This is the second in a short series of posts I plan to write about teaching Plutarch.
My first post was about why we even bother teaching Plutarch.
The second post was about how to begin, including which retellings or beginner stories I like, and how to prepare less experienced students for Plutarch.
Today I will discuss the way I teach Plutarch once my child is old enough to read the North translation.
First, a few words of encouragement!
I think that most books teach themselves, if we let them. You don't need a doctorate in ancient history in order to explore Plutarch with your students. There are some preparations to make, yes, but going back to college isn't one of them! In some subjects, it truly is okay to learn alongside your student.
Also: don't overthink it, don't overcomplicate it, and keep it sustainable. Anything we do must be sustainable, whether we're homeschooling, exercising, setting up a schedule, or whatever. If it's not sustainable, it won't last.
The first thing I like to do when preparing to teach one of Plutarch's biographies is to dive into a retelling of that life. I mentioned last time that I really like Plutarch's Lives for Boys and Girls by W.H. Weston. This book contains selected lives, but if you're reading a life that is included in this book, I think it's a great way for you, as the teacher, to become familiar with the overall narrative and the character of subject. But if you're ready to dive right in, simply read the biography you are planning to teach--in the North translation!
I like to use the Anne White study guides. You may find them for free here (find the life you wish to read, then click on "study guide with text" next to it), but they're also available for purchase in book form here. One thing I like about these guides is that Anne White has broken each biography down into a dozen or so lessons. She includes a bit of vocabulary, helpful notes, and some useful questions. She has also already made the "suitable omissions" Charlotte Mason mentions, so you don't need to worry about running into something that is beyond the pale for your 12-year-old to read.
{Finn's birthday last year}
As you read, take note of important characters mentioned and places described. I like to find a few maps with these places, and keep them in a page protector in my binder for easy reference during class. It really helps everyone to be able to see where things were happening!
You may also need to look up and make notes on the pronunciation of difficult names. I stumbled my way through about a year of teaching before it dawned on me that I should prepare my pronunciation ahead of time. And I took four years of Latin in high school! Even so, it's great to brush up on how to pronounce tricky names.
If you have more than one student, I think it's imperative that they each have their own copy of Plutarch.
When beginning a lesson, set the stage by briefly recapping anything you've read before, or--if this is the first time you've read the biography--somehow set the stage by discussing the setting, the era in which the tale takes place, etc. When I taught Coriolanus, it was quite interesting for us to record his lifetime on a timeline and compare it with Julius Caesar's lifetime. So often we think "ancient history" is all clumped together into one crumbling era, but Coriolanus lived several hundred years before Julius Caesar. In order to emphasize this, we compared life in the 21st Century with life in the 17th Century. Granted, the Industrial Revolution seems to have sped things along, but still. The changes in fashion, in the world, in politics, in country borders...a lot can happen in a few hundred years.
I believe it is imperative that you (the adult) read the text, and your students follow along in their own books. Plutarch is tough. It's going to be tough for a student to read the text in an engaging way, pronouncing everything correctly, and still understand enough of the story to narrate it. You read; they read along. It just works better this way. Read with as much expression as you can, and if that means you need to practice reading ahead of time--do it! It's worth it to inject interest into the story. (As you grow accustomed to reading Plutarch, this pre-reading will be unnecessary because you'll become more "fluent.") And I do think the students need their own copies! I began Plutarch by reading aloud while the students in my class listened, but it didn't take me long to figure out that they probably needed the visual assistance a text can provide. My own son has an auditory processing delay, so I am sensitive about this issue. Once I provided all the students with their own copies of the texts, the narrations took off!
{we get lots of rainbows around here}
A few tips on narrations: do not expect too much from your students at first. Read short chunks and have them narrate bit-by-bit. Also, listen attentively! It goes without saying that narration time isn't the time to zone out or check your watch. The student is working hard when he or she is narrating, and they deserve your full attention. :)
I know that opinions vary on this point, but if I'm getting absolutely nothing out of a student, I'll switch gears and ask leading questions, or employ the Socratic method. I suppose this is part of my legal training! I find that once I can draw a little bit out, some discussion can begin--and yes, I count thoughtful discussion as *good* quality narration. I believe discussion implies some assimilation and ownership.
You may also employ alternative methods of narration: try a drawing narration, or an acting narration (the latter is especially popular with middle school boys and battle scenes...ask me how I know).
I keep a running character quality list in my notebook or in the back of the book we are reading. During each class, I write some of these qualities on the board, and as we read, I welcome students to add to it. Some of our best discussions spring from looking at these lists. You can also have students add important dates (such as crossing the Rubicon) to their Book of Centuries, if they keep one. (The Book of Centuries is essentially a timeline of history--on steroids. This is the one we use! I have a copy and Finn has a copy. Annie will receive one either this fall or next fall.)
Next time I'll write a little bit about teaching Plutarch in group settings.
* * *
And in other news: today I finished the first draft of my first book. (Well, the first book I've written since I was 12 years old.) I printed it and it's sitting in a respectable pile of papers at my side, 94,000 words and ready to be edited.
I can't believe it!
I finished my book!
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