Classical Composition
Classical Composition PDF Print E-mail

Fourth Grade (First Year)

COURSE TITLE:  English Composition I: Fable Stagesamplecourseplan


COURSE TEXTS:

Classical Composition Vol. I: Fable Stage Teacher Manual (CCFS) (T1551A)
Classical Composition Vol. I: Fable Stage Student Workbook (CCFSSW) (T1551)

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Classical Composition instructs the novice writer as though he or she were an apprentice to the great master writers. Instruction is based on imitation. Beginning by making the student aware of the structure of sound writing, and proceeding by giving the student the tools to imitate it, the course ends by equipping the student to design his own sound writing. The course begins by acquainting the student with models from which he can gain a sound grasp of structure. Then sentence and word
variation, figures of description, rhetorical devices, and stylistic considerations are introduced slowly – all in service of the message to be communicated. At the end of the full course a student should emerge as a writer who can ascertain the purpose of any given writing task and employ the best means of completing the task to communicate the message.

The full course is set forth in substance and sequence in the Fable Stage Teacher Manual, a complete, self-contained course that is part of a series. The Student Workbook compliments each lesson. English Composition I: Fable Stage is suitable for introducing classical composition to 4th or 5th graders. It may also be used with upper grammar school students whose writing background has not included classical composition instruction.

Classical Composition Vol. I: Fable Stage Teacher Manual and the corresponding Student Workbook are the primary texts for this course. The child should write every school day, utilizing Fridays for writing instruction or practice, if the parent wishes to
stay with the schedule as written. Parents are free to double-up on lessons depending on the rate at which their children absorb the lesson and according to the schedule they have established for their home school. The final week of every quarter is written to double-up on the lessons in order to finish out the course in the traditional thirty-six (36) weeks. Quarterly exams have also been supplied to be used as the parent decides. The lessons are set forth on a 10 day cycle by the publisher, but as Kolbe parents you may adapt the pace and coverage to your own schedules.

Read carefully and follow the Introduction to the Progymnasmata in the text itself. As an additional aid, Kolbe Academy has gone through the course as outlined in the text and has made instructional suggestions, scheduling the activities and assignments according to the familiar Kolbe course plan format. Of course, you are free to accelerate or slow your implementation of the program to meet your child's needs as you see fit.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Develop in the student an appreciation for sound writing
  • Inculcate in the student the habits of good writers through imitation of their structure and style
  • Equip the apprentice writer to become an analytical reader and writer
    Provide techniques the student writer can employ to reason his way to the best approach to take and solution to implement for any given writing task
  • Prepare the student writer to generate ideas, organize those ideas, and express those ideas well by providing him with structured practice in invention, arrangement, and decoration (discovery, organization, and elocution)
  • Develop a shared vocabulary and practice in classical writing between the teacher and student
  • Lay the foundation for the student to grow in his skill and understanding of writing