Chapter 3 Discussion Part 2: Are Teachers Ruining Great Books?

[Kelly Gallagher]

Chapter 3 discussion part 2: Are Teachers Ruining Great Books?

I am back from my quick jaunt to Indiana. The weirdest part of the trip? Running into Jim Burke in the Denver airport as he was heading to the conference I had just left.

I am really moved by the depth of the responses. It is obvious that this is a very difficult issue—one that we all grapple with daily in our classrooms. I’d like to start a new strand with some thoughts that came from reading through the previous 50+ postings:

• There was some talk about the importance of lecturing. Let me say for the record that I, too, see a real value in lecturing. I agree that the lectures are more effective when they are delivered in shorter bites (15-20 minutes). However, like any strategy, lecturing can be harmful if overdone. Generally, I find lecturing more of value when used before students begin reading the text— a tool used to help frame and shore up weak background knowledge. For the purposes of this posting, however, there is a central question we should ask of the lecture: will this lecture help my students to read the book?

• I like Glenda’s notion that she does not assign daily reading; rather, she assigns weekly reading. I have also gravitated toward this approach and would like to hear from others. Have you tried this? Are you thinking of trying this? Advantages? Disadvantages?

• I wonder if we are spending too much time having students actually reading the books. How can flow be achieved at all if the class is taking two months to read one work? I understand the dangers that come from covering too much curriculum, but when it comes to books, I think our students should be reading many more books in schools. The pace needs to be quickened. Less slice and dice.

• I heard from some teachers in Indiana yesterday that ALL of the reading done by students is done in class. This is because they do not have enough books for every child to take one home. I have heard this concern in numerous other places as well. Some of you have also indicated that your students do all the reading in school because they won’t do the reading at home. Let me stir the pot by saying something I strongly believe: if the only reading students do is the reading that is done within the school walls—if students never read at home—they will not develop into the kind of readers we want them to be. We must not give up the fight to put a book in every child’s hands, and we must never accept that students will never read on their own time.

Response?

[Steve Shann]

I've been reading the book, talking about it at school, and now have a queue of teachers who want to read my copy when I've finished with it. The book has made me think about how I've been teaching what Kelly calls 'the academic reading', and when I was down at the coast last weekend, I did a little thought experiment. I imagined that Kelly met one of my former students and talked with him about his experiences with literature and in my class. It was uncomfortably illuminating! I've written about it here.

[Whitney Lee Svensson]

Response to bullet three: Since I believe flow is the number one most important factor in creating life-long readers, it worries me that students are spending too much time getting through a novel. I think a substantial amount of class time should be devoted to reading, whether it be read-alouds, or silent sustained reading. This ties into the chop-chop curriculum and the over analysis of literature. Just as the Australian girl says on page three: "I could have read four books by now," interrupting the text for yet another sticky note and explication promotes "readicide" in already precarious readers.

A method I really resonate with is the 50/50 approach (81), which to reiterate, devotes half a class' reading time to recreational texts. This idea may seem counter intuitive at first for getting through a novel quicker, but, the more students can get into that flow, the more that will translate onto the class novel. The goal is to instill a love for reading, so the more flow, the more love. Once flow is voiced as an important objective for any unit, and for any novel, I think students will be more apt to speed up the pace.

[Heather Fowler]

Response to bullet four (reading in class). Our department operates in a similar way. We have class sets of the required texts, but each of us teachers more than one section of the class. Therefore, we rarely have enough copies of the book to send home. I supplement by asking students to always be reading at home, taking them to the library, etc. I know other teachers do this.

The topic of asking students to buy at least one of the whole-class instruction books has been a hot topic for discussion at our department meetings, but most people feel that the community would not support this. They'll claim they're already paying for books in their taxes. In a course evaluation this week, I asked my students whether or not they would be willing to buy their own books for English. 60% of them said no.

So, I ask those teachers/districts who as their students to buy their books: what can we do to get where you are? How can we approach the community? the administration? the kids? What advice can you offer?

[Jeff Holland]

Kelly, I am actually playing catch-up with your book. I am coming to the close of chapter 3, and I have rushed over to the computer to post a comment or two before Jim shuts the discussion down for week 2. I waited too long last week. I am guessing that still up ahead in the book are your thoughts on some good examples of instructional practices to teach the novel. I have to admit that I have, over the years, tried a number of things that would contribute to readicide: Cornell notes, sets of questions. But I have also employed good practices as well, including literature circles and Paideia seminars that students have appreciated. Until picking up your book, I had just about come to the conclusion that I was against summer reading, because it seemed like it had become summer "punishment" for many students. At the last high school where I taught, students were tested on the novel the first day they returned to school (factual questions), and the score became 25 percent of that first nine weeks' grade. At my current school, we finally discussed this enough at length to come up with an approach I am happier with for summer reading: (a) Giving students a number of high-interest, good books from which to choose, and (b) asking students to post four comments over the summer on a blog set up for that particular novel. We teachers will get on and exchange thoughts with students on the blog, as well.

[James Miscavish]

Sounds a lot like my summer reading here. Feel free to look around. I think it's going really well so far, especially since it's only the second week in June.

[Tanya Forbes]

In response to bullet four-I had to have my students read two novels this year in class. It was quite hard to get some of them to do it or pay attention. For "The Stranger" we fluctuated between whole class reading to reading in small groups. It was not too bad because the book is not too long and I was able to monitor the groups. It also helped that they kind of liked it. The second book we did was "Breath, Eyes, Memory". We used the same strategy, but it was a bit longer and it was harder to keep them into it at the end. The students who had their own copies got frustrated because they finished the book ahead of the rest of the class and wanted to talk about it. We were also interrupted by state testing. We just spent a lot of time trying to get through the book when I would have loved to spend more time discussing the book! We are supposed to be getting enough for each student to take them home next year, but I'll believe that when they arrive at school.