SUMMER PROGYMNASMATA

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Course Overview Application Procedure

Instructor:
Mrs. "Magistra Robinson

RCA Application Procedures

Class Meeting Times
Grade Level: 6th - 9th
Credits: NA
Delivery Method: Email Correspondence
Fees: $220
Course Materials Cost: Books
Academic Year: 2008-2009
Day: Monday - Friday

Time: Email response within 24 hours except weekends and holidays. Friday assignments due by 12 Noon Eastern.

Start Date: June 16th (no class Friday, July 4th)
End Date: August 4th

Course Description 

Progymnasmata Course Description
From the Hellenistic period to the renaissance in Europe, students learned to speak and write logically and clearly by practicing various exercises known as the progymnasmata. These rudimentary exercises not only aided students in prose composition, but also taught them elementary rhetoric. In the Angus Dei Writing Program, students will complete several variations of each progymnasmaton, moving from one level to the next, enhancing their composition and rhetorical skills with each level.

The first progymnasmaton, the fable, requires students to expand several of Aesop's fables in order to improve the clarity and quality of their own writing, and to recognize rhetorical devices used by great authors. For these exercises, students will re-write fables, amplify them, and convert them into poems, using various tools of amplification, including figures of description, speech, pathos, dialogue, among others. Students will also be introduced to rhyme scheme and meter through the exercises involving poetry writing, thus preparing them for more advanced literary studies encountered in the college preparatory program. This writing program is recommended for students in grades 3 through 10. Although students may enroll at any time, space is limited. Delayed application may result in a student being placed on a waiting list until an opening occurs. When beginning a program, students may send the instructor one email per weekday, in order to receive step by step assistance with each assignment. All email will be answered by the instructor within 24 hours of receipt, except weekends and holidays. Emails sent during weekend hours will be answered the following Monday.

The 14 levels that will be covered in the entire Agnus Dei writing program are:

Fable - see a Sample Lesson a
Narrative
Anecdote
Proverb
Refutation
Confirmation
Commonplace
Encomium
Vituperation
Comparison
Impersonation
Description
Thesis or Theme
Defend/Attack a Law

This writing program is recommended for students in grades 6 through 9. Ideally a student would begin as early as typing skills permit, as the older student may not be able to complete enough levels to fully develop his skills. Internalizing the thinking and writing skills necessary cannot be done hurriedly; learning to think and write clearly requires years of consistent discipline and practice.

When beginning a program, students may send the instructor one email per weekday, in order to receive step by step assistance with eachassignment. (All emails received after 8 a.m. are answered the following day. Email is not answered on Saturday or Sunday or during holidays.)

Promotion from one level to the next is individualized. The instructor will provide due dates for each step of each exercise; students will continue to work at a given level until they have mastered the skills and earned an "A". Hence, the program meets the needs of students of varying degrees of skill, background, and innate talent. Students who successfully complete all fourteen levels will be prepared for the advanced writing expected in upper level ISLAS courses. The program includes a live class for each level once per month. However, this live class is not mandatory for students, since the typing proficiency of younger students makes participation difficult. Although attendance during the live class is not necessary to earn an "A" for the level, students will find that the live class enhances their learning experience; parents of young students may type for them in order to enable participation.

1. Is this a complete writing curriculum?
Yes, it is a complete program which combines step by step instruction with repetitive exercises at each level. Learning to think and write well requires much time and effort; this program provides six to eight years' of consistent, incremental instruction, depending on the student's ability and the frequency with which he writes. It is most effective when begun early and used continuously.

2. What is the difference between the Progymnasmata and the course in Classical English Composition?
The classical English composition course is a two-year college prep sequence in which the 14 levels of the Progymnasmata are presented in abridged fashion and has been instituted for students who have had no opportunity to complete all the tools of amplification presented in the full six to eight year sequence. Students are able to generate only one project in each of the fourteen levels and will use fewer tools of amplification; by contrast, the Progymnasmata constintue a complete sequence. Progymnasmata students will produce several different projects at each level, and will learn to use a virtually complete set of amplifications. For more information on the tools of amplification, visit Dr. Gideon Burton's Silva Rhetorica.

3. Does the Progymnasta program prepare a student for college writing?
Yes. One of the college professor's most frequent comments on student essays is, "Your idea is good but not sufficiently developed." Such a criticism will never be applied to a skilled veteran of the progymnasmata. At the university level, students most often encounter persuasive and comparison/contrast type-essay assignments in their courses. If a student at the junior high or high school level advances through the 14 levels of the progymnasmata, he learns the tools and internalizes the methods he needs to tackle either of these essay types, as well as other essay forms. For example, through the fable, narrative and descriptive levels, a student acquires the foundation for writing narrative and descriptive essays and acquires skill in using tools for their development or amplification. At the chreia, proverb, comparison and vituperation levels, the student learns the art of comparing and contrasting people, ideas, myths and other forms of literature. Through all 14 levels, students gain the skills for writing persuasive essays and speeches. In addition, the student enrolled in the progymnasmata learns basics in creative writing forms, such as fiction and poetry writing. Finally, the course provides frequent writing and revising opportunities for the student, enabling him to master grammar, spelling, and punctuation while polishing his style.

4. How quickly can a student progress through the 14 levels of the progymnasmata course?
Since the course is self-paced, there is no a set timeline for a student to complete the course. A student's progression through the course is dependent on his ability and persistence. Learning to think clearly and express thoughts effectively is a skill that requires time and repetition; there are no short cuts, nor silver bullets. Wisely did the Romans say, Repetitio est mater studiorum (Repetition is the mother of learning).

5.Why so many drafts?
We believe it is better for students not to be overwhelmed with numerous changes per draft, so the student and instructor will tackle a couple of issues at a time. The student then revises the draft until it approaches perfection.

6.Must I write the instructor every day?
No. Obviously, the more a student works on and the sooner he turns in his writing, the sooner he will move into the next level. However, some students may want to take a couple of days at a time to work on their assignments before turning them in to the instructor. At times, backing off from a project for a day or so helps a student see the work more clearly and a bit of distance also gives his creative powers an opportunity to flourish. Such breaks should be structured in to projects, however, and not unduly extended.

7.My child enjoys creative writing. Will he be able to use creative writing in this course?
In this course, the students learn elements of fiction and poetry writing as it corresponds to each assignment (for example: when it comes to using dialogue tags, using anything other than the word 'said' can come across to the reader as melodramatic.) Although all types of writing involve creativity, several of the levels, such as the fable, description and commonplace are particularly suited for students who enjoy writing fiction or poetry.

8.My child doesn't enjoy creative writing. What's in this course for him?
The main requirement of a student is that he meet the objectives of each lesson (using proper tools of amplification, meeting grammar and punctuation requirments, etc.) "Creativity", in the sense of possessing a talent for fiction or poetry, is not a requirement of this course, however, don't be surprised if your student learns he has more of a creative flair than he realized. After completing the progymnasmata, a student should be able to write more logically, concisely, and with fewer errors.

9.What exactly, are the progymnasmata?
They are a structured series of exercises in expanding or developing thought through writing. They were the classical preparation for rhetoric, or persuasive writing and speaking. For more information, see the course description and the Silva Rhetorica, developed by Dr. Gideon Burton of Brigham Young University.

10.From where did the progymnasmata come?
Rhetoric has been an important element of western civilization from its inception; wherever masters have taught, they have created various exercises for their students; the best known, though not the earliest, manuals of rules and exercises for composition are those of Hermogenes, a Greek rhetorician of the late second century and Apthonius, of the fourth century. Early Church Fathers -- Tertullian, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine -- adapted classical rhetoric for use in Christian discourse and the humanists of the European Renaissance revived Cicero and Quintilian as rhetorical models. The progymnasmata are still discernible, though in a degraded form, in modern composition pedagogy.

11. What makes the progymnasmata effective?
One, the student learns composition and rhetoric tools that will outlast the program itself. The student can use these tools for writing essays in high school, college and beyond. Two, the student learns from the masters. He learns to imitate and expand fables from Aesop, and narratives from Ovid, and legal arguments from Cicero. He also studies classical techniques of amplification as they are used by authors of later historical periods (even -- gasp! -- the twentieth century!), thus gaining an appreciation of the timelessness of the skills he is gaining Three, the progymnasmata provide the student a set methodical, incremental structure, building skill upon skill and internalizing the skills taught by repetition throughout increasingly complex forms of discourse.

12. Is this program "neo-classical"?
For a program to be something other than neo-classical, the students would have to read from original Greek and Latin texts, and write all their work in those languages. Needless to say, we don't do that (although there are a couple of ISLAS classes that come close). Also, we have one live class a month via IRC (Gasp! What would Socrates say?) and students post all their assignments on the Internet (once they earn "As"), so students can learn from and appreciate one another's work.

13. How does this fit into the trivium?
The trivium consists fundamentally of language arts; it is important to understand that the grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric stages of the trivium are not hermetically sealed from one another but rather they form a seamless whole. A student will be using and simultaneously increasing his knowledge of grammar, his ability to argue a point, and his ability to persuade through the entire trivium. Hence, the progymnasmata do not "fit in" as much as they form the backbone of the trivium. For example, the "poetic logic" of the fable and the narrative flow naturally to the dialectic level's formal and material logic, just as the dialectical stage hones the reasoning faculty, deemed by Aristotle the highest form of persuasion available to the skilled rhetor.

Prerequisites: None.
Course Materials: Students may order required course materials from St. John's Bookshoppe or another bookseller.  Purchasing books through St. John's helps the school provide scholarships.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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