Course Description

Level 9 students return to deeply explore classical literature of ancient civilizations, including texts such as The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh. Students newer to L.A.M.P. will likely meet these texts for the first time, and depending on assessment, they will be assigned lots of reading to catch up before the first session. This level emphasizes:

• Reading strategies to comprehend challenging classical texts; identifying a text’s theme and examining how it emerges and is developed over the arc of the narrative.
• Analyzing the development of complex characters in relation to theme
• Examining how text structure and manipulation of time influences the reader’s experience of a story; denotative and connotative meanings of words and their effects on meaning, mood, and formal or informal tone; analyzing how rhyme, sound, and form contribute to meaning; analyzing analogies and allusions to other texts such as myths or religious works; comparing and contrasting different text forms and how these forms contribute to meaning; probing how authors transform ideas from different sources and the significance of this transformation.
• Writing and grammar instruction includes developing arguments and counterarguments fairly, providing evidence for each and specifying the strengths and limitations of both; using words, phrases, and clauses to cohesively clarify relationships between claims and counterclaims; diagramming sentences; practicing a formal and objective tone in analytical writing; using precise domain-specific language when making a claim; introduction to progymnasmata
• Practice using language and story devices to write short stories, personal narrative, and investigative articles
• Selected literature and history that intertwine in Ancient Civilization (BC 5000-400 AD)

Small Classes

There is maximum of 6 students per cohort (6:1 student-to-teacher ratio) to ensure personal attention.