I have been asked by the Univ. of Texas to develop some curriculum for the state of Texas' TAKS test that children must pass to graduate. It is a test at the 11th grade level and I need to develop this curriculum based on some classic authors. Care to share with me some of your favorites?

I particularly would like to work with Twain, Hemingway, Faulkner, but what about you?

Stephen

Note from thenostromo: Welcome to Quoteland and glad you are enjoying it.
I am copying this request to the "General Discussion" forum where I think it may get a better response.

[This message was edited by thenostromo on 03-11-04 at 10:47 AM.]

I guess you are just asking for anyone to blurt out their favorite "classic" authors? It probably depends on how you define "classic." I wouldn't have thought of Hemingway or Faulkner as a first thought as being "classic," but they are certainly well respected.
My first thoughts are Thomas Hardy and Joseph Conrad. I like Byron very much and I think Oscar Wilde was a brilliant writer.


"Before you go to bed, give up all your troubles to God. He's going to be up all night anyway."

Jack London
Victor Hugo
Alexandre Dumas
Mary Shelley
the Bronte sisters
Thomas Hardy
George Orwell
William Golding
Harper Lee
Robert Louis Stevenson
C.S. Lewis
Tolkien
Poe
Twain
Hawthorne
Arthur Miller
Thornton Wilder

I trust people. I just don't trust the devil inside them. - The Italian Job

In this quintessential adventure story, Jack London takes readers on an arduous journey through the forbidding Alaskan landscape during the gold rush of the 1890s. Buck, a rangy mixed breed used to a comfortable, sun-filled life as a family dog, is stolen by a greedy opportunist and sold to dog traffickers. In no time, Buck finds himself on a team of sled dogs run ragged in the harsh winter of the Klondike. In a climate where every day is a savage struggle for survival.




http://dotshopper.net/books/20thcentury.shtml

One of the Best Classic Author's I have read is J.D. Salinger. Also J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, H.G. Wells, E.A. Poe, and Alexandre Dumas. All these people are great and should be part of anybody's reading list.

Solitary Confinement

Oh awesome! Thank you. There are some of those that I hadn't even thought of. I am currently working on section of the test that requires children to analyze poetry. I am using Poe's, "The Raven" as part of the exercise.

I probably should have explained why I asked for "classic" authors. The authors' copyrights have had to have run out for the state to be able to use them in their tests unless previous arrangements have been made with the author or author's estate. So it is just easier to choose older but worthwhile literature where the copyrights have expired.

Thanks again.

Stephen

P.S. Sorry for the orignial misplacement of the message.

To my knowledge the required set reading at my school for years 10-11 GCSE English are as are subject to targetting at streamed tiers and are as follows:

William Golding- Lord of The Flies
Of Mice and Men- John Steinbeck
Animal Farm- George Orwell

Hope that is of some help.

Grant.

Stella Splendens
December 22, 1985 - March 27, 2003
RIP
...Always.

To be honest, I have a degree in lit and I've never read Faulkner. Sadly, maybe, I've never heard of Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad, Jack London, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Arthur Miller, Thornton Wilder, Robert Louis Stevenson, H.G. Wells.

I read William Golding- Lord of The Flies in high school, Animal Farm and Of Mice and Men were also on the reading list. I should have also read Jane whatever, by one of the Bronte's (sorry I've read too much, it all runs together), which I didn't (I didn't read any of the three times it was assigned)

What about Beowulf? Cantaberry (sp) Tales? (I read both in High School). Milton?

Where are the American authors? Hawthorne and O'Conner are great to analyze (they teach it in 101-102 eng). Whitman? Longfellow (not the best but taught in high school).
We also read, A Brave New World.

Maestro, shouldn't the test be based on what they have read in school? Will they know beforehand which authors are covered?

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All these people are great and should be part of anybody's reading list.

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Ah, yes, the problem, so little time, so much to read. What do we read with the time we have? I've read Poe and Salinger in high school, and one thing by C.S. Lewis on my own freshman year of college.

what did Arthur Miller write? I picturing high school, but I can't see anything.

*leaves feeling sad*

Life is real--life is earnest--/ And the grave is not the goal:/ Dust thou art, to dust returnest,/ Was not spoken of the soul. (5-8) Longfellow "A Psalm of Life"

"And if anyone says in a loud voice "Bother, it's Eeyore" I can drop out again."

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what did Arthur Miller write?

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Didn't he write "Death of a Salesman?"

Thanks, that sounds right, I was thinking "A Street Car Named Desire" for some reason.

I contain too much information and it's all jumbled up and useless.

Life is real--life is earnest--/ And the grave is not the goal:/ Dust thou art, to dust returnest,/ Was not spoken of the soul. (5-8) Longfellow "A Psalm of Life"

"And if anyone says in a loud voice "Bother, it's Eeyore" I can drop out again."

I see some people have named CS Lewis on here. I have a few quotes from him that I enjoy, so could anyone recommend some of his books that I could read?

I'm also looking for some by Lewis Carroll. I love the whole "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" books...are there any more that you guys think are worth a read?

Thanks.

EDIT: I just realized this is probably under the wrong topic to ask those questions...I'm sorry! But if anyone could either start a PT or give me a quick answer, I'd appreciate it.

-AmyB.

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." -Galadriel, Lord of the Rings

It would be criminal not to include Plato's Republic.

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Language is nothing more than shared normative conception that 2+3=5.

I read some Plato in college, but not in high school. Also, Emerson, Dickison, Thoreau Robert Frost, "The Road not Taken.(all read in high school)


AmyBeth, the only C.S Lewis book I read was The Four Loves, easy read if I remember.

Life is real--life is earnest--/ And the grave is not the goal:/ Dust thou art, to dust returnest,/ Was not spoken of the soul. (5-8) Longfellow "A Psalm of Life"

"And if anyone says in a loud voice "Bother, it's Eeyore" I can drop out again."

Point being, The Republic should be read in high school.

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Language is nothing more than shared normative conception that 2+3=5.

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what did Arthur Miller write?
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Didn't he write "Death of a Salesman?"

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He also wrote "The Crucible"

I trust people. I just don't trust the devil inside them. - The Italian Job

Lewis Carroll:
An Elementary Treatise on Determinants
Lewis Carroll's Symbolic logic

Two of his best.

Ladon:
I agree. I also believe that Descartes should be read in school and when calculus is taught, Newton's original essays should be read.

Oscar Wilde! Literary genius.

I have made this letter longer than usual, because I lack the time to make it short. -Blaise Pascal

The Crucible! That's what we read in high school.

Also, the Sarlet Letter (Hawthorne)

Life is real--life is earnest--/ And the grave is not the goal:/ Dust thou art, to dust returnest,/ Was not spoken of the soul. (5-8) Longfellow "A Psalm of Life"

"And if anyone says in a loud voice "Bother, it's Eeyore" I can drop out again."

What about:

-Dante
-Thoreau
-Sylvia Plath
-Shakespeare
-James Joyce
-T.S. Eliot
-e.e. cummings
-Harper Lee
-John Steinbeck

All on the list are novelists (except for Eliot and cummings; Plath wrote one novel "The Bell Jar"

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Originally posted by EeyoreLynn:

Maestro, shouldn't the test be based on what they have read in school? Will they know beforehand which authors are covered?

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Thanks for references and ideas on authors I could use. To answer your question EeyoreLynn, no, there is no need for the child to have previous knowledge of this. The activities are being done as skill practice for those children having trouble with reading skills, identifying main idea, causalities, problem and solutions, summarizing, making inferences and generalizations, etc... I just wanted to use authentic literature as part of the reading text that the child would have to read to practice these skills. In the next few months it should be on-line through the Univ. of Texas. I'll let you know when. Not all I do may make it in, but we'll see.



Stephen

Maestro, cool. I misunderstood what you were doing. Lots of the authors would be great.

I haven't even read Dante yet. (that's what I get for taking 4 Am. Lit classes)

So who wrote "A Street Car Named Desire"?

Life is real--life is earnest--/ And the grave is not the goal:/ Dust thou art, to dust returnest,/ Was not spoken of the soul. (5-8) Longfellow "A Psalm of Life"

"And if anyone says in a loud voice "Bother, it's Eeyore" I can drop out again."