Our TOG Rhetoric literature has quite a bit of analysis, which I feel perfectly fits the classical model for that age.  Although TOG has literature worksheets for the younger students, I'd rather they savor and experience the words in the book, rather than have one more written assignment to do.  However, when we first started TOG, I did want to teach the basics of literature.  That's when I pulled out IEW's "Teaching the Classics."  

     "Teaching the Classics" comes with a notebook and DVD on different aspects of basic literary analysis. After watching the DVDs, I was pleasantly surprised that I knew more than I thought I did.  Armed with the basics and a few good tips, I set out to enhance our dialectic literature studies.  Instead of using worksheets, I used our white board.   

     After reading one of our books, I put a plot diagram on a whiteboard...isn't that more fun than a worksheet? I like to use color markers for different points, perhaps green for setting, blue for rising action, red for climax and yellow for denouement.  I talked the kids through the book, and jotted down answers on the correct parts of the diagram. Soon they got the idea that a good book has the same plot structure.  After a few weeks, when this was internalyzed, we began discussing the literature book orally over lunch,  which became a Literature Club Cafe.  We liked the informal nature of the discussion. Sometimes we'd even read our favorite parts of the book, emphasizing a point we were trying to make.  One day, I got so caught up in a favorite scene, that I made a scene, acting it out in the kitchen!  The kids thought I had lost it, but I made a dramatic point!  Isn't that the fun of teaching? ;)

        In preparation for the discussions, I'd read the book myself and tag the pages with a sticky note if there was something special I wanted to be certain to share.  Some authors merely write books, fulfilling the requirements for basic plot structure. Ahem, b-o-r-i-n-g.  These books I didn't formally discuss. They were good for reliving the historical moment, since grammar and dialectic literature books are about the historical era studied. Otherwise, I didn't spend much time discussing them. However, other writers weave a tale of intricacy, either through characterization, foreshadowing, or building suspense in the plot structure.  It is a pure delight to sink into their stories, to savor the experience. These books lend themselves to teaching new literature concepts. One book from our ancient studies in TOG Year 1, Hittite Warrior, was full of foreshadowing.  On printer paper, I wrote in large colorful letters...foreshadowing.  Then during lunch, aka Literary Club Cafe, I defined foreshadowing. Then I flipped in the book to each sticky and dramatically read a sample of foreshadowing while holding up my sign. I did  that for each quote. By the time I was done reading quotes, the kids had gotten the point!  The fun part was that it did not require a worksheet! 

     Now, three years later, I don't even try to have Literary Club Cafe (I got caught up in a move from Texas to Virginia and the dust continues to settle).  However the kids sort of bring it up on their own, especially my daughter who is now doing TOG's Rhetoric literature. Barely seated, she immediately lapses into the next literary analysis of the book she is currently reading. This amazes me, considering we're going to have a formal discussion on the R book anyway, using TOG's literary analysis lesson plans. My son continues in dialectic literature, his final year before Rhetoric, and he too likes to share dramatic moments from his book.   That's another fun part of teaching, when the kids naturally carry on what I started!