my older dd's (I had a similar issue with The Elegant Essay). Maybe the second time around would be better. :001_smile:

[Renaissance Mom]

I do have Windows to the World. I guess I should pull it out again. I personally found it difficult to implement with my older dd's (I had a similar issue with The Elegant Essay). Maybe the second time around would be better. :001_smile:

 

 

I had a terrible time implementing The Elegant Essay -- I ranted and raved to myself the entire time I used it. The author's approach just was not intuitive for me. However, my dd loved it and did extremely well with it. So, I persevered. In hindsight, I'm glad I did. With a great deal of reluctance and trepidation, we've been using Windows to the World this year with dd (9th grade). The author's layout of the teacher book still makes me nuts. I still don't care for the flipping here and there while trying to pull together all the pieces and figure out what to glean and what not to use. But once again, dd is doing well. She gets it. The overall program really is cohesive, incremental, and well developed. I just wish it were easier for my brain to implement. (Maybe I should just have dd teach me?!)

[Mom22ns]

I love the selections in Excellence in Lit's Intro to Lit level. I would base a class on that adding in some discussion time for each book.

[JohnC3]

For a 9^th grade intro to lit. course I would focus time on projects that had one eye on college prep work. One suggestion is to have students write concise summaries of each work, while also encouraging them to research and understand historical and social context. These don’t have to be massive tomes; they could be just a few paragraphs long. Journals are a good way to encourage thought while also building their writing muscles. A good intro to lit course will also focus on a variety of genres (poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama). I like to highlight and have students identify those parts that are unique to that particular form (ex. character, description and plot in fiction).

 

Another idea might be to have students read what other writers have to say about literature. G.K. Chesterton does this often in a great deal of his own work (I’m thinking Orthodoxy). Learning how to think about literature is what leads to being able to write about it well.

 

Hope this helps a little bit:)

[Kristin in Hawaii]

I will give a third recommendation for Excellence in Literature's Intro to Lit: they were mostly short stories, very interesting and the assignments were reasonably challenging. We actually did not complete the whole book in one year but much was learned and with little grumbling from the readers ;) I think it was only $29 for the e-book. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Best wishes!

 

Aloha,

[swimmermom3]

For anyone who is using EE or Windows to the World, be sure to use Jill Pike's syllabus on the IEW site in their files. You will get more mileage out of both programs and it will make your life easier.

 

Chris, how do you like to teach Lit and what does your student like?

[Chris in PA]

For a 9^th grade intro to lit. course I would focus time on projects that had one eye on college prep work. One suggestion is to have students write concise summaries of each work, while also encouraging them to research and understand historical and social context. These don’t have to be massive tomes; they could be just a few paragraphs long. Journals are a good way to encourage thought while also building their writing muscles. A good intro to lit course will also focus on a variety of genres (poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama). I like to highlight and have students identify those parts that are unique to that particular form (ex. character, description and plot in fiction). Another idea might be to have students read what other writers have to say about literature. G.K. Chesterton does this often in a great deal of his own work (I’m thinking Orthodoxy). Learning how to think about literature is what leads to being able to write about it well. Hope this helps a little bit:)

 

Thank you. This does help. I definitely want to cover all the genres and I like the idea of writing summaries. My ds is not real keen on journal writing so I am not sure how that would work for us.

 

I will give a third recommendation for Excellence in Literature's Intro to Lit: they were mostly short stories, very interesting and the assignments were reasonably challenging. We actually did not complete the whole book in one year but much was learned and with little grumbling from the readers ;) I think it was only $29 for the e-book. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Best wishes! Aloha,

 

I have looked at this on the Excellence in Lit website. I wish the samples were a little more extensive. I can't get a feel for the program and whether or not it would be a fit for us. I will put this on the list for things to check out at the Midwest Convention in a few months.

 

 

For anyone who is using EE or Windows to the World, be sure to use Jill Pike's syllabus on the IEW site in their files. You will get more mileage out of both programs and it will make your life easier. Chris, how do you like to teach Lit and what does your student like?

 

I need some hand holding and something that is easy to implement (I know, asking for the world :001_smile: ) I like to use complete works and that is why I have never used a literature textbook. My ds likes things that he can easily understand. I wonder if Lightning Literature would fir the bill for us?

I have looked at Jill's syllabus and it does look intriguing. We are very familiar with IEW so maybe that is worth another look.

 

Thanks so much for all the wonderful advice.

[kRenee]

If you are looking for help with literature discussion, check out CenterForLit.com. Adam and Missy Andrews conduct a discussion of 6 books throughout a semester. They don't assign homework, but you could.

 

http://centerforlit....Courses/OL.aspx

 

They have lots of other literature curriculum, too.

[swimmermom3]

Chris, I am thinking you could go with a packaged curriculum for the hand-holding and ease, but I wonder if in the long-run, you might be happier spending the money on basic resources and building a toolbox that you can use all four years and adapt to your student's developing skills and interests. All the curriculum that has been mentioned can be used on grade level or lower, but if you are aiming for stronger analytical abilities, you may want to do some tweaking or do your own thing.

[Lori D.]

Agree with previous posters that in high school, you want to begin to move toward prep for college writing. Reading and writing to a variety of Literature types (poetry, novels, short stories, plays, biography, essays, etc.) is very important. A Literature program is very helpful at presenting a variety of types of works.

 

 

re: teaching Literature

From your response to SwimmerMom's great question about how do YOU like to teach Lit., and what does your student like, I'd suggest a compromise to get you started with Literature. What about using a Literature textbook to start with for 9th grade for the great teaching ideas, information about literary elements, tips on how to begin to think about/analyze literature, discussion questions, writing assignment ideas -- but only do SELECTED PORTIONS of the textbook to match up with works you and DD want to do, and go ahead and read the FULL work, rather than just the excerpts in the Lit. textbook? Check out the BJUP Grade 9: Fundamentals of Literature, or the Scott Foresman Literature textbooks (which have worked well for Susan C. of these Boards).

 

If you are feeling brave and would prefer to select your own works, having good guided questions has been a big help to me in teaching Literature. The Progeny Press guide: Intro to Poetry, Forms and Elements was a very helpful guide to reading/discussing/analyzing poetry; Windows to the World was a good guide to 6 specific short stories (plus, as you already know from using it with your older DC, teaching annotation, how to write a literary analysis essay, and then looking for about 8-10 specific literary elements). For guides to specific works (with discussion questions, info on literary elements, and writing assignment ideas), I liked some of these (depended on the specific guide):

 

- Garlic Press Discovering Literature: Challenger Level (most meaty all-around guide, but good esp. for teaching lit. elements, great discussion questions, and writing assign.)

- Portals to Literature (needs adapting (designed for classroom; but pretty meaty, with some useful exercises, questions and background info)

- Glencoe Literature Library (free online guide -- good for background info)

- Sparknotes (free online guide -- good for summary and analysis of each chapter)

- The Great Books (for the occasional DIFFERENT type of discussion, from a Christian worldview point-of-view)

 

For just straight questions to spark general discussion and springboard into analysis, here is SWB's list of great questions for discussing Literature from her hand-out, What is Literary Analysis (and When to Teach it), and here is a list of Socratic Questions for Kids,

 

 

re: Windows to the World

That's a great idea by previous poster to use Jill Pike's syllabus to make it easier for you to use the program. Something that helped here, was that *I* annotated and did the exercises right alongside DSs. To help you figure out how to discuss/analyze Literature, here's a past thread in which I gave Aime (5LittleMonkeys) an idea of what you're looking for as a stepping stone into analyzing literature, specifically using Windows to the World (see my post #5, and Aime's response in post #18): Why does my DD have lots to say...

 

 

re: writing about Literature

If your student struggles with writing, then getting solid with writing through summary narrations can be a good idea for 9th grade, but I wouldn't hang out there too long -- you really want to move your student into thinking about/discussing/analyzing Literature. One type of "bridge" assignment between summaries and formal analysises is the reader response. The reader response paper is used a LOT in college Writing courses, so getting comfortable with them now is a great idea. I thought that this was a super-helpful past post on what the reader response is and how to go about it: More about response papers and their context.

 

 

re: Lightning Lit and Excellence in Lit.

I think you will ultimately get more out of EiL rather than LL. Are you familiar with the middle school level LL? From what others have said, the high school levels of LL do not give you any more help in writing about Literature than the middle school levels, and the high school levels of LL have no work pages or exercises to guide you in putting the literary elements into practice. From the samples of LL (high school) and EiL, EiL looks meatier. However, EiL also looks like you are a bit more on your own than what it sounds like you feel comfortable with. If you go with the EiL, perhaps pair it with a meatier literature guide to give you more guidance???

 

 

Just a few more thoughts. BEST of luck, in finding what works for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Lori D.]

::doh!:: double post!

[jibaker103]

For 10th grade I bought the complete curriculum of Excellence in Literature and had ds complete units pertaining to medieval literature. It worked really well and he learned how to write author profiles and approach papers. This year we are doing TOG Year 3 literature and EIL together. TOG helps with literary terms and deep thinking about the literature. EIL helps with background information and writing prompts. These two complement each other very well without being overwhelming or too much work.

[Lori D.]

Hi all,

I am looking to create an introduction to literature course. What types of books would you read? Also what types of writing assignments or projects would you do? I am sure this has been discussed here before but I am having a horrible time searching for stuff.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

And in response to your specific questions:

 

 

What Types of Books would you read?

1. A selection of types of works each year (novels , short stories, poetry, essay, biography, play, etc.)

2. Works of different genres (realistic; fantasy; "coming of age"; adventure; sci-fi; humor; etc.)

3. Works that are widely read in high schools, and will be of help for the college-bound student to be familiar with.

(For lists of selections to give you ideas for choosing: High school book lists -- so what *is* good?, and, Must read books for high school).

 

As for how to specifically pick your books:

- Do you want them tied to your history period?

- Or would you like a variety of time periods, all works that are great for a 9th grader?

- Or would you like to cover works that fit in with a specific interest of DC?

 

 

What types of writing assignments or projects would you do?

 

1. I would not do projects, unless DC is very hands-on and learns best that way. And even if you do include projects, I would also make sure DC is getting some writing in there to move towards by grade 12 pretty much all writing, as that is what college will expect -- they don't do projects.

 

2. Over the school year, I would do an assortment of types of writing:

- for a complicated work, several 1-paragraph narration/summaries

- a number of 1- or 2-paragraph responses to fairly specific question about the work

(in midst of reading: where do you think the work is going and why; compare/contrast characters, choices, settings, elements, etc; after reading: describe or analyze a character motivation/consequence; what do you think happens after end of work and why; etc.)

- a number of reader responses (1-3 paragraphs) -- see post on reader responses linked in my other response

- several analysis essays (3-5 paragraphs) -- analyzing how setting is at work; analyzing a character; explaining themes revealed in the work; explaining how imagery, tone, figurative language or other literary element is working; etc.

- several short expository essays (3-5) on author, the times, the author's works, etc.

- at least one longer assignment (3-5 pages) -- either research paper on author/times/works, or specific type of analysis

 

 

Hope that helps Chris! If you can post a few more details about what you want or are interested in, we can get you even more specific helps! :) Welcome to high school Literature a second time! ;) Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Mom22ns]

I have looked at this on the Excellence in Lit website. I wish the samples were a little more extensive. I can't get a feel for the program and whether or not it would be a fit for us. I will put this on the list for things to check out at the Midwest Convention in a few months.

 

 

I believe the sample on her website is a full unit. At first glance, there really isn't much there. Context reading are links, Author information, again links, a very small amount about the assigned reading and the writing assignments. You really have to follow the links to get the context and author information, but her links are up to date and are good resources. She doesn't give you a lot of spoon fed information. Her writing assignments are really good, but the student has to think or do a little research or both to get the depth they need to competently write the papers. I found it very easy to implement and was actually stunned by the depth of thought the writing assignments brought out. I did use the internet to fill in my own lack of literary depth on the works we were discussing.

[Chris in PA]

Thank you all so very much! You have given me such great ideas and many trails to follow. I have printed this thread and have a fun weekend ahead of me. I really need to sit and think about how much energy we want to put into this as my ds is headed towards a STEM career. I may be back with more questions........ But right now I have a lot to digest!

 

Many, many thanks!!!!