Grade 11 English plans

[Toska]

I am diy’ing my dd English credit this year. She has dyslexia and slow processing and is a bit “behind “ on skills. She definitely plans on going to university but I am not looking for a high level of rigor compared to other wtm families 

 

so far our plans are 

-writing with skill level 3

-wordly wise vocabulary study

-act reading and ela practice 

 

I want to add 4-5 literature selections. Maybe one of them should be a Shakespeare?  What books would you recommend?

 

 

[cintinative]

You may want to post this on the high school board for more attention.

Do audio books work better for her?  We listened to a Shakespeare play via audio while we read along, and then watched the play. 

[ScoutTN]

What has she already done for high school English? Does she have any particular interests? 

[Toska]

In gr 9, she did sonlight w for literature and IEW for writing 

 

In grade 10 she did a co-op class that covered about 6 books and did some analysis papers. 
 

She hates all kinds of schoolwork, but this summer she has started reading more YA lit, leaning towards murder mystery.  

[ScoutTN]

@Lori D.

[Bocky]

How about some golden age British mysteries? Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, lots of great authors.

Shakespeare was tough for my not-reader. We used no-fear Shakespeare and popcorn/partner read the text (Romeo and Juliet in her case) after watching three movie versions.

Is there a particular style of materials that you find helps you teach? Do you like to DIY or do you prefer something more scripted (like WWS) for literature? 

[Lori D.]

On 8/31/2024 at 5:30 AM, Toska said:

I am diy’ing my dd English credit this year. She has dyslexia and slow processing and is a bit “behind “ on skills. She definitely plans on going to university but I am not looking for a high level of rigor compared to other wtm families 

so far our plans are 
-writing with skill level 3
-wordly wise vocabulary study
-act reading and ela practice 

I want to add 4-5 literature selections. Maybe one of them should be a Shakespeare?  What books would you recommend?

 

On 8/31/2024 at 6:50 AM, Toska said:

In gr 9, she did sonlight w for literature and IEW for writing 
In grade 10 she did a co-op class that covered about 6 books and did some analysis papers. 
She hates all kinds of schoolwork, but this summer she has started reading more YA lit, leaning towards murder mystery.  

Since there is the LD of dyslexia, I'd suggest a few general ideas to help with your literature in high school:

1. Listen to an audiobook version while having the printed book in front of her, which makes it easier to stay focused, and also to mark/annotate anything that catches her eye as she reads/listens.

2. Since it sounds like she's college-bound you'll likely want to expose her to more classic works than what she can comfortably read, so watch faithful-to-the-book film versions of classics, and then discuss the big ideas and themes and choices of characters afterwards. A few ideas to get you started: 
Jane Eyre (2011)
The Odyssey (1997)
David Copperfield (1999)
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

3. Similarly, for tackling Shakespeare, first read a short children's version for the storyline and characters, and then go to a live production, or watch a good filmed version.  Plays were meant to be experienced in performance. 😉  And then you can discuss afterwards. Possible look up and read aloud a key scene as "reader's theater" (each of you read different parts in the scene), and then discuss. Usually one of these works well as a first exposure play to Shakespeare:

a comedy:
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
Twelfth Night

a tragedy:
Macbeth
Hamlet

For DIY literature choices...
I would guess the 2 of you haven't done much literary analysis previously (digging deeper into works beyond just reading for plot and 'what happens'), as you've been working on the dyslexia. And since she is just started to read some YA lit, you might start there. Pick some classic YA works with "meat" for discussion, and learn together how to "dig deeper." That keeps the reading from becoming overwhelming, as YA tends to be shorter, and written at an easier-to-read level.

Also, do some short stories -- that's a great way to get exposed to the higher level of writing (vocabulary, complex sentence structure) and there's meat to discuss -- but again, the length is short, so not overwhelming. Then sprinkle in 1-2 longer higher-level novels.

Some ideas for upper elementary/YA with "meat" for discussion:
The Rumpelstiltskin Problem (Velde) -- light "start the semester" 6 short stories retelling "Rumpelstiltskin" from different points of view
Tuck Everlasting (Babbit) 
Sounder (Armstrong)
The Giver (Lowry) 
Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Taylor)
The Day They Came to Arrest the Book (Hentoff)

Some "beginner classics" with easier language and/or are shorter:
Animal Farm (Orwell)
A Wizard of Earthsea (Le Guin)
The Outsiders (Hinton)
Call of the Wild (London)

Some ideas for short stories:
The Red Headed League (Doyle) -- Sherlock Holmes mystery
A Scandal in Bohemia (Doyle) -- Sherlock Holmes mystery
The Lady or the Tiger (Stockton) -- the original "you decide" how it ends
The Open Window (Saki) -- irony; twist ending; humor
The Remarkable Rocket (Wilde) -- irony
A Story Without an End (Twain) -- humor
Rikki-Tikki Tavi (Kipling) -- plot line; an epic in miniature
The Lottery (Jackson) -- speculative fiction; following tradition vs. thinking independently
Thank You Ma'am (Hughes) -- character; choices
The Most Dangerous Game (Connell) -- foreshadowing; twist ending
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Thurber) -- humor
The Catbird Seat (Thurber) -- black humor; irony
Fritt-Fracc (Verne) -- very like an Edgar Allen Poe story, but not as horror-based
The Monkey's Paw (Jacobs) -- suspense; horror; classic often referred to
Rip Van Winkle (Irving) -- early American author, classic often referred to
Lamb to the Slaughter (Dahl) -- black humor
Flowers for Algernon (Keyes) -- classic sci-fi idea
All Summer in a Day (Bradbury) -- theme of bullying
A Sound of Thunder (Bradbury) -- the original "butterfly effect" story
There Will Come Soft Rains (Bradbury) -- post nuclear war
The Happy Prince (Wilde) -- pathos

One last idea -- perhaps enjoy going through Figuratively Speaking with your DD, which explains a number of the most frequently used literary devices, and read some of the poems and stories that show those devices. This past thread links a lot of those go-along poems and stories:

"Figuratively Speaking paired with short stories"

Edited September 12 by Lori D.

[Toska]

Thank you so much!  You’ve given me a lot of great info to work with here