Junior High Literature

The course is comprised of classic literature, poetry, short stories, and the lives of saints.  There is a suggested amount of time in which to cover each book.  Parents, possibly with the assistance of the student, are to select the proper number of books to fit into each quarter.  A complete course in poetry and a complete course of short stories are included; each is designed to cover one quarter.  A well-rounded literature course for each year might include novels and lives of saints for three quarters and either the poetry or the short story course for one quarter.

For some of the books listed in the course plan we have recommended reading the introduction and/or preface.  Many times they contain pertinent background information that will help the student more fully understand what he is about to read.  When we have made the recommendation to read these, it is based on the editions of the book that we carry.  Parents should take care to read any introductory material in editions other than ours before assigning the material to students.  Oftentimes, especially in more recent editions of books, the introductory materials contain objectionable thoughts and ideas.

Students taking this course will have an exam after each text or unit.  Additionally, students should expect to have daily reading and minor weekly written assignments or quizzes.

Assignment due-dates and grades are established by the parent.  Optionally, a student may be enrolled in the Self-Paced Plus© grading assistance program to receive grading assistance from a Kolbe Academy faculty or staff member on designated assignments in the course.  In this case, parents will still submit final grades to Kolbe for the course, but may choose to incorporate the graded assignments into the student’s overall grade or use the Kolbe-graded assignments to assist in arriving at the student’s final grade.

Vocabulary will be incorporated into the course and will be relevant to the literary works read in class. 

Poetry:

• The Song of Hiawatha
  
• A Collection of Poetry

Short Stories:

• The Gift of the Magi & Other Short Stories
• The Story of the Other Wise Man
• The Old Man & the Sea
• Three Short Stories
• A Christmas Carol
  

Novels:

• Dandelion Wine
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• The Fellowship of the Ring
• Anne of Green Gables
• The Red Badge of Courage
• Oliver Twist
• Animal Farm

Saints:

• St. Maximilian Kolbe
• St. Kateri Tekakwitha

Optional Materials

Digital copies are provided in the Parent Group of the Self-Paced course.  Physical copies are available for purchase in the Kolbe Bookstore.

• Junior High Literature Course Plan & Tests, Kolbe Academy Publishing
• Junior High Literature Workbook, Kolbe Academy Publishing
• Junior High Literature Teacher Manual, Kolbe Academy Publishing

Self-Paced Plus courses include the following:

• Grading by a highly qualified teacher for selected assignments (listed below) in the course.
• Access to teacher through the course’s discussion board.
• Option to report grade given by the teacher, or to report a grade assigned by parent.
• The pacing is still established by the parent in conjunction with the student’s goals and academic calendar. 
• Assignments will be graded within 1-2 weeks of the submission date, excluding holiday breaks.  (For the quickest grading, students should turn assignments in incrementally throughout the year.  If a student turns in multiple assignments to be graded at once, expect a response time of 1-2 weeks per assignment submitted.)

Self-Paced Plus Assignment List:

*We developed a rubric to assist in grading the paper assignments.  Each paper assignment will have the rubric available for the student in the course.