12

Unit 1: Introduction to Great Books

Lessons 1 and 2: The Great Books and Ways of Reading
Duration: 3 Hours

Introduction

This module will help you understand and discuss the rudimentary or basic principles
of Great Books in general and the masterpieces which are carefully selected in
particular. By using this module, you will have a grasp of what reading is all about,
the books which have dramatically impacted humanity, its forms, genres and
approaches to critically appreciate these masterpieces. Also, you will encounter
exercises that can help deepen your comprehension and will give you link on how
the study of literature will help you to become an ideal graduate of Bulacan State
University.

Great Books as defined in CHED CMO no. 20 s. 2013 are selected masterpieces to
be read in their entirety. To further this, it is a body of masterpieces of the world
which have been accepted by modern scholars and academicians and it is believed
that these texts have contributed the ways and line of thinking of human civilization
across time and space.

Objectives/Competencies

1. Demystify the underlying premises of the study of Great Books;

2. Explain the importance of Great Books;

3. Define Great Books and identify literary pieces attributed to it;

4. Unravel various reading strategies, and

5. Acquaint with different approaches to interpret literary texts.

 13

PRETEST (3-2-1 Process)

Name: Dela cruz, John Leonard M. Date: November 2,2020

Course & Section:BIT-3A G1 Score: __________

Pretest 1

The 3-2-1 process provides a structure for student meaning making and
summarizing of key points in a learning experience. Please provide your answers for
each item being requested below:

3 words which come to your mind when you hear “Great Books”
Novel
Literature
Historical

2 questions which you would like to ask from your instructor about Great Books
1. Is there a lot pr reason why great books is so historical?

1 expectation about this course

I expect to learn a lot about this subject even the way of learning has a lot of
struggles

Pretest 2

Description: K-W-L (Ogle, 1986) is an instructional reading strategy that is used to

guide students through a text. Students begin by brainstorming everything they
Know about a topic. This information is recorded in the K column of a K-W-L chart.
Students then generate a list of questions about what they Want to Know about the
topic. These questions are listed in the W column of the chart. During or after
reading, students answer the questions that are in the W column. This new
information that they have Learned is recorded in the L column of the K-W-L chart.

Directions: Answer the KWL chart, and identify what you know, what you want to
know and what you have learned about “Reading”

K W L
 14

Lesson Proper/Course Methodology

Activity

For 14-15 minutes, you ought to watch a short video on Youtube about Great Books.
Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAj-c4DuVu8 . You may refer to
these guide questions below before watching the video:

For students of purely remote learning only, cite books which you have read or you
are familiar with, cite its content or story, and how does it affect your life. Write your
answer with at least 3-5 sentences.

1. Cite at least 3 books presented in the video and identify the recurring themes.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
________.

2. How do these books gain impact from the readers through time?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
_______.

3. If given the chance, what book would you like to read from the presentation?
Why?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
________.
 15

Analysis

The Great Books

Books have been an indispensable part of human civilization. Since time

immemorial, writings cannot be denied as an important tool for recording our history,
experiences, and human thoughts. To this day, many books have been greatly
affected our society and general movement. Thoughts which were product of our
creative minds acquired knowledge and gained experiences through time. Many
known and established writers were able to put these experiences into writings and
some have been part of our life. Day to day we encounter reading materials which
entertain our soul, whether digital or print, and others have been kept in our personal
library and there are some which we encounter in school’s library or maybe your
special someone’s favorite text.

Of course, many of us are familiar with Shakespeare, Decameron, Chaucer, Poe,

Marlow, Browning and other writers whose names we cannot forget not only
because they are prolific but more because of their works. Many of their magnum
opuses also have been part of our curricula from junior high school to senior high
school, and now we will experience them again for a more critical and enduring study
of their life and works.

Below are some of the titles which are considered to have affected the civilizations:

Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species

Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince
Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams
Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace
 Life Ideas Previous 16
The Writer Characters Interpretation

culture
Mark Twain’s
TheHuckleburry
Work Finn Connections
One Thousand and One Nights (Anonymous)
structure Content
Victor Hugo’s Les Meserables Historical
Artistic/literary

Reading and Interpreting the Literary Texts

Professor Dilig of the De La Salle University (Ang, 2012) presented various ways of
reading and interpreting texts, these views of reading will help readers to become
critical in reading and build connections among the elements and from the texts and
the world.

Ways of Looking at Literature (Dilig; Ang, 2012)

Literary Work

Writer Reader

Critical Perspective on Literature (Dilig; Ang, 2012)

 Culture

The Reader 17
Life

In understanding the diagrams about the Critical Perspective on Literature, the

following questions should be considered by the readers:

The Writer’s Life

1. Who wrote the text?

2. What kind of person was he or she?
3. How old was the writer when the poem was written?

The Writer’s Culture

1. In what place and time was it written?

2. What was going on at the time?
3. What events and ideas were important?
4. What was the world view?

The Work (structure, techniques)

1. How many parts are there to this work?

2. How are they related?
3. What key words images, figures of speech, are important?

Characters of Speaker

1. Who is talking here? To whom?

2. What is their relationship like?
3. What motivates them?
4. What conflict do they have?

Ideas, lessons, philosophy

1. What ideas or lessons are expressed or implied here?

2. What values?
3. What forces have determined these events?
4. What are we supposed to learn?

The Reader (yourself as a reader)

 18

1. How does it make me feel?

2. What features of the work stand out?
3. What happens to me when I read this?

Your Culture

1. What is the present world view in the place where I am situated?

2. What events and ideas are important?

Historical Perspectives

1. Does this refer to historical events?

2. Is it about something or somebody in the past?

Three Basic Approaches to Interpret Language (Ang, 2012)

1. Text-Oriented Approach A reader may analyze a work of literature as

complete in itself without relating it to the outside
world.
2. Author-Oriented A reader may study an author’s life, time and
Approach culture to better understand the author’s work.
3. Reader-Oriented This approach requires research. Each reader
Approach brings a unique set of experience to liter.

ABSTRACTION

Directions: Answer the following below with at least 2-3 sentences each reflecting
your thoughts regarding the previous discussion.

What I Learned This Week

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
______________.

How Can I Use it

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
______________.

Areas in Which I Am Making Progress

 19

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
______________.

What I Learned about How I Learn

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
______________.

My Goal for Next Week

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
______________.

What I Enjoyed the Most This Week

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
______________.

APPLICATION

Activity 1: Write an essay with at least 8-10 sentences each which answers the
following questions:

1. Discuss great books.

2. What is the significance of the study of great books in our daily lives?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
 20

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________.
Activity 2: Cite a book that you have previously read, identify how you have read
and understood its texts, and the difficulties you encountered while reading
them. Write your answer on a sheet of paper.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
________________________________.

REFLECTION

I have learned that the course Great Books is

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________.
 21

Answer Key for Unit 1

1. masterpieces, literature, reading

2. (1) How to study great books? (2) What is the importance of great books?

3. I expect that through this course, I will gain interest on reading great

masterpieces written by renowned writer across the world.

POST-TEST

Name: ______________________________________ Date: ______________

Course & Section: _____________________________ Score: __________

Directions: Answer the following questions with at least 3-5 sentences.

1. Discuss your general understanding on Great Books and its effects to you as
a student especially now during pandemic.

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________.

2. Explain the importance of reading in your journey as a college student.

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
 22

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________.

Glossary for Unit 1

Great Books – it is referred to as the collection of masterpieces which are carefully

selected by the modern academicians and scholars; these literary texts are believed
to have immense impacts to humanity.

Literature – it is defined as the collection of written and oral works which is purely
considered as a product of creativity and imagination.

Reading - is a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their

own background knowledge to build meaning (Nunan, 2003).

___________________________________________________________________