I received the following materials:
- Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis Paperback
- Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis, Teacher’s Guide
- Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis, Quiz and Answer Manual
- Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crises Novel Notebook {PDF}
The stories, novels, and plays covered are:
- A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Silas Marner by George Eliot
- Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
- "A White Heron" by Sarah One Jewett
- "The Garden of Forking Paths" by Jorge Luis Borges
- "Haircut" by Ring Lardner
- "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton
- "Of the Passing of the First-Born" by W.E.B Du Bois
- "A Child's Christmas in Wales" by Dylan Thomas
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
- Biography or Autobiography of student's choice
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Characters in Crisis Paperback (Student Workbook)
The beginning the the course is entitled "Start Here" and explains to the student the overall course, its expectations, grading, course philosophy, why literature is important and character labels. Once this is complete students will jump into their first story, "A Jury of Her Peers." This story is included in the student workbook. All short stories are either included in the student workbook or links are provided in the textbook of where the story can be read on the internet for free.
"A Jury of Her Peers"
Lets take a look at "A Jury of Her Peers" to see exactly how this curriculum is set up. Now keeping in mind that we are discussing a story and not a novel lets dive in.
The student starts out by playing the part of the jury. They are asked a pointed question and asked to give their personal opinion. This is all before the story is read.
Next, there is a Suggested Reading and Homework Plan Schedule that is given. It is laid out in a four week time period. I often times find that suggested schedules don't often work for our family and only end up serving as unattainable goals due to unique family circumstances.
Next, students are introduced to the author and given author insight. For example, "The more helpless the character and the more terrible the danger, the more importance the audience will attach to the character." This nugget of advice is from Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game.
Student's are asked to get their favorite book or movie and write three things that the author does to make the main characters empathetic.
Character in Crisis Novel Notebook
Okay, after reading the story and skipping to the end of the story study which includes working through Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis Novel Notebook students will complete an online quizzes and an opinion survey, complete discussion questions, and choose from a list of activities for their final project.
It should be noted that the Novel Notebook is a free pdf download via the website. Students can print the notebook out and put it in a 3-ring binder. The Novel Notebook is in color.
The beginning the the course is entitled "Start Here" and explains to the student the overall course, its expectations, grading, course philosophy, why literature is important and character labels. Once this is complete students will jump into their first story, "A Jury of Her Peers." This story is included in the student workbook. All short stories are either included in the student workbook or links are provided in the textbook of where the story can be read on the internet for free.
"A Jury of Her Peers"
Lets take a look at "A Jury of Her Peers" to see exactly how this curriculum is set up. Now keeping in mind that we are discussing a story and not a novel lets dive in.
The student starts out by playing the part of the jury. They are asked a pointed question and asked to give their personal opinion. This is all before the story is read.
Next, there is a Suggested Reading and Homework Plan Schedule that is given. It is laid out in a four week time period. I often times find that suggested schedules don't often work for our family and only end up serving as unattainable goals due to unique family circumstances.
Next, students are introduced to the author and given author insight. For example, "The more helpless the character and the more terrible the danger, the more importance the audience will attach to the character." This nugget of advice is from Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game.
Student's are asked to get their favorite book or movie and write three things that the author does to make the main characters empathetic.
Character in Crisis Novel Notebook
Okay, after reading the story and skipping to the end of the story study which includes working through Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis Novel Notebook students will complete an online quizzes and an opinion survey, complete discussion questions, and choose from a list of activities for their final project.
It should be noted that the Novel Notebook is a free pdf download via the website. Students can print the notebook out and put it in a 3-ring binder. The Novel Notebook is in color.
Up next in the line-up is a novel, Frankenstein. In the Teacher's Guide a specific publisher with ISBN # is listed. Specific versions are suggested because the textbook is keyed to specific page numbers in the coordinating versions of that specific novel/play.
Before I continue on with Frankenstein lets talk a bit about the Teacher's Guide. The course year is briefly broken down into a suggested 9 month school year with highlights of each month.
Characters in Crisis Teacher's Guide
The Teacher's Guide follows the Student Workbook breakdown of lesson, chapter, and story/novel/or play. The Teacher's Guide includes the answers to all of the question within the Student Workbook as well as teacher guides and explanations along the way. If you are working with a co-op setting there is a section entitled Facebook Posts with bulleted points that you can share with your students. A grading grid is provided at the end of each story, novel, or play. I was more than satisfied with was was included for the instructor.
Characters in Crisis Quiz and Answers Manual
The quizzes and opinion surveys for each of the stories, novels, or plays are included in this manual. The quizzes are 2-3 pages in length and the surveys are 2-4 pages in length. The answers are found in the back of the book. The quizzes are available for free with the password that is included in the text.
Back to Frankenstein. My daughter has already read this novel for literature so she read through the pages of the Frankenstein lessons and this is what she had to say, " When I read this novel last year in literature it was one of my favorite novels of the year. As I read through Sharon Watson's book study on Frankenstein I thoroughly enjoyed reliving the book all over again. I enjoyed the author introduction before actually reading the book. Getting to know the author gives the reader so much insight into who they will be as a writer. Often times it may help you understand why they choose to let certain things happen the way they do within the pages of their book. Sharon's approach to teaching is very different from the way our co-op teaches literature. For Frankenstein I had to annotate the entire novel which takes FOREVER, complete comprehension questions for each chapter, write a 10 page essay, and then I had a final exam on the novel. I liked the variety of activities to end the study, the short quizzes and opinion surveys, and the Characters in Crisis section."
Overall, I think that this is a great curriculum. I have reviewed and used Sharon Watson's curriculum before and found it to be insightful, engaging, and well liked by both my children and myself. I would definitely recommend Characters in Crisis to others.
The quizzes and opinion surveys for each of the stories, novels, or plays are included in this manual. The quizzes are 2-3 pages in length and the surveys are 2-4 pages in length. The answers are found in the back of the book. The quizzes are available for free with the password that is included in the text.
Back to Frankenstein. My daughter has already read this novel for literature so she read through the pages of the Frankenstein lessons and this is what she had to say, " When I read this novel last year in literature it was one of my favorite novels of the year. As I read through Sharon Watson's book study on Frankenstein I thoroughly enjoyed reliving the book all over again. I enjoyed the author introduction before actually reading the book. Getting to know the author gives the reader so much insight into who they will be as a writer. Often times it may help you understand why they choose to let certain things happen the way they do within the pages of their book. Sharon's approach to teaching is very different from the way our co-op teaches literature. For Frankenstein I had to annotate the entire novel which takes FOREVER, complete comprehension questions for each chapter, write a 10 page essay, and then I had a final exam on the novel. I liked the variety of activities to end the study, the short quizzes and opinion surveys, and the Characters in Crisis section."
Overall, I think that this is a great curriculum. I have reviewed and used Sharon Watson's curriculum before and found it to be insightful, engaging, and well liked by both my children and myself. I would definitely recommend Characters in Crisis to others.
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Thanks for your review, Jennifer! I'm glad your daughter's experience with Frankenstein in Characters in Crisis was more to her liking than her former experience! ;-)
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