Class Registration

This is a literature and composition course using the Lost Tools of Writing Level One (LTW I).

LTW I uses the classical canons of rhetoric to address the three problems writers face—coming up with something to say (Invention), ordering those ideas (Arrangement), and expressing them eloquently (Elocution). Students gather information using the Five Common Topics—Definition, Comparison, Relation, Circumstance, and Testimony. That information is then arranged into the form of a classical persuasive essay, including an Exordium (capture attention), Narratio (background), Division (common ground), Proof (main argument), Refutation (rebuttal), and Amplification (broader application). Schemes and tropes (e.g., parallelism and simile/metaphor) are incorporated to add style to the essay.

Literary selections this year feature a taste of the Greek epics, a Shakespeare play, British literature, American literature, plus something outside the British and American experience. Students will be taught how to underline and annotate their text as they read. They will also be taught to identify the Nine Narrative Elements from classical writing exercises (progymnasmata): recognition, reversal, suffering, agent, action, time, place, manner, and cause.

Materials and Resources:

• Lost Tools of Writing Level One Student Workbook purchased from the Circe Institute
• Literature
  • Students need not use a specific edition of each work unless an ISBN is provided. They must, however, have a clean hard copy with wide margins which they are free to mark liberally in order to practice underlining and annotating as they read. Electronic copies are strongly discouraged. 
  • Homer, The Iliad (tr. Peter Green) ISBN 978-0520281431
  • William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing (Folger edition recommended)
  • Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
  • Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
  • L.M. Montgomery, Rilla of Ingleside
• Assignments will be posted in Google Classroom. Students will need their own gmail account to access and submit their work.

Expectations:

• Students should plan to spend about an hour per day outside of class four days per week. 
• Writing is like playing a sport or practicing an instrument—daily practice is essential. Students are expected to let their work rest overnight before editing. All work must be edited prior to submission. 
• Students will need access to a computer to do their homework. Work done on a tablet, iPad, or cell phone is generally inferior in quality and lacks evidence of higher level thinking. 
• Each essay builds on the previous essay, adding additional components. Therefore students cannot skip an assignment or have it excused by a parent. Each assignment must be completed before moving on to the next one. 

Policies:

• Due to the importance of in-person interaction, Zoom classes will only be offered on a school-declared snow day. 
• Cell phones and all electronic devices are to be neither seen nor heard. Violators will be asked to power off their device and place it in a designated place until the end of class.
• Incomplete work will not be assessed. Late submissions will be subject to a 10% penalty.