Omnibus secondary books - literary study or woldview study???

[Hoggirl]

I asked this question of Beth in Central Texas, but I want to throw it out to anyone who has used Omnibus.

I had considered using the secondary readings as a literature course. I read an informative post on the K-8 board that the Omni discussions were more of a worldview analysis. I am confused. Isn't discussing a book and where the author is coming from literary analysis? Or is literary analysis something "more."

I'm just not getting it!:confused:

[Michelle in AL]

I think literary analysis includes the context of the book, but it also includes determining the plot line as a whole, what was being said in detail and why. Omnibus does include this, it doesn't go indepth into traditional elements of literature such as conflict, climax, theme, character analysis, symbolism, allusion. It may point out some of these items in the commentary about the book, but it doesn't really teach the student how to identify them himself. This is one area of instruction I added to Omnibus.

[Chris in VA]

I agree with Michelle. I supplemented with some SparkNotes to pick up those points.

[Beth in Central TX]

I agree with Michelle. I supplemented with some SparkNotes to pick up those points.

Thank you for posting this. It's a great idea and will greatly enhance our Omnibus work. I was trying to figure out how to address the specific literary elements without adding on another program.

Take care,
~Beth

[Hoggirl]

I think literary analysis includes the context of the book, but it also includes determining the plot line as a whole, what was being said in detail and why. Omnibus does include this, it doesn't go indepth into traditional elements of literature such as conflict, climax, theme, character analysis, symbolism, allusion. It may point out some of these items in the commentary about the book, but it doesn't really teach the student how to identify them himself. This is one area of instruction I added to Omnibus.

Was there anything specific you used to add to this?

I like Chris's idea of sparksnotes. Just wondering if you used something else?

Thanks!

[Michelle in AL]

I used Windows to the World. It has a unit for each literary term, such as setting. We would cover the information given in each unit and then apply to the novel we were reading instead of the short story in Windows to the World. Sometimes I'd use the short story too, if it was a particularly hard concept to grasp.

[Hoggirl]

Was this difficult? I mean is each literary element covered in WW in ALL the books (I guess it would be novels) you read? I mean they all have setting and characters. I didn't know what other more abstract things might be covered in Windows to the World.

Thanks!

[Michelle in AL]

Was this difficult? I mean is each literary element covered in WW in ALL the books (I guess it would be novels) you read? I mean they all have setting and characters. I didn't know what other more abstract things might be covered in Windows to the World.

For me it wasn't hard. I apples the literature elements to all the C.S. Lewis books. I'm used to making my own curriculum though, so someone else may think it's too much work.

WW covers annotation (I covered this 1st) before reading anything.
WW also covers:
allusions
plot and suspense
literary analysis essays
parallelism, euphemism, similes
characterization
symbolism & emphasis
theme and worldview
setting
imagery
Point of view
tone
irony

I didn't cover everything. It would take some prereading on your part as a teacher. It would probably be much easier to just use WW alone before starting Omnibus if you wanted that sort of foundation.