Sunday, October 3, 2010
Readicide 72-85
In this section Gallagher talks a lot about something that I already know. Teachers take the fun out of reading! I can speak first hand to this true epidemic in our schools. I never once enjoyed a book that I had to read in school except for maybe Forrest Gump which I read in the ninth grade. The teacher in that class was way ahead of his time. He took all the pressure off and allowed us to actually enjoy the book. Instead of a test over trivial details that were in the book such as "What color was Jenny's shirt when she and Forrest blah blah blah" you get the point. Instead we had active discussions over the book and were allowed to talk freely about the book which made it a lot more enjoyable. This book also was not a "school book". The teacher went out of his way to find a book that we would enjoy and it worked wonders. I wish I could say the same for the rest of my English teachers. Reading became a chore as I was forced to battle through Ivanhoe, Macbeth, and the Great Odyssey. The tests over the books were equally brutal and unpleasing. There was such a pressure to try to remember every little insignificant detail of the book that instead of reading the book we instead studied the book and I remember taking notes as I read. Honestly, the entire experience has ruined my desire to read to this day. The sight of a book brings back memories of those books I was forced to read in high school and it is very hard for me to enjoy it. McQuillans study is interesting and goes along with my point from my experience. His study suggests that students will develop a love for reading only if they are not forced to read. By simply giving them access to good books and time to do nothing else will a student develop a desire to read. If we remove the pressures and the grading a student will discover that reading is actually enjoyable activity and not a tedious task. Gallagher also talks about academic texts and how to approach teaching them as teacher. He suggests that it is important to show value in reading things such as Hamlet. I think I would have benefitted greatly from this approach. I hated Shakespeare and I remember thinking as I still do what is the point of this! We don't speak this way anymore and we certainly don't write this way. Why do we have to read this. The reason as Gallagher shows is there is a lot of wisdom in Shakespeares work and while it is tedious to translate it the messages are what is valuable in these texts. The teachers I had never took the time to "sell" these books to us and instead told us that we had to read it because there would be a test on it. I assume you would see why I hated reading. Gallagher talks a lot about how we as teachers should present a book to get the students interested and excited. I think teachers get lazy and just assume the students will read the book for the simple reason that it is assigned. We as teachers need to sell these books to our students and get them excited about it and Gallagher talks about a number of different ways we can do this. I think there should always be a choice in reading. A program I would implement would have the students pick from a number of books and present each book before the students picked. I would not have tests over the book but instead have the students divide into groups or book clubs and have them present the book to the class. I think this would create an atmospher fun surrounding reading and I would translate shakespeare before giving it to the students. I mean seriously "where art thou romeo"! Who talks like that anymore. We might as well be reading latin.
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John, What a powerful commentary on how we are destroying the love of literacy - unintentionally, but the damage is there. The good news is that you can use your experiences productively to break the cycle for your students. It won't be easy though. Researchers as long ago as the 1970's found that there was a very strong correlation between how teachers were taught and the instruction they presented in their classrooms. We fall into the trap - unconsciously. Students can be very good barometers. It's surprising what they can tell us when we ask. You have a remarkable role model in the teacher that rekindled a love of reading.
ReplyDeleteAs an English teacher, I understand what you are saying. I love to read, but not when it is an assigned book. I know that my students do ot want to read, but in a literature class there is not much choice. In my classes I try to give the students at least one opportunity in the year to read a book they are interested in. The assignment related (for accountability) is to create a book trailer, which is similar to a movie trailer, that will pique the interest of their classmates. All of my students read a book, completed this assignment, and enjoyed the process. Teachers simply need to consider their students interests to motivate an interest reading.
ReplyDeleteI really love your commentary here. I also really have enjoyed this chapter and how Gallagher presents questions that English teachers really need to grapple with. I love the idea of 50/50, but how do we hold students accountable for actually reading something of their choosing? Also, I love that at least one of your teachers gave you a positive literary experience. This idea of assigning books and being able to discuss them in an open forum is part of what developed my love for literature...grappling with the questions of what goes on in a particular work. I think that it is ok to assign works, but also to be cautious in what you do assign when you have the room to chose as a teacher-you want to ENGAGE them, not bore them. I think that discussing literature is a critical part of scaffolding the analysis of that piece of literature...and unfortunately in today's schools a lot of teacher's simply do not create the time for this to happen...
ReplyDeleteI love the ideas that have been proposed here. I believe if we as teachers offered our students a choice in reading (even academic reading) the students would be more engaged. I absolutely love the idea of breaking the students into groups and having them do a movie trailer or other 'hook' for the rest of the class. I really enjoyed the book club assignment in our class and I can really see the students enjoying it as well.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Gallagher's idea for presenting an academic text to students. I never had a teacher in school that did anything like that. I believe we are shorting our kids by not doing activities like this. I hope to incorporate this in my class.