As I am getting ready to start our school (tomorrow!) and so I was reading several documents to prepare.

I discovered that the assigned summer reading for beginning rhetoric students included the introduction, ch. 2, 7 and 9 of Leland Ryken's "Words of Delight". My student (who is a continuing student, not beginning) did not read these pages as we only received our year plan recently. (and she read Augustine's Confessions)

This title is part of the literature assignments and we are going to be reading it, however, I am not finding these pages assigned elsewhere in the year plan. Week One simply begins on page 35 and future assignments are similar. Specific pages assigned.

I guess I am confused. Should I have my student read the intro and other chapters assigned as summer reading now or can I have her skip this material? I am loathe to assign her more than she needs as she already has quite a full load. But at the same time I don't want her to be lost or as a disadvantage for NOT having read the material.

Hope this makes sense and someone can help me.

Thanks!

Lisa in AZ

Hi Lisa. :-) First of all, let me relieve your mind. When I assign summer reading, I don't then assume in my class plans that students have done those assignments. Summer reading is a great way to get ahead, but your student won't be behind if she hasn't done it.

In addition, you will find that the most important pages from Chapters 7 and 9 of Ryken are assigned as part of your student's work for Week 2 (see page 22 of that weekplan). The important parts of Chapter 2 are spread all through the Story Analysis document (on the Loom, which is assigned in Week 3). So, bottom line, don't worry about any of it!

I should probably mention that if your student is a continuing student, she should already have read those sections of Ryken's book as part of her studies last year (Redesign Year 1). They were assigned in Weeks 8, 18, and 19. If your student is coming from Redesign Year 1, I'm wondering a little why you aren't saying "she's already read this; does she need to read it again?" Of course, if you are coming from Classic Year 1 (in which case your student is technically a Beginner, since she hasn't completed a year of REDESIGNED R-level Lit), or if you decided to skip Ryken last year, I can understand why this assignment might not sound like a broken record to you. :-)

My point is that either your student WILL get the important pages at some point (besides the assignments I mentioned that are in Y2 itself, Ryken's book is assigned as summer reading each year for those who have not yet read it), or she ALREADY has read them in the past. Either way, she wins. :-)

I'm excited for you both as you begin this school year! God bless your teaching and her learning.

C.J. Somerville

Aha! I get it! Thank you very much!

We completed Year One, Classic last year. So, you are correct. We did not complete Year one Redesign. I did not realize that meant that techincally speaking she is a beginner. I have not had a chance to read over all the teacher's pages and I realize I am starting early and not everything from TOG related to Literature is available on The Loom yet. I will keep in mind she is technically a Beginner though as I assign her lit work.

Thanks again!
Lisa

Our family did Dialectic level Lit last year, but I am already overwhelmed with trying to wade through all the Literature information just on the Loom trying to decide what my beginning, not incredibly acedemically motivated, Rhet. student needs.

In reading the Medieval Frameworks on the Loom, I see the reassuring statement, "The first thing you need to know about this document is that you will be reading it slowly, bit by bit, over the course of Unit 1 and part of Unit 2."
However, the week 1 reading assignment simply states "Medieval Frameworks supplement on the Loom" That looks to me like the student is expected to read the whole document. Where is the bit-by-bit?

Thanks, Rhonda

Rhonda
Excellent question! I don't have an answer for you. I looked at the document online and I can see where it has a chart on page two, and I suspect that chart should be filled out, but it is not. If you look at the Renaissance Frameworks and Age of Reason Frameworks, etc, you can see the charts at the beginning are filled out. So I suspect that although it is meant to be filled out, since TOG presented Year Two redesign over the course of the year, it just did not get done.

So although that explains perhaps, it doesn't help you now does it!

When we started Year Two last fall, my student read the entire document, however, I do not believe the document as it exists today was the same document she read. In others workds Medieval Frameworks was added to and otherwise edited over the course of the year.

Hopefully CJ will catch this and be able to give you a more specific answer. In the meantime I suggest your student reads Parts one, three, and four for sure. The information in those sections will help him/her appreciate and be able to participate in the literature discussion included for week one. Particularly the information regarding Worldview will be important.

I wouldn't feel too bad for your student if he/she read the entire document. It might be a bit more for them to process but it is only about 21 pages of actual reading. The students literature reading is only nine pages in three other books, so over the course of an entire week, it is not too much, even when figuring in their history reading.

Let me say I sympathize with you in regard to your less than academically motivated rhetoric student. I have one of those. LOL! As an encouragement I suggest you read CJ Somerville's post from January 28th that is on the Year two literature forum. The title of the thread is "Rhetoric Literature-week 20-genres". It's about half way down the page. The original person who posted is "brandtclan" In her response to this post CJ talks about subbing in a literature class and her delight in seeing the students abilities. I loved reading it as it so describes my daughter. Despite the work she is has a much better understanding of literature and superior appreciation of literature and best of all....she thinks about what she reads now! Thank you Tapestry!

Hope this helps!
Lisa in AZ

Aw, thanks Lisa. :-) Yes, I keep hearing people say "we were in tears at first, but now my student is really growing in literary skills and we're so glad we did it!" That's always hugely encouraging. Thank God!

Rhonda, basically what happened is that we did have people read and discuss the whole "Medieval Frameworks" in Week 1. Then, as we were finishing up the Redesign of Year 2, we realized that we could have them read it bit by bit over the course of the unit (and, for some parts, over the course of the year!). But we only realized this AFTER most folks finished Unit 1. Obviously, this was a work in progress. :0/ So, we started to change the document to the bit-by-bit assignments, planning to release that version when we release the Y2 Loom. And... I guess what happened is that somebody posted the new version before we'd actually filled in all the assignments.

All of which boils down to a big fat "Ooops!" But, be reassured, the bit-by-bit assignments WILL (God willing) be filled in when we actually send out the Y2 Loom, and your student will not be reading everything in the first week. :-)

Sorry for the confusion! I hope this clears it up for you.
Christy Somerville

Christy, You cannot imagine what a relief that is to read! Not having a very strong Lit background, I was really in a quandry about what was appropriate. I don't suppose that you have a good idea as to when that Loom will be sent out do you? I'm sure there is a post somewhere telling, but with the wealth of places for information, I sometimes get a bit lost. : ) Grace & Peace, Rhonda

Well, I can't tell you exactly when it will be out because the dates aren't firm and we try not to give them out anyway (so as not to set false expectations), but God willing you will have it well before you need to start school. Meanwhile, you'll find that much of it is posted already on the existing Loom 2. We will be tweaking what is there as we get ready to release it, but it's not going to change an awful lot in substance. So, if you want to bone up over the summer, feel free to read! :-)

Christy