Academic Excellence, Grades 9-12
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE, GRADES 9-12
Susan Wise Bauer
This material is adapted from The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home. Please do not reproduce.
“It is absurd to hold that a man should be ashamed of inability to defend himself with his limbs, but not ashamed of an inability to defend himself with speech and reason; for the use of rational speech is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs.”
– Aristotle, Rhetoric
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE, GRADES 9-12
“It is absurd to hold that a man should be ashamed of inability to defend himself with his limbs, but not ashamed of an inability to defend himself with speech and reason; for the use of rational speech is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs.”
– Aristotle, Rhetoric
The three developmental states of education
“Grammar stage” (elementary school years, roughly grades 1-4)
The years in which the building blocks for learning are laid.
Strengths: the mind is ready to absorb information
memorization is fun and generally easy
Weaknesses: undeveloped capacity for abstract or critical thought
“Logic stage” (middle school years, roughly grades 5-8)
The development of analytical thinking skills and abstract thought.
Strengths: Developing ability for abstraction and criticism
Weaknesses: Immature exercise of those skills
“Rhetoric stage” (high school years, roughly grades 9-12)
Learning to write and speak with force and originality.
Characterized by: Development of a specialty, use of Great Books
Parent of the high school student: organizer, not teacher
Characteristics of the rhetoric stage: 1) The study of “rhetoric,” or the art of writing and speaking persuasively. 2) Increasing specialization for students who have already mastered the basic skills. 3) Focus on Great Books.
Typical state graduation requirements Language Arts 4 Mathematics 2 Science 2 American History 1 American Government 1 Physical Education 2 Electives 8 College prep transcript Language Arts 4 Mathematics 3-4 Foreign Language 2-4 World History 1 American History 1 American Government 1 Science 3-4 Physical Education 2 Electives 4-8
The study of rhetoric:
Inventio
Dispositio
Elocutio
Memoria
Pronuntiato
Self-Study in Rhetoric
Anthony Weston, Rulebook for Arguments
Frank D’Angelo, Composition in the Classical Tradition
Thomas S. Kane, The New Oxford Guide to Writing
Edward Corbett, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student
Optional: Martin Cothran, Classical Rhetoric with Aristotle
Read a section of the text, outline its content, and then do the
exercise; if no exercise is provided, write a paragraph
illustrating the technique or find an example.
(17) Personal attacks do not disqualify a source Supposed authorities may be disqualified if they are not informed, impartial, or largely in agreement. Other sorts of attacks on authorities are not legitimate…..[A lengthy example of such an attack on economist Ricardo follows. This demonstrates] the “ad hominem” fallacy: attacking the person of an authority rather than his or her qualifications. Ricardo’s class, religion, and nationality are irrelevant to the possible truth of his theories. To disqualify him as an authority, those “German professors” have to show that his evidence was incomplete — that is, they have to show that his judgments were not fully informed — or that he was not impartial, or that other equally reputable economists disagree with his findings. Otherwise, personal attacks only disqualify the attacker!
I. An authority can be attacked for three reasons. A. Not being informed B. Not being impartial C. Being out of agreement with most other authorities. II. An authority cannot be attacked for his person. A. This is the “ad hominem” fallacy B. Class, religion, nationality, or other personal attacks are irrelevant C. Ad hominem attacks disqualify the attacker
An example of an outline of a section of Kane (writing paragraphs that give causes):
I. Cause
A. Explaining “why” is a major purpose of writing
B. The simplest strategy: ask “Why” and then give the answer
C. A writer may also choose to give cause and effect implicitly, without using the word “why”
II. How to write a paragraph containing reasons for a cause
A. Give a single reason and repeat it or expand it
B. Arrange several reasons in order
1. If each reason causes the next, this is “serial order”
2. If the reasons are independent of each other, they are “parallel”
a. Parallel reasons that have an order in time should be listed chronologically
b. Otherwise, they should be listed from least to most important.
III. How to write a paragraph containing the effects or consequences of a cause.
A. The cause should be found in a topic sentence
B. The effects should be found in the rest of the paragraph.
1. There may be a single effect
2. There may be more than one effect.
a. The effects may be independent of each other
b. Or each effect may actually be the cause of the next.
The student will then complete the practice exercises (“Analyze the cause-effect relationship in the following paragraph” and “Compose a single paragraph developing three or four reaons to support one of the following topics: The enormous increase in the cost of housing, the contemporary mania for exercise, the expansion of professional sports in the last twenty-five years…” etc. The student should fee free to choose her own.
3-5 hours per week
Evaluation
1. Teacher at local private or parochial school (honorarium of $40-50 is a nice gesture).
2. Teacher at local community college or university.
3. Cindy Marsch’s Writing Assessment Services, www.writingassessment.com
Grammar, spelling, word study
Rod & Staff
Analytical Grammar and Stewart English Program
Vocabulary from Classical Roots
GREAT BOOKS (History, Literature, and Writing)
The chronological study of history: History in perspective.
Three repetitions of the same four-year pattern:
Ninth grade: Ancients (BC 5000-400 AD)
Tenth grade: Medieval/Early Renaissance (400-1600)
Eleventh grade: Late Renaissance/Early Modern (1600-1850)
Twelfth grade: Modern (1850-present)
I. History
Resources
History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer
Civilization of the Middle Ages, Norman F. Cantor
A History of Asia, Rhoads Murphey
The Renaissance: A Short History, Paul Johnson
America: A Narrative History, by George Brown Tindall
A History of Asia, Rhoads Murphey
Modern Times, Paul Johnson,
America: A Narrative History, by George Brown Tindall
A History of Asia, Rhoads Murphey
Doing history without a textbook
1. Read
2. Enter dates on timeline
3. List important events and facts in notebook
4. Write short response paper, weekly or every other week.
II. Literature
Resources: Great Books list
Ninth grade, ancients
The Bible: Genesis, Job
Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2500 BC)
The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer (c. 850 BC)
The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Roman, Plutarch (c.100)
Tenth grade, 400-1600
The Inferno, Dante (1320)
Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1400)
The Prince by Machiavelli (1513)
Utopia by Thomas More (1516)
Julius Caesar (1599), Hamlet (1600), or other plays, Shakespeare
Eleventh grade, 1600-1850
Cervantes, Don Quixote (abridged)(1605)
Paradise Lost (selections), Milton (1664)
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan (1678)
Gulliver’s Travels, Swift (1726)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771)
The Declaration of Independence (1776)
The Federalist Papers, Hamilton et.al.
The Constitution of the United States (ratified 1788)
Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth and Coleridge (1798)
Pride and Prejudice, Austen (1813)
Twelfth grade, 1850-present day
Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engles (1848)
de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1805-1860)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe (1852)
Walden, Thoreau (1854)
Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky (1856)
On the Origin of Species, Darwin (1859)
“The Trial,” Kafka (1925)
Animal Farm, Orwell (1945)
“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” Stoppard (1967)
“The Gulag Archipelago,” Solezhenitsyn (1974)
Doing literature without a textbook
1. Read and take notes on plot and character
2. Discuss and then write: 1-2 page papers answering a critical
question.
Remedial: Outline, cut, rearrange, rewrite
Resources:
How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler
The Well-Educated Mind, Susan Wise Bauer
Cliff Notes
pinkmonkey.com.
III. Summary of high school writing
Complete rhetoric exercises, using history/literature/science as source material
Write 1-2 page literature papers, weekly or every other week
Write 1-2 page history papers, weekly or every other week.
Tutoring and evaluation help:
Local university or parochial school
Writing Assessment Services, www.writingassessment.com
Schola Tutorials, www.scholatutorials.org
Escondido Tutorial Service, www.gbt.org
MATHEMATICS
The cumulative and coherent study of mathematics is, in fact, a microcosm of the entire curriculum and reflects in its expanding field the workings of the scholarly mind in a manner analogous to that which we examined in the field of arts and letters.
– David Hicks, Norms & Nobility
Texts and resources:
Saxon
A Beka
Math-U-See
Singapore
Chalk Dust
Teaching Textbooks
Correspondence options:
Seton Home Study School
University of Nebraska at Lincoln Independent Study High School
University of Oklahoma (Saxon)
Keystone National High School 888-490-9323
SCIENCE
Ninth grade: Biology: A Self-Teaching Guide, Steven Garber
Tenth grade: Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide, Dinah L. Moche
Eleventh grade: Chemistry: Concepts and Problems: A Self-Teaching Guide, Houk and Post
Twelfth grade: Basic Physics: A Self-Teaching Guide, Karl Kuhn, or Saxon
Supplement with experiment books and kits
Gravitas Publications
Teaching Company
A Maths and Sciences “Great Books” List for Beginners
Ninth grade
Hippocrates, Aphorisms
Euclid, Elements of Geometry
Aristotle, Physics
Tenth grade:
Copernicus, On the Revolutions of the Heaveny Spheres
Johannes Kepler, Harmonies of the World
Galileo Galilei, Dialogues concerning the Two Chief World Systems
Eleventh grade:
Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist
Isaac Newton, Principia Mathematica
Antoine Lavoisier, Elements of Chemistry
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
…We are greatly helped to develop objectivity of taste if we can appreciate the work of foreign authors, living in the same world as ourselves, and expressing their vision of it in another great language. (T. S. Eliot)
Oxford University Latin Course.
Oxford University Press’s Athenaze.
Henle
PowerGlide
Rosetta Stone
JUNIOR AND SENIOR PROJECTS
In area of student’s interest. Questions to ask:
– When did this begin? What was its original form? What cultural purpose did it serve?
– Who performed this activity? What cultural place did they occupy? How were they regarded by others?
- What historical events (coming before it) did this event/activity resemble? Is this coincidental? Did this event/activity model itself on something that came before? What philosophy does this reveal? (The Olympics, for example, obviously owe a great deal to the ancient Greeks and their ideas about what makes an ideal human being.)
– What ideal picture of human beings does this activity/event hold up?
– How did this activity develop from its beginnings until the present day?
– What effects did this event have on its surroundings? The generation directly after? Five hundred years later? The present day?
– How did this activity/event change the way people viewed nature? How did it change the way they thought about God?
– What current cultural trends are reflected in this activity? What cultural trends resulted from this event?
EVALUATION
1) Prereading.
2) Make an appointment to discuss the topic with the expert, either in writing or by phone/internet/in person. He or she will have additional suggestions, clarifying questions, resources for the student.
3) Project writing (and possibly performance).
4) Submission of the finished project (as perfect as possible) for evaluation. Ask the expert to comment on and evaluate the project.
5) Rewriting of the project according to suggestions made by the expert.
6) Resubmission of the completed, revised project.
FINAL TRANSCRIPT
Curriculum Transcript
Ninth grade Ninth grade: Units
Grammar 120 hours English 1 1 language arts
Rhetoric 90 hours Speech 1 1 elective
Great Books 320 hours World Lit. 1 1 elective
World History 1 1 history
Math 120 hours Algebra 1 math
Science 108 hours Biology 1 science
Foriegn Language 108-216 hours Latin/modern 1-2 foreign language
Art & Music 108 hours Fine Arts 1 1 elective
Tenth grade Tenth grade Units
Grammar 120 hours English 2 1 language arts
Rhetoric 90 hours Speech 2 1 elective
Great Books 320 hours World Lit. 2 1 elective
World History 2 1 history
Math 120 hours Algebra 1 math
Science 108 hours Earth science 1 science
Language 108-216 hours Latin/modern 1-2 foreign language
Art & Music 108 hours Fine Arts 2 1 elective
Eleventh grade Eleventh grade Units
Grammar 120 hours English 3 1 language arts
Great Books 320 hours Victorian Lit. 1 elective
American History 1 history
Math 120 hours Advanced math 1 math
Science 108 hours Chemistry 1 science
Language 108-216 hours Latin/modern 1-2 foreign language
Art & Music 108 hours Fine Arts 3 1 elective
Junior Thesis 100-150 hours Junior Honors 1 elective
Twelfth grade Twelfth grade Units
Grammar 120 hours English 4 1 language arts
Great Books 320 hours Modern Lit. 1 elective
American Gov. 1 government
(Math elective 120 hours) (Elective 1 math)
Science 108 hours Physics 1 science
Language 108-216 hours Latin/modern 1-2 foreign language
Art & Music 108 hours Fine Arts 4 1 elective
Senior Thesis 100-150 hours Senior Honors 1 elective
The student who follows this ends up with these credits:
Language Arts 4
Mathematics 3-4
Foreign Language 4-8
World History 2
American History 1
American Government 1
Science 4
Electives 10-14
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