Lit Analysis a la SWB: questions

[hollyhock]

I have a couple of questions about doing lit analysis the way SWB outlines in her audio lecture. If anyone knows the answers, I would appreciate it!

 

Firstly, for high school writing, she recommends students write two one-page persuasive papers per week. In the lit. analysis lecture, she says they should write one lit. paper per week. So does that mean they are to write 3 papers a week? Or two with one being a lit. paper?

 

Secondly, for studying lit. terms, students are to get the recommended book and keep a notebook of terms that they work on once per week. I am assuming students would begin doing this in 9th grade, but how long does this take? Will the terms last all four years of high school or do they just study them until they're finished and then use them in their lit. papers?

 

Thanks for any help!

[hollyhock]

Anybody?

[Joan in GE]

I have a couple of questions about doing lit analysis the way SWB outlines in her audio lecture. If anyone knows the answers, I would appreciate it!

 

Firstly, for high school writing, she recommends students write two one-page persuasive papers per week. In the lit. analysis lecture, she says they should write one lit. paper per week. So does that mean they are to write 3 papers a week? Or two with one being a lit. paper?

 

Secondly, for studying lit. terms, students are to get the recommended book and keep a notebook of terms that they work on once per week. I am assuming students would begin doing this in 9th grade, but how long does this take? Will the terms last all four years of high school or do they just study them until they're finished and then use them in their lit. papers?

 

Thanks for any help!

 

It would be interesting to know what percent of students are doing that many papers...Mine have not always done even one per week...But it does depend on family focus - eg if your family has more of a scientific bent, foreign language bent, etc...

 

As for the terms - I can't say that we did that either...but they did get familiarity in their online English courses....

 

If you tag your thread " literary analysis ", then click on the tag, you'll find other threads that were so tagged and maybe find more positive answers to your questions....

 

Here's one thread about it...not with specific answers to your questions, just general "how to"

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/277641-why-is-literary-analysis-important/page-2?hl=%2Bliterature+%2Banalysis+%2Bswb&do=findComment&comment=2785824

 

HTH,

Joan

 

[hollyhock]

Thanks Joan! I'll look around a little under that tag.

[Jean in Newcastle]

We do a literary analysis when we've finished reading a piece of literature.  Since some of what we are studying (like reading Don Quixote) takes some time to read and study we would not be doing that many papers.  For Don Quixote ds wrote a paper after doing a timeline/ historical study of the life and times of Cervantes.  We watched a couple of TC lectures on Cervantes and Don Quixote in particular.  He read the book (which took a couple of weeks, I think).  Then he wrote a literary analysis on part of the book.  There was nothing to persuade anyone about until he had done that much reading and work, in my opinion.  

[Colleen in NS]

I have a couple of questions about doing lit analysis the way SWB outlines in her audio lecture. If anyone knows the answers, I would appreciate it!

 

Firstly, for high school writing, she recommends students write two one-page persuasive papers per week. In the lit. analysis lecture, she says they should write one lit. paper per week. So does that mean they are to write 3 papers a week? Or two with one being a lit. paper?

 

Secondly, for studying lit. terms, students are to get the recommended book and keep a notebook of terms that they work on once per week. I am assuming students would begin doing this in 9th grade, but how long does this take? Will the terms last all four years of high school or do they just study them until they're finished and then use them in their lit. papers?

 

Thanks for any help!

 

After having been immersed in Writing With Skill for a couple of years now, and having listened to all those audio lectures, here is my understanding.  It's important to practice persuasive papers and lit. analysis papers regularly *throughout each school year.*  You get to decide, based on the student's skills, how often each one will happen in each content area (history, science, literature).  In our situation, my son is just now starting to do one paper per week (as well as continuing on with WWS).  I try to rotate every three weeks in those three content areas.  I base what I assign to him on the WWS skills he has learned, and leave the specific topic up to him.  WWS has taught him how to come up with topics, research them, and write about them.  My notes from the audio lectures also help me to refine what I assign (there are questions in there that help the student to think about how he wants to argue the topic).  I haven't gotten very far yet into this part, but we will work on it for the second half of this year.

 

Lit. terms book - I have this book, too.  And I started to have my son do the suggested study pattern from the audio.  But then I realized that he was already studying the terms via WWS, so we stopped.  Yes, I believe on the audio the ideal was to start in Grade 9.  I don't know how long it would take.  But if you go that route, you can always incorporate the terms your student knows into any assignments.

 

Hope this helps somewhat.

 

[hollyhock]

Yes, both responses were very helpful. It's helped me see that in reality, lit. analysis papers are not so much a requirement of quantity, but a natural process of reading and then having something to say about it, whether that takes a week or longer. Thanks a lot!

[Colleen in NS]

Yes, both responses were very helpful. It's helped me see that in reality, lit. analysis papers are not so much a requirement of quantity, but a natural process of reading and then having something to say about it, whether that takes a week or longer. Thanks a lot!

 

Something I forgot to mention - I think, too, that the recommendation in the audio is also a recommendation for the ideal lit. course.  But of course we have to make it fit among the other courses our kids are doing in the big picture.  Still, I find that the way SWB lays out everything in detailed ways is so helpful for me to be able to KNOW how to make these courses and how to make them all fit together.