The Classics Club

A guided tour through some of the world’s greatest and most revered
short stories, poems, essays & novels 

Cost: $300.00

~Video introductions and guides ~a diverse choice of readings ~access to audio readings ~Rubric-based personal reading responses ~a teacher-guided online discussion board ~private tutorials available

          Having seven children of my own, I know from experience in an increasingly digital world the difficulties of engaging and sustaining in them a love for reading–and especially the classics that so informed and enlightened my childhood. I also know from many years of teaching classic literature how much a thoughtful, passionate and educated approach to reading these works of literature is crucial to their sensing the value–and joy–of reading those timeless works. The books young readers like to read and the movies they enjoy watching are almost always extensions and adaptations of works in the pantheon of classic literature. It is always a joy for me when a student is able to see Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea on par with “Star Wars,” or to make real and lasting connections between The Hunger Games and The Odyssey, or to  simply find some deeper and enduring part of themselves in Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn. The Classics Club is an online course, so it can be accessed wherever you might be in the summer months.

Each student is  given a secure and password protected blog to create a reading journal for the summer–as well as to post and share in a peer group community if desired. Private tutorials are also available throughout the summer. Scholarships available.

Join The Classics Club and put the fun back in reading good stories that have stood the test of time, and discover just what makes a piece of literature be universally regarded as a “classic!”

Read Fitz’s Essay, “The Value of a Classic”

Sounds cool, but what exactly are we reading…

• Some of that is up to me and some is up to you, but here are some of the choices for this summer:

Novels:

1. Tom Sawyer
2. Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
3. Treasure Island
4. Gulliver’s Travels
5. Alice in Wonderland
6. Robinson Crusoe
7. The Wind in the Willows
8. Call of the Wild
9. Frankenstein
10. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
11. Huck Finn
12. Dracula
13. Red Badge of Courage

1. The Sniper
2. To Build a Fire
3. Tell Tale Heart
4. A&P
5. The Gift of the Magi
6. The Cask of Amontallado
7. The Most Dangerous Game
8. The Lottery
9. An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge
10. Araby
11. The Sound of Thunder
12. Saki
13. Rip Van Winkle
14. The Copper Beeches
15. The Last Question

Thanks, but that is way too much reading for me…

• It is for me, too:) but…these are just your “choices;” you are free to read whatever and how many work for you!

But I could just read these all on my own for free…

• You certainly can, but by joining The Classics Club, you will not only be reading, but we will also teach and guide you with effective active reading strategies, summaries and guiding questions; moreover, after each–or at least some–of your readings, you will be asked to write reading reflections, book reviews, and personal reading responses to share in a really cool Reading Journal Portfolio. Reading and writing cannot–or at least should not–ever be separated!

In my many years of teaching classic literature at the junior high and high school level, I’ve yet to meet a sincere reader who regrets the time he or she spent reading a true classic–and all of these novels and stories are true classics.