9th grade American lit--Smarr vs. Lightning Lit

[Ame E.]

Lightning literature early 19th and late 19th century courses say they can be used for 9th grade.

Smarr says the American literature course is for grades 10-12.

Any pros or cons of either course?

thanks

Ame E.

[Liza Q]

For my girls I have used:
9th grade - LL Early American and Early British
10th grade - homemade for Year 4 literature, using Spark Notes, some Smarr guides, Progeny Press guides, Perrine's and just a lot of my own teaching
11th grade/9th grade - Smarr Ancient Lit
12th grade/10th grade (planning for next year) - combining LL Medieval Lit with a homemade plan (for some other books that we want to read) using Spark Notes, maybe a Smarr guide or two, Perrine's and myself again!

So, fwiw, here are some of my thoughts...

Smarr -
pros: Well organized. Daily schedule. Good selection of books. Vocabulary included - not the best (other books are better) but very convenient. Some clear writing help. Good essay questions.
cons: Shallow discussion questions - mostly comprehension-based, not thought provoking. Little (no?) literary analysis - theme, plot, setting, etc.

Lightning Lit -
pros: Well organized. Good selection of books. Good essay questions. Literary analysis is the foundation of the studies. OK discussion questions.
cons: No vocabulary - they recommend a separate book. No schedule - unless they have added one in the past 2 years? Not much writing help.

All together, I think that LL is a better program, but Smarr is pretty good and is easier to use.

If I were to plan a year of American Lit, I would choose based on the titles that appealed to us more. If I chose Smarr, I would plan to supplement with some analysis - using Perrine's or the WEM or something. If I chose LL, I would plan to add vocabulary and some extra writing help.

HTH!

ETA: I forgot to mention the poetry! Smarr covered more poems but LL had a deeper, better study of the poems they did cover.

[Christine]

I haven't used Smarr.

Have used LL (Am Lit, both). (I have a schedule for them on my blog. . .but, it's not the schedule I used, as we added books to it.)

Lightning Lit, says that Lit analysis is their thing, but I didn't find that to be true. They talked about it in their lesson; however, (umm, I'm talking about my own family here) I noticed a "file dump" at the end of each lesson. Each lesson can be done independent of the others, so there is no inclination on the part of (my) student to "carry over" things learned.

So, I've decided to go it my own, and we will implement TTC. I still haven't ironed out how to do this. I may use LL still, and use the TTC for the books that I add (previously I was using Sparks guides). . .I'm still pondering it.

[Ellie]

Lightning literature early 19th and late 19th century courses say they can be used for 9th grade.

Smarr says the American literature course is for grades 10-12.

Smarr has four "conventional" courses: Introduction to World Literature, Survey of World Literature, Survey of American Literature, and Survey of British Literature. I didn't see on the site that the American lit course is for grades 10-12, but if you were following the conventional program, those four courses would be grades 9-12, 1 per year, 36 weeks each year. Survey of American Lit is recommended for students who are studying U.S. history, so of course it could be used any year in grades 10-12. Survey of World History is recommended for the year that world history is studied.

[MIch elle]

It's not all 19th century but some.

[Katia]

I've used both LL and LLATL American Lit. One dd preferred the LL, the other liked LLATL the best. Personally, I preferred LLATL.

From the teacher standpoint, I thought LLATL contained more literary analysis and better writing instruction.

I found LL hard to schedule and while on the surface the literatry lessons looked very good (they certainly were interesting!), I found that my dd's retained very little of it and didn't learn any terms at all.

LL had wonderful writing prompts, but little to no writing instruction.

So, I've used LLATL American Lit and LL American Lit, LL British Lit , LL Shakespeare and LL World Lit, most of these with my older dd that just graduated.

It would make sense for me to use LL since I own it and older dd used it, but I am looking elsewhere for younger dd's 11th and 12th grade years. She reads well and quickly, and finds LL boring and slow-going. I find it impossible to schedule. Their included schedules are not helpful for us at all. Totally unrealistic and unworkable.

So.....this year we are trying Smarr Literature. We ordered their Survery of British Literature, and since dd had already read and studied several of their selections while doing LL, Smarr customized my course for me!

I was very impressed with their prompt service and willingness to customize. Wow! They even helped me to find the cheapest shipping, but I still received it in a timely manner.

So far, I love their schedule for their course. Of course, I've had to do some adjusting for our customization, but it is so much more realistic and do-able than LL was for us.

Dd and I are looking forward to reading 18 good books, with excellent writing instruction as well. No more of this 8 book thing with LL. (I added a ton more books to dd's American Lit list last year with LL)

Since we ordered a LOT of Shakespeare, we are titling her course "Shakespeare and More" for English 11. Couldn't call it "British Literature" as that was the title of her 9th grade course with LL, lol!

I'm enjoying reading all these posts about the different programs. I'm sure we'll use Sparks Notes online or Glencoe online guides to add in a bit more literary analysis, but I don't expect to do a whole lot of tweaking to Smarr this year. We'll see what happens..........

Good luck with your choice. :001_smile:

[ereks mom]

Hewitt's Lit courses, Smarr Lit courses, and Stobaugh's Lit courses. I put together one huge (12 pages, i think) Word document, and I e-mailed it as an attachment to anyone who wanted it. I still have it in my files, and if you want it, I'll send it to you.

[Laura in OH]

Hewitt's Lit courses, Smarr Lit courses, and Stobaugh's Lit courses. I put together one huge (12 pages, i think) Word document, and I e-mailed it as an attachment to anyone who wanted it. I still have it in my files, and if you want it, I'll send it to you.

:001_smile:

[Ame E.]

So, I've decided to go it my own, and we will implement TTC. I still haven't ironed out how to do this. I may use LL still, and use the TTC for the books that I add (previously I was using Sparks guides). . .I'm still pondering it.[/quote]

thanks

ame e.

[Ame E.]

Do you have this specifically for American literature? thanks

Hewitt's Lit courses, Smarr Lit courses, and Stobaugh's Lit courses. I put together one huge (12 pages, i think) Word document, and I e-mailed it as an attachment to anyone who wanted it. I still have it in my files, and if you want it, I'll send it to you.

[ereks mom]

I e-mailed it to you, but it bounced, with this message: " No account by that name here". I copied & pasted your address from the PM you sent me & removed the spaces, so maybe you typed it wrong?

[dtsmamtj]

Ereks Mom -

I sent you an e-mail taking you up on your offer to share your literature resource. THANK YOU!!!!

T

[Christine]

What is TTC?

Teaching the Classics by Adam Andrews

It's a teacher's resource, meaning it is intended to provide you the skills in order that you can apply them to the whatever readings you deem appropriate.

[jonesloonybin]

Hewitt's Lit courses, Smarr Lit courses, and Stobaugh's Lit courses. I put together one huge (12 pages, i think) Word document, and I e-mailed it as an attachment to anyone who wanted it. I still have it in my files, and if you want it, I'll send it to you.


I PM'd you regarding this. Thanks! :bigear: