Literary Lessons from the LOTR

[tmkclscroggins]

Would Literary Lessons from the LOTR be a good introduction to literary analysis for someone who hasn't done much at all?


Thanks,
melissa

[Jan P.]

Hi,

I'm using LOTR curriculum this year. I do think it is a good introduction to literature analysis, but there is not enough review. Here is how it is set up: the student reads a chapter and then uses his student book to complete a fill in the blank chapter notes page, vocabulary exercise, and reads additional notes which includes the literary analysis. Sometimes the author refers back to the earlier definitions of a literary term, or you may never see that information again until a quiz or a test.

Be aware that the curriculum is very work bookish. I do not have my dd do the fill in the blanks pages. She does study them for her test, but I give her my answer sheet page of those homework activities for a study guide.

I think if you're student is a big LOTR fan,then perhaps this would be a good intro for lit. guide to use. However, there are perhaps better literature type books to use than these. I really recommend the "Teaching the Classics" dvd set. It shows how the teacher can teach literature analysis using Socratic questioning. It at least takes the student/teacher through the plot, coflict, setting, character, and theme analysis. If you want to teach more such as tropes and schemes then you would need to get an additional handbook.

I do think you can add more literature analysis if you add the Sparks Notes guide to the LOTR curriculum. I'm getting overwhelmed with everything going on if my life right now, so I haven't used my Sparks Notes book very much. It is free online, but I like having the book in my hand.

HTH,

[Lori D.]

JMO, but I really think literary analysis -- especially if you and/or student haven't done much previously -- is best done together.

Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings (LLftLotR) can be a great place to start. I do agree with the previous poster that it's a "workbookish". We skip the "fill in the blank" comprehension questions, and do the vocabulary worksheets aloud. What we're really getting a lot out of are:

- Reading the Additional Notes for each chapter. This is where many themes and literary elements are introduced, explained, and shown where they occur in the chapter.

- Doing the Discussion Questions aloud together. This is where we get into comparing/contrasting, discussing further, and analyzing the work.


- Doing the Unit Studies. There are 12 extra units of material to do throughout the yearlong study; several have you practice specific literary analysis on sections of: Beowulf; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; and some poetry selections.



Other good options for beginning literary analysis:

- "Deconstructing Penguins" (Goldstone)
A good book for showing you the how and why of analyzing a book -- through the example of a year-long book clubs starting at elementary student ages! This is more of a "how-to" for the parent -- but could be very helpful/informative for a high school student as well. See if your library has it.


- "The Well Educated Mind" (Susan Wise Bauer)
This is Susan's second book -- this is her "how to read a book and see how to analyze it" work. I'd suggest reading through the first few chapters slowly and carefully *with* your high school student, and then make an outline of Susan's process and list of questions, and slowly begin to put it into practice together with your high school student on 3-6 books over the course of a school year.



- Lightning Literature and Composition 8
Good for 8th or 9th grade student. Gentle, year-long introduction to literary analysis and beginnning to write about literature. 12 units, covering novels, short stories and poetry, with workpages to help practice using the literary elements covered.

See sample lesson at (scroll down to the Junior High section and click on the embedded links under the 8th grade program):
http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/book/blight.asp


- Figuratively Speaking
Nice resource for introducing yourselves to 40 literary elements (such as metaphor, setting, rhythm, mood, irony, alliteration, etc.). Each element is defined, shown in examples from classic literature, and then you practice using/picking out that element in a page of exercises. You can easily do 2 literary elements a week, each in about 10 minutes. It is helpful to know these elements, because these are the things you discuss in literary analysis -- how these elements work to support the theme you find in the piece of literature.

See a sample page and the table of contents at:
http://rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?sid=1202105639-826184&id=028214


- good literature guides
Guides by Garlic Press Publishers are especially nice -- background on the author; vocabulary; summaries; questions for discussion or writing assignments; explanations of literary elements and how they're used in the book; etc.

See the list of guides at:
http://garlicpress.com/cgi-bin/shop_gp.cgi?product=LITERATURE

See samples at (scroll down and click on the samples under "Discovering Literature Series"):
http://garlicpress.com/links/links.html



We've used many of these resources and programs, and are really enjoying learning how to analyze literature together! Enjoy your literary journey! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[StaceyL in Canada]

I know we've "talked" abut this course in the past, but I have some more questions. I did buy LL 8 this year for my gr 8 son, but it has gone so poorly with him that I decided to drop it and use just Figuratively Speaking instead for now. The problem was that he often would not read the instructions carefully enough re the work pages and therefore not do what he was asked to do; or he just would not answer adequately. He has always seemed like a bright boy who generally writes well, but he wold miss what seemed to me to be obvious answers (eg.,listing certain imagery from an excerpt).

What would you do under these circumstances? Would you assume that the child is not yet ready for this type of work? Problem is, I'm now seeing the same issue using FS (eg, having trouble coming up with metaphors even though he/ we have covered such concepts a number of times over the years). And then on top of that, there's the whole problem of literary analysis discussion at home--I find that it just does not work for us one-on-one or even one-on-two (when I've tried to do it with my gr 8 and 10 sons). I find this terribly frustrating because my own field of study was literature, but I can't seem to reach these boys in this regard. SHould I just hold off and try again next year?

[StaceyL in Canada]

...with the other posts. It went over well for me in a co-op class a few years ago because the LOTR movies had just come out and all the students were excited about them. Now, I'm not so sure :rolleyes: It's a good intro but lacks enough review, so I had to develop that myself (eg, revisiting literary elements throughout the books). The side units are lots of fun,though.

[Jan P.]

I don't have any easy answers for this, Stacey. I had the same problem with my ds. I had him take the Tolkein/Lewis class offered by Oxford Tutorials, and he seemed to flourish with that format. I think Norm Lund is a great teacher. YEt, I'm not sure how much literary analysis actually went on because there were not very many papers that had to be written. I also did not have access to the chat times because my ds had to wear headphones, so I couldn't hear what was being said.

I wondered how much literature analysis goes on with the Scholar's Online courses. Of course, all of these online courses are expensive, so this may not be an option for you. It hasn't been one for me recently.

I am getting tired of the blank stares when we discuss literature. All my children seem to care about is "getting done" so they can go on to fun things like computer time, playing with the dog, anything but school work!

[Beth in Central TX]

I am getting tired of the blank stares when we discuss literature. All my children seem to care about is "getting done" so they can go on to fun things like computer time, playing with the dog, anything but school work!

Oh Jan, I was so hoping that this was a phase, and my boys would outgrow the blank stares. I too struggle with them just running through their work and slopping down an answer so that they can play. It wears me thin just about this time every year, and my "they don't appreciate me" attitude tries to take over. Even though, I will press on...

Take care,

[periwinkle]

Anecdotal evidence, I know, but my boys have all been difficult to teach (somewhat lousy attitudes!) at ages 10-12 and have gotten better as they mature each year. I hope the same goes for your guys:)

[Beth in Central TX]

Hi Deb,

Thanks for the bright lining in my dark cloud. Yes, I'm looking forward to a little more maturity one of these days.

You do have all boys at the next stage level from mine. I'll have to watch for your posts.

[Jan P.]

Beth,

Let me encourage you. My ds is now in college and is doing quite well! He hasn't had a literature course yet, though. I think that having to work at a part time job and meeting deadlines has him more focused on his schoolwork.

HTH,

[Beth in Central TX]

Thanks, Jan!

[Lori D.]

Really pondering your post and not sure how to respond. I do know that when I did LL8 last year with our older son (who was 8th grade then), he really struggled with some of those exercises, too. He is a very literal, black & white, logical thinker, and coming up with metaphors or listing imagery was tough for him -- he doesn't naturally think in those terms. When he hit those points, we'd do the exercise together, with me asking *very* leading questions, or giving suggestions that would just about *be* the answer. Sometimes , if the exercise had a list of 5 things, I would have him pick just one and come up with a metaphor (or whatever), and I would try doing one or two alongside him. It is hard to be creative!

So, I guess the answer at our house was: persevere -- BUT, help a lot and drop/modify as needed.

As for literature in general: I know it's heartbreaking to have a passion and gift in that area yourself and not have children who are not at all interested in it, BUT -- what about outsourcing, especially if they could have a male teacher? My boys *always* work harder for the coach, or for their dad (even the female co-op teacher) than they will for me. One possible *good* side effect is that then you get to be the "good guy" in helping out with any assignments -- and you may have the opportunity for more relaxed *real* conversations about a book they're reading if you're not the teacher, but are their loving, interested mom. : )

In thinking back to my own education and exposure to literature and literary analysis -- I really didn't even have anything like that until my senior year in high school, when I had a course on English Lit. I remember really enjoying it, but there's no way I would have been able to "see" metaphors or other literary elements in the works unless the teacher had been pointing them out all along the way. It was about as much as I could do to get through the language of the Canterbury Tales and Hamlet - and I was 17-18yo! I think the ideas of analysis really "clicked" for me in college -- and it was through studying film. For some reason it was easier for me to "get" the tools of film analysis and apply them. But then, that made the literature courses I took in college easier -- it's like I "got" literary analysis through the "back door" of film analysis. : )

While my boys don't hate doing the literature together (they actually seem to look forward to our reading/discussing times), they sure don't pick up "classic literature" for pleasure. On the other hand, they seem to be at the beginning of "clicking" with the idea of analysis as they go through Fallacy Detective/Thinking Toolbox, and through listening to Worldview Academy podcasts. (We live next door to one of the instructors who's always having lively worldview discussions with dh, which the boys really like listening in on.) So, they may eventually enjoy literary analysis later on, going through a different backdoor to get there, as I did.

In the meanwhile, we do the literary discussions together -- but I try not to make them to long or labored, I do a lot of *very* leading questions, and our discussions are sprinkled with LOTS of sports or real life analogies, and Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and other favorite movie/TV show comparisons and references, which helps keep their interest. (lol)

Sometime I ought to tape record one of our discussions and transcribe it for you; they are not nearly as academic as it sounds like they might be, what with long, asides from one son giving detailed descriptions of characters and strategies from a video game I know nothing about, and the other son being naturally laconic and unwilling to commit to answer unless he's certain it's right... : ) It's worth persevering just for the relationship we're building, if nothing else. : )

HUGS Stacey!

PS -- And how is your 12th grader doing in school this year? Has he settled in? Do you think it's helping give him some structure, and maybe helping him set some goals? Continuing to keep you all in loving prayer! Lori

[StaceyL in Canada]

...that really does help! It can be tough to keep in perspective the boys' analytical abil;ities at their ages. We, too, make lots of references to visual media (movies, Star Trek ,etc) so I guess we're not totally off track :rolleyes:

Re my oldest son: he came home today from school with news that he got 93% on his English Media course exam, and his mid-term was also in the 90s, so I guess he'll pass! I'm very happy for him because this experience is teaching him that he *isn't* "stupid" , as he kept saying for years. In fact, he's developing something of a reputation at this school not only for his long hair and beard (most of these nice Dutch Christian guys can only produce a few wisps on their chins) but for being *smart.* Still don't know what the future holds, but I think he's feeling more optimistic. Thanks for asking.

[Lori D.]

...just throw all our boys into one room with Nan's and let 'em have some lit. discussions that way! (lol)

Wow! Your oldest is doing great! What a boost of confidence for you both! : ) Hugs, Lori