CLASS DESCRIPTION

***Please Note: This class has a rotating book list so that students may take the class more than once.***

Good Books is a gentle but thorough introduction to the Literary Tradition for Middle School students.  With an emphasis on reading slowly, we will cover basic story patterns and archetypes, motifs and themes that dominate the Great Works of Literature. Through Guided Reading, rather than the typical discussion based class, students will learn how to read closely and metaphorically.  But the biggest emphasis will be on falling in love with literature!

The most important way to be prepared for the Great Books is to be immersed in the imagination that created those works. Bible stories, myths, fairy tales, legends–these are the soil from which Western literature has blossomed.  Students will learn how authors over time have used those building blocks of stories to create new stories and new imaginative worlds that are anchored in the works of the past.

Assessment:  In keeping with the idea that this is a gentle introduction to classic literature, there will be no papers, no tests, and no grades given.  While there is some limited discussion in class, students are not required to speak.  In my years of teaching, I’ve found that introverted students don’t feel comfortable speaking in class but regularly think very deeply about the class discussion and the books we read. Parents tell me that their quiet student won’t stop talking about our class books outside of class! I want to honor the nature of the student. Therefore I do not require introverted students to process out loud like more extroverted students.

All of our classes are available as self-paced classes. The self-paced option allows a student to view the classes on their own time. The content of the course is exactly the same, but there are no writing assignments and no grades issued for the high school courses. The self-paced option gives a student access to the streaming videos of the course for a full year. The classes are not discussion based and focus rather on the art and skill of reading well, and in the high school classes, on the Intellectual Tradition of a work. Students from all over the world choose the self-paced option.