Literature and Writing

Introduction to Literature & Writing

Level:	Mature 8th graders 9th graders Students who have need more exposure to a formal literature and writing class to prepare them for upper-level English classes.
Credit:	1 high school English credit
Class limit:	10 students
Class minimum:	4 students
Price:	$35.50 per 2 hour class 16 classes/semester = $568/semester for a total of $1,136 per year
Terms: Note: This is a two-semester class	Payable in 9 monthly payments or 2 semester payments
Schedule:	Thursdays 1:30pm-3:30pm
Description:	This class will cover the basics of literary analysis and writing essays about literature. I use the highly-rated IEW text Windows to the World to teach high-school-level students how to analyze elements of literature: theme, setting, plot, characterization, imagery, tone, irony, allusions, parallelism, etc. This is a no-fear approach that utilizes classic short stories and poems to ground students in literary analysis and Christian discernment skills. (This high-school-level IEW curriculum is quite different from their Structure and Style writing programs in that it is much more user-friendly for students. If you have concerns about using IEW, please contact me for a more detailed explanation.) Novels we will read and write about in this class: Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Katherine Patterson’s Jacob Have I Loved. We will cover basic grammar instruction weekly using IEW’s Fix It! Grammar. We will also learn Greek and Latin roots through associated vocabulary weekly using Melissa Tallman’s Get to the Root of It. In the spring, we will have an introductory research paper unit. This class is for mature 8th graders, 9th graders, or students who need more exposure to a formal literature and writing class.
Honors:	Students who pursue the Honors option will read an additional novel and write an accompanying literary analysis essay per semester. The Honors student’s level of completed work must be on a high level of rhetoric (reasoning and writing).