How Do I Use a Literature Unit?

Each Literature Unit is set up to be used with the reading of a classic work of literature or a book about a classic work or author. The Literature Unit is designed to enhance the understanding of the work and give parents and teachers a resource in one location that will give a substantial amount of information regarding the work being studied. Students can also use the Unit depending on their age and reading level (audio versions of the creative stories are available for the younger students). You can choose to use as much or as little of the Unit as you want depending on the needs and desires of your students. It is a guide, not the final word. Once you decide what your children/students are going to read and obtain the book, I would proceed through a Unit like this:

1. Go to the Literature Unit home page and explore it to see if there is any preliminary information that will help in the reading of the work (particularly true for grades 8-12). I call this the "Pre-Flight" for the older students.
2. Read the work to or with the student/assign reading for older students. Ideally the parent or teacher should read the same thing the student is reading.
3. Read the creative story I've written if there is one (Most Literature Units have a creative story, but some do not)
4. Explore any other information I've provided and decide what you want to use. This information will include:
   
   
   • Essay about the reading (for grades 8-12 only)
   • Additional Reading
   • Links to Related Sites
   • Fact Questions (for grades K-7 only-How to use these)
   • Discussion Questions (How to use these)
   • Vocabulary Words
   
   And may include:
• Related Quotes from Other works
• Quotes from the author's other works
• Other creative pieces I've written (letters from characters, funny poems, etc)
• Cartoons
• Flash Presentations
• Anything else I can think of to enhance the reading
5. Go to the forum (older students) to discuss the work with other students and me.

Using Questions

Leading Discussions

What follows pertains mostly to the older students but younger students can also begin to learn to discuss what they read by answering simple questions of fact and opinion. That is, "What did the rabbit say to the tortoise?"(fact) and "Do you think the rabbit should have said that to the tortoise."(opinion)

If you are planning to have a discussion group with others who are reading the same books or just plan to discuss the reading with your child/children on your own here are some guidelines to help with the discussion.

If you plan to lead the discussion it is best that you also read the assignment(Ideally, you should read it twice - - ideally there should be 36 hours in the day so don't fret about this). I know homeschooling and teaching takes a lot of time (I've done both) so if this is not possible and you are in a group or have more than one child at home parents or students could take turns leading the discussion. In any case the discussion questions on this site will be very helpful and if you simply do not have the time to read the assignment you could still ask your children the discussion questions, have them verbally answer them and, where appropriate, have them defend their answers using the text.

The method I have used for discussion comes from the Great Books Reading and Discussion program. I was a co-leader of an adult group for three years and used this method teaching literature to homeschooled children for a year. Here are the basic guidelines for that type of discussion:

1. The purpose of discussion is to explore the text. It is the discussion leader's job to keep the students focused on the novel, short story, essay, play or poem that is being discussed. Don't let students get distracted; keep them focused on the reading. This is accomplished by asking good interpretative(What does the text mean?) and evaluative(What do you think of the text?) questions. For younger children you can also ask simple "What happened?" questions.


2. The discussion leader directs students to important passages and asks them to discuss possible meanings. The leader, as much as possible, only asks questions (this is the method I will be using in the forums and chat). The leader's role is to force students to examine the text, to make their own judgments about it and to defend those judgments. The last point is important. Though a text may have several possible interpretations there are always things that it definitely cannot support and that is why students should be ready to defend their answers from the text itself.


3. The leader and students can and will require clarification of comments and proof from the text to substantiate statements. The text is the important thing. We want to know as much as possible what the work is about, what themes it conveys, what questions it asks and what statements about life it makes. Students are then in a position to evaluate the merits of the text.

In short, first attempt to find out what the author is saying and what the story or poem or novel or essay is about and then decide what you think about it.

This format requires students to read carefully the weekly selections, to listen attentively to the comments of other students and the leader, to address the questions being asked and to voice their own opinions and ideas.

You can also use my essays and discussion of the text as a starting or ending point. You might read to your students my comments about the text and then ask them if they agree or disagree and why.