Sonlight Core 300--I have the IG and I'm still confused...

[Kimber]

I am teaching this class at co-op starting in a couple of weeks. Every student will own the guide and we're only reading 1 book at a time to supplement the decade we're studying.

 

I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with them during the 1 hour class I'll have with them. The IG seems to be written to the students, so they have all of the answers to any of the discussion questions that are covered.

 

Am I just supposed to give the writing assignments and talk about the books and the history topics--like debating the legality or need of the Food and Drug Administration.

 

I know there are no tests, so I am thinking that any grades I assign should come from the written assignments, and the class participation.

 

How have the discussions gone in your home? Or in co-op?

 

 

Thank you sooooo much,

 

Kimberly

[Brenda in MA]

Kimber,

 

I used Core 300 at home with my son. We used the version with the DK 20th Century book, and I'm not familiar with new book they're using.

 

I had him write the answers to the IG questions for the DK book into a notebook, and then we'd go over the questions orally, and discuss any material that was of interest to us. We also usually read the supplemental material from the IG at that time.

 

Personally, I didn't care for the SL writing assignments, so I had my son do mini research reports for each decade. He had to make up a timeline for the decade of 20 important events, and do a short research paper (about 3 pages) on and important person or event from that decade. I graded those reports and used that for his grade for the course. Some of the topics he chose included Henry Ford, Watergate, and the development of the internet.

 

If I was teaching this one hour/wk to a class, I might have tried to find some short videos from each decade to show the class. Our library has a couple of 20th century series on video (I don't recall the specific titles), but those might be a source of good material.

 

Just a few thoughts,

Brenda

[Kimber]

Which questions did you have him answer?

 

Would these be the questions in the History Study Guide relating to the spine--for us, it's the Visual History of the Modern World--or in the Literature Study Guide section that relate to the readers?

 

This IG is so difficult for me to use. The Discussion Questions are not labeled as such, and where there are discussion questions there are arrows indicating that the answers are in the back of the book in the answer key. If your son was answering these questions, was he using the answer key provided to answer the questions.

 

This is a great idea of having them write the questions and answers in their notebooks. This would give me something to check every Monday that would show me that they've actually done the reading. I could give a grade for that as well as the papers they turn in.

 

Thank you so responding. You've already helped me so much.

 

Thank You,

 

Kimberly

[Chris in VA]

Hi Kimber

I just sold my 300, so I don't have it in front of me, but here's what I did--

 

I made two notebooks, one for me and one for ds. In his, I put the schedules, the lit notes, and the history notes. I put each lit selection's notes behind the schedule for the week in which the book is read. If it's read over two or three weeks, I just put it behind the first week. I kept the writing separate, because we skipped it entirely. You could divide the history notes, too, I didn't, in case they didn't divide up right.

 

In my notebook, I put the answers to the lit and the history answers. It really bugged me that the history answers were not phrased so as to include the whole question, so sometimes it would be "Who did it?" for example, and I'd have to ask ds what the heck they were talking about. I ended up having him write out his answers (most of the time), and I would sit with both notebooks open in front of me. I'd ask the questions from his notebook, and refer to the answer in my notebook. It was a little awkward, but it worked well.

 

As far as the lit, well, I was pretty ticked off most of the time about that anyway--(What do you mean, just read it and enjoy it? Where are the comp questions and discussion questions for half the books? errrgghhh!). But I'd pick several if there were any and ask them for discussion. I also used the synopses from Cliff and Spark Notes (particularly Spark) for review. It worked well for me.

 

So in a co-op, I'd have them come to class with the history questions answered in a notebook, and sometimes collect them--but sometimes go over them orally. This will keep them on their toes. For the lit, I lecture on the themes and ask for examples, and go over some of the questions. You could supplement with a few films--Grapes of Wrath would be a classic, well-made film that would be a good way to end the book, for example.

[Brenda in MA]

Which questions did you have him answer?

 

 

Kimber,

 

I had him answer the questions from the literature study guide. I just had him jot down the answers because there were often 35 - 50 questions for each year of reading. If there are still that many questions, you might have your students answer selected questions or every 2nd or 3rd question, because writing out both the questions and answers for every question might be too much work (IMHO).

 

As far as the books go, I'm with Chris. I only used them for a couple of the readers. For the more history-oriented books, he just read and enjoyed those. For the more literature-oriented books, I used Spark Notes for discussion questions.

 

I just assumed that your coop class was history-focused, but if it's also supposed to cover literature, then I'd spend at least 1/2 the class discussing the literature titles, and you would probably want the students to write some essays on the books.

 

HTH,

Brenda

[Kimber]

Thanks Chris and Brenda,

 

I'm actually teaching only the history portion, and another lady is teaching the literature. But some of the history books are listed in the literature study guide with discussion questions, so I was a little confused there.

 

I totally didn't know what to do with this class. My own kids are young, and we've never used SL before.

 

Here's my plan.

 

Have the kids follow the schedule in the IG for the Visual History of the Modern World. Have them answer the history questions for the spine in their notebooks and bring them to class as proof that they did the work. I'll give 25 % of their grade based on that.

 

I'll use the Sparks notes or whatever I find to discuss the history readers in class and judge their reading those on their level of participation.

 

For the first two months, writing assignments will cover the basics: outlining, writing paragraphs, structuring their essays, and citations. After that we'll do the decade papers, but I'm limiting them to a 5 paragraph paper as long as the paragraphs are large enough.

 

We wont read all of the books, but they'll basically be reading one history book at a time throughout the year. There will be 1 week or so every now and then where we have two books or none because of scheduling, but I'll keep to the schedule.

 

You guys have saved my neck.

 

Thank you,

 

Kimberly

[Chris in VA]

Kimber,

Would you refresh my memory for fun--what are the history (as opposed to lit) books that you are covering?

[Michelle in AL]

H Kimber, here's a blog from an AP world history class that uses socratic discussion for history discussion.

http://home.comcast.net/~mruland/WHAP/CourseInfo/seminar.htm

 

I love socratic discussion for lit. When we did 20th century history last yr, there were so many issues that seemd to be similar to previous conflicts. It would be interesting to see if the kids would pick up on that on their own and bring it to class to discuss. There were also all kinds of controversial issues in the 20th century to discuss.

[Kimber]

Here are the ones I remember off the top of my head.

 

All Quiet on the Western Front

Albert Einstein

You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton

Red Scarf Girl

Parallel Journeys

Run Baby Run

 

 

Kimber

[Kimber]

Thanks Michelle,

 

I bookmarked it!

 

Kimberly