I could have never dreamt that there were
such goings-on in the world between the covers
of books, such sand storms and ice blasts of words.
Dylan Thomas
The major goals of any language arts curriculum are to help students develop and improve their reading ability, speaking and writing skills and critical thinking. Research and common sense both tell us that the best way to achieve these goals is through READING, the process of engaging the text and connecting it to the reader’s experiences. Our goal for students is to encourage them to become prolific readers in all genres – short story, novel, non-fiction, drama, poetry – to love reading and to become insightful thinkers and competent writers.
Good literature consists of works that reflect in some way the multi-faceted nature of life. As
F. Scott Fitzgerald believed, “That is part of the beauty of literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.” Through literature, students learn to explore life and to consider options for themselves.
Very few students learn to love books on their own. Someone has to lure them into the fascinating world of the written word; someone has to show them the way. What a golden opportunity for home schooling parents to lead readers to the open door that lures them to one of life’s greatest pleasures.
Parents need to make their home classroom a place for ideas and to provide a variety of genre from novels, poetry, short stories, non-fiction and drama. All are valued and talked about, used, and remembered. Additionally, students need to become independent and insightful thinkers with a love of reading and an appreciation for fine writing. They should be encouraged to read daily, aloud and silently, and to understand that reading and writing are common behaviors for the educated person.
In addition to the writing, rewriting, and editing processes, Literature: the Book, the Place and the Pen has 12 chapters with genre information, student tasks, and forms of assessment for the short story, novel, setting of the novel, historical novel, reader response log, biography, autobiography, memoir, the book review, fables, fairy tales, and folk tales; William Shakespeare, Victorian writers such as Charles Dickens and Lewis Carroll, and poetry: the sonnets, concrete poetry and narrative poetry. The text also includes lists of books, many with annotations, short story and poetry titles and a bibliography for the chapters on Shakespeare and poetry.
Finally, the book is easily adaptable to students of all grade levels and of varied abilities.
The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you will go…
Oh, the places you’ll go!
Dr. Seuss