Classic Children's Literature V

Why do we need stories? C.S. Lewis said, “The nearest I have yet got to an answer is that we seek an enlargement of our being. We want to be more than ourselves…We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as with our own.”

Such is the yearning of children and adults alike, for it is through stories that we enter into a world that is not our own and yet become more who we are meant to be. It is through stories that we can learn virtu. When children read stories, they enter into the world of the characters and reflect on the virtues and vices of the protagonists and antagonists. It is a gentle, appropriate, and vivid way for children to learn what Dietrich von Hildebrand called a “response to value” and the virtue that blossoms from that response.

In this class, children will read, enjoy, and interact with classic works of children’s literature in order to learn through knowledge, experience, and reflection the four classical virtues: justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. Students will respond to these texts through discussion, written analysis and reflection, and artistic mediums in order to reach the whole child in our study. The skills will include reading fluency, reading comprehension, writing, vocabulary, memorization, recitation, analysis, synthesis, and discussion.

Important Skills & Behaviors Needed for Success in this Course

• Students should be able to read at a late-elementary level, smoothly and with understanding. Additionally, students should be able to read aloud with ease, clarity, and appropriate emotion.
• Students should be able to narrate a story back to the teacher, recalling both the main idea and pertinent details.
• Students should be able to distinguish between the main idea of a story and the details of a story.
• Students should be able to identify the characters, setting, and plot of a given book.
• Students should be able to answer text-based, lower-order comprehension questions and be able to reflect on higher-order thinking questions.
• Students should be able to log-in to Canvas to review homework assignments and upload completed work. If a student is not able to navigate Canvas independently, a parent or guardian should be willing to assist that student with homework assignments and other course materials obtained through this platform.

Student Expectations: Executive Function Skills
Students enrolling in Scholé Academy’s Classic Children’s Literature will be expected to show the development of Executive Function throughout the year. Executive Function is the brain’s work of planning, prioritizing, controlling impulses, recollection, etc. These six areas of execution are important in this class and, ultimately, in the student’s life.

1. Engagement: Engaged students are willing to step into the arena of class discussion, ask questions, supply answers, and generate the internal dialogue necessary to determine if a discussion is important and relevant to themselves. Students should be viewing the class via Zoom and should not be browsing the internet instead. Scholars should be prepared to take notes on the text and class discussion.
2. Attention to Detail and Preparedness: These students are ones who consistently adhere to deadlines and submission requirements. A prepared student not only completes and uploads all assignments before class but also confirms that technology is working. These students will be expected to show the virtue of constancy by remaining focused and diligent and pushing away even “good” distractions that would inhibit learning and mastery.
3. Self Monitoring: Students who successfully self-monitor can evaluate their own performance. This is the action of perceiving one’s own strengths and weaknesses. These students determine which problems they can complete alone and which require peer, teacher, or parent support.
4. Task Initiation: These students recognize the time to begin working and are able to do so without procrastination. Students who can initiate tasks easily adjust from a Zoom classroom to a breakout room while maintaining a scholarly attitude.
5. Employing Critiques: These students are ones who, after receiving feedback on one of their submissions, attempt to apply that feedback to future assignments rather than repeating mistakes. Students should have an attitude of humility when receiving feedback, as this affords an invaluable opportunity to grow and to develop their God-given talents. Likewise, students should celebrate the successes of their peers.
6. Problem Solving: Students with well-developed problem-solving skills are willing to persevere, even when they are unable to successfully overcome a challenge on the first try. Good writing involves the problem-solving skills of perseverance; looking at a story from a new perspective; finding an additional source or doing research; taking a rest to refresh the mind and body; or asking for help from a teacher, parent, or the Lord.

Student Expectations: Class Participation
“The intelligence can only be led by desire. For there to be desire, there must be pleasure and joy in work. The intelligence only grows and bears fruit in joy. The joy of learning is as indispensable in study as breathing is in running…It is the part played by joy in our studies that makes them a preparation for spiritual life, for desire directed toward God as the only power capable of raising the soul.” [Simone Weil]