Kelley Gallagher's Readicide

I understand that I was fortunate for being taught and encouraged to read by my parents but I figured that for students who didn’t have that luxury teachers and schools were supposed to make up for that. It initially was crazy to me that the only place many students have to go to learn and appreciate reading is having the opposite effect on them.

It reminded me of a teacher I had in high school who loved literature so much that he could not understand why anyone would not want to study it. I definitely remember students who were frustrated by this disregard for their uninterest. Instead of helping and encouraging them by offering other literature they might enjoy or engaging activities he continued with his cut and dry curriculum, even I was bored. He punished students who didn’t succeed in this type of strict academic environment with snide comments and bad grades making the students feel even worse about their abilities and I’m sure resent reading all together.

My own experience with what Gallagher terms ‘Readicide’ took on a whole new picture in my mind. If I, a strong reader who loved books, was becoming disengaged would not have had outside recreational reading resources I may have continued on the path of not wanting to read. This phenomenon is exactly what Gallagher is battling against because it is hard even to get all students on board with reading that we as teacher should not brush off those that already do. It seems that the struggling readers may be one of the reason the already successful reader get pushed to the side. Teachers focus so highly on getting all students up to the standards based level that students who are already there or past are not as acknowledged or challenged. Without separating students into levels of reading (that comes with a whole other set of issues) teachers need to follow Gallagher’s advice to keep all students engaged and excited about reading.

Cris Tovani's I Read It, But I Don't Get It

When I read I Read It, but I Don't Get It I realized how fortunate I am to have always been a strong reader. This was something I used take for granted, but I can’t imagine how much harder school would have been without that skill. It also taught me how students attempt to deal with this problem and how as a teacher I can actually help them. This book helped me empathize with students who don’t like reading

I appreciated that this book was practical and no nonsense. It laid the issues of struggling readers and literacy in schools and gave practical ways of battling it. I enjoyed hearing the anecdotes straight from Tovani’s own classroom it shows that she really understands the issues firsthand not just studying them from data and numbers. They show real kids with universal problems seen in classroom. It was also helpful that it showed exactly how his theories are implemented and successfully produce reading improvement compared to other theories.

In Chapter 4 she introduced the notion of readers monitoring their reading. I think this an extremely astute and significant idea. It is important for students to understand their own thinking and to be able to recognize when and why they are confused. This will allow them to rely less on the teacher and more on themselves to solve the problem. The idea of training the voices students listen to, to alert the reader leads right into the next chapter Tovani provides us with multiple strategies they can employ to help the reader change what they are doing to make sense of the text.

I think I will definitely remember to look back over this text any time I come in contact with a struggling reader because Tovani provides ways to truly help a student set goals and reach them step by step.

Paula Jolin's In the Name of God

I had never heard of In the Name of God by Paula Jolin before this class. When I read the synopsis I was excited to delve into this dark and complex concepts in the text but while reading it I was let down for a couple reasons.

I always want to know about the author’s worldview before reading a text so a have a deeper understanding of the work. So for In the Name of God I wanted to know exactly what the author’s knowledge and experience was with the Islamic Syrian culture. I was happy to find she had lived in the Middle East for several years and that many of the characters were based on people she had encountered. But as I read I realized that taking on the feat of putting oneself in a character like Nadia is dangerous and attempts to speak for a specific culture and opinions. Without having truly experienced her place I think it does a disservice to what would have been a great concept.

One of my favorite and I think most valuable things about literature is its ability to give the reader insight into a different perspective. This leads to empathy and understanding of more people and viewpoints. However like I said before Jolin’s outside perspective trying to write about an inside perspective makes the work lack creditability.

Another thing that concerned me was the message it sends. This is a delicate text as well because it could easily be read as defense of terrorism. I get that she wanted to show how someone could be influenced, like Nadia, into thinking it was the right thing because of her beliefs. However we want to teach students that intolerance for any reason or any side is wrong.  In a time of a wave of Islamophobia (also the fact that my word document doesn’t recognize this as a word is disconcerting) it is important for students to see that radicalism and terrorism is not the normal in Syrian culture.

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

I love Shakespeare, I always have. But in ninth grade when we read Romeo and Juliet I was in the minority. That is why I’m very torn about using this classic work in a classroom.

It is a valuable text for those who can enjoy for what it is it but for most ninth grade students reading a 16^th century strangely worded play about two teenagers who fall in love at first sight and commit suicide because of it might seem silly. I think the biggest problem with it is the way this story’s reputation as a simple love story and teachers, in my experience don’t really sway from that. They devalue 9^th graders ability to see the complexities of their world.

I think students may feel that teachers are trying to tell them that their teenage feelings and actions are rash and stupid. Shakespeare’s point in writing was to show the absurdity and repercussions of impulsive decisions but it is archaic in the way that it diminishes and disregards emotions. The do need to learn that there are ramifications for not thinking through a situation rationally but that also takes into effect that emotions, love, and relationships shape who they are and how they act as well, and that is okay. Perhaps there is another text where students can learn this lesson.

Continuing to teach something just because it is tradition may not be helpful to students, in fact it might hurt them. I do however think it extremely important for students to experience Shakespeare in the classroom. The complexity of his stories, the depth of characterization, and the comments on society/humanity makes them wonderful for students learning about literature. Not too mention the striking craftsmanship of his language is something students should learn to appreciate.

However I think there may be better choices when it comes to teaching Shakespeare.

In many cases reading Romeo and Juliet in ninth grade is a persons only experience with Shakespeare and if they are off put by it then they are missing out on other powerful works. If a school/district requires that the teachers teach this text I think it is just important to do it the right way that doesn’t sound like adult telling teens they are stupid for acting upon their feelings and teaches them to appreciate its literary value even centuries later.

Learning Letter

Dear Sean, 

Looking back, this class was much different than I was expecting when I signed up. I had previously assumed, as literature major, it would be just like a literature class but dealing with YA novels. Being a fan of YA I was excited. While a class like that would be fun I am so glad this class wasn’t that. I learned so much about the teaching process and how literature is, and should be, taught to adolescents. During this course, my participation in the assignments, theories, and concepts has truly impacted my thinking about my future as a teacher.

The projects I have worked on have given my new insights as to how I look at literature being used in the classroom. For example, when presented with the book talk project I initially wanted to use a book from a series I read as an adolescent. A wonderfully engaging adventure story it is a great book but when I started looking at the application it had in a classroom it fell short. As teachers it is important to have the books we love on our bookshelves for students to access but they may not all be valuable to teach. I then began looking at books I had read that discussed social injustice and diversity because I think those are arguably of the most important things we teach students about. I also appreciated the fact that my ‘to read’ list jumped by about 25 books by listening to others book talks!

The next project, the mini-lesson, was seemingly going to be difficult and nerve-racking for me so I chose something I was very familiar with, Poe. I am always anxious when presenting in a class but teaching a lesson was a much different experience. When up there I wasn’t just talking at an audience, I was engaging with students, something I had never done before. It felt good to see students respond to the activity and text we had selected, if only all real high school students were as reactive. Even then, I look forward to dealing with students who may be reluctant or struggling readers.  Using what I learned in this class, it will be so rewarding to help them find a book they can connect with, or an activity that helps them understand or retain the concepts, that may inspire them to change their mind about reading. 

The unit plan was something that tested me more than anything in this class. I had no idea about the amount of work that goes into planning lessons about a book. I found my self constantly second-guessing myself about whether something would be affective for students. As long as it took I’m glad I put in the time to find rationale backed by research that proved the activities I chose would be successful. That skill is something I will forever utilize when planning lessons.

On the second day of class I realized that discussion in a classroom must be taught. To have effective discussions students can’t just be given questions to talk about. I think I had forgotten this being a college student who is involved in active enlightening discussions daily. But in high school it is different students need to understand what a good discussion is before they can engage in one. This was when I learned about importance of the teachers’ role in facilitating a successful discussion environment where students are prepared, open-minded, respectful, and actively participating by clarifying and thinking critically to find new understandings.

Not having learned about teaching theories and concepts before this class they were a bit hard for me to grasp. But the ones that really impacted me were the ones that discussed social injustice and how to deal with that as a teacher, such as “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” and “Critical Pedagogy and Popular Culture in an Urban Secondary English Classroom.” The concepts of inequality in education these presented were at first disheartening but then also inspirational. I remember something you said about us feeling that all we do is just a drop in the bucket but that any steps toward eliminating injustice are valuable. I was also really impacted by the idea between equality and equity.  This is something I will bring into my own conversations while continuing on journey becoming a teacher.

The journey may be a long one but this class was definitely an instrumental stepping-stone in getting there. I gained insight into how and why students respond to literature and how to implement it in a way that connects to all students in order for them to see the value in it. Thank you for the oppurtunity.

Best,

Halee