2024 Summer Class

• Literary Reading and Analytical Writing III - Grade 5-7

  07/09 to 08/15  12 Classes Tuesday,Thursday 2:00pm-3:00pm $375/term Location: Online2

  Course Description

  Literary reading skills are above basic reading skills (outline meaning) and key reading skills (summary scanning) to the point where we are grasping complex texts in all their complexity during reading. We will practice reading between lines in order to discover levels of meaning and develop complex interpretations, based on author's craft and historical/biographical analysis.

  In this class, students will:

  (1) Review Basic Reading (imagining, responding, skimming)

  (2) Learn Reflective Reading (selecting, scanning, tracking)

  (3) Learn Analytical Reading (Interpreting, analyzing)

  (4) Write critical analysis style essays on theme and literary devices.

  (5) Build up vocabulary throughout the reading

  (6) Form up their unique critical essay writing style with correct logical structure and grammar.

  Text Books:

  Sunshine will provide the ecopy of the books used in class or free rental of the hard copy of the book whenever it's possible. Summer term books (we may adjust based on what students have already read):

  Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  A Dog's Purpose by Bruce Cameron
  Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
  The Pearl by John Steinbeck
  The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  

  Several short stories, poems, and essays. 

  Two sample of books used in the class:

  (1) Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays

       

  (2) A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers by Lee A. Jacobus (Author)

       

  Instructor: Brenda Andrus
  
  

2024 Summer Camp

Note: Half-day camps can be combined as full-day camps from 8:30am-5pm.

• Week 5 (08/05-08/09)

  Literary Reading and Analysis Writing Camp for Grade 6-8

  08/05 to 08/09  5 Monday-Friday 9:00am-12:00pm $250/camp Location: 16100 NW Cornell Road Suite 210 Room 2

  Course Description

  Literary reading skills are above basic reading skills (outline meaning) and key reading skills (summary scanning)  to the point where we are grasping complex texts in all their complexity during reading. It is reading between lines in order to discover levels of meaning and develop complex interpretations.

  In this class, students will:

  (1) Review Basic Reading (imagining, responding, skimming)

  (2) Learn Reflective Reading (selecting, scanning, tracking)

  (3) Learn Analytical Reading (Interpreting, analyzing)

  (4) Write a critical analysis style essay 

  (5) Build up vocabulary throughout reading

  (6) Form up their unique critical essay writing style with correct logical structure and grammar.

  
  In this one week camp, the instructor will lead students to read at least one book, plus shorter pieces or chapters from books in a variety of genres.  

  For essay writing, the first step of critical writing is to take notes on evidence, document quotes and paraphrases while reading. The purpose of  critical analysis is not merely to inform, but also to evaluate the worth, utility, excellence, distinction, truth, validity, beauty, or goodness of something from the books that students are reading. We will instruct students to write those notes down on a notebook.

  The second step of critical writing is to design a clear logical structure of an essay. Students need to design/plan their essay with clear logical flow before start writing critical essay.

  During the revising process, we will check the logical structure, information, interpretation, evaluation of the text, and eliminate grammar errors.

  Text Books (Free Rent from Sunshine Elite Education or student purchase) 
  (1) The Pearl By John Steinbeck
  (2) Animal Farm by George Orwell
  (3) A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers By Lee A. Jacobus, 9th Edition

  Class Plan:

  Monday:
  Discuss and practice critical reading strategies on the Pearl,  including active reading, pre-reading, turning headings or titles into questions, 20 questions after reading chapter 1, embracing confusion, note taking, double entries, ?nding the main ideas, author’s techniques, rhetorical strategies, evidence, underlying assumptions and biases, vocabulary in context, mapping, making inferences, second draft reading, soaps (subject, occasion, audience, purpose, speaker), paying attention to diction (contrast 2 articles), logos, ethos and pathos, re?ecting on what it means to the student’s life and society at large (circles of re?ection), paraphrasing, what does it not say, statistics, why does it matter, evaluation

  A World of Ideas: p. 1: Evaluating Ideas: An Introduction to Critical Reading Example/Practice: Machiavelli/Frederick Douglass Homework: Read civil disobedience and map it

  Tuesday:
  Discuss Civil Disobedience and The Pearl practicing critical reading
  Discuss Critical Analysis Paper
  Homework:
  Read Animal Farm.  Pick a topic and ?nd 3 quotes and thesis statement
  
  Wednesday:
  Discuss Animal Farm practicing critical reading
  Discuss crediting sources and analyzing quotes within paragraphs
  Model Essay Work on Drafts
  Homework:
  Draft 1 Critical Essay

  Thursday:
  Work on Critical Essay Drafts in Class
  Read additional Essays from "A World of Ideas" : James Madison, de Tocqueville
  Homework:
  Final Drafts Due
  Read Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  Friday:
  Read Essays from "A World of Ideas" of authors
  Hannah Arendt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Virginia Woolf