Not just another textbook...

There haven't been a lot of books throughout my college experience that I have kept, but like Katie mentioned in her post, Gallagher's book is packed with amazing strategies. It would be silly of me to sell this book back to the university and lose such an amazing reference.

In Chapter 5, I really liked the idea "literary dominoes" and giving students the resolution and asking them to describe the steps that led to that resolution. It really makes them think about what events triggered each "domino" in order for the story to end up where it did.

The "Reading Symbols" strategy was another that I thought could be very useful. Students are very good at summarizing things that they have read, but that's often all they do. Using the elements that Gallagher outlined encourages students to go beyond summarization.

In Chapter 6, Gallagher talked about Double-Entry Journals (which, by the way, I always enjoyed writing journals in class ;D ) which reminded me of the class blog that my field expeirence teacher has recently set up for her students to use. She used an in-class activity to illustrate what it would be like to use a blog.

She showed a video clip from KY3 about the possibility of a legislation going into affect that would require school uniforms. After the clip, she had the students write their reaction to what they had seen. Then, they wadded up their reactions and tossed them into a basketball hoop that was connected to a crate, which was just a small way to get the students moving around the room. Next, students picked a "wad" from the crate and responded to it. They repeated this process a couple times, and then the students were given their original paper back. They then read the responses from their classmates about their reaction.

Mrs. Wicklund explained to the students that the activity they had just done was like the blog they would soon be using. They would post to the blog about whatever book they happened to be reading at the time, and other students would be given the opporunity to respond to their post. I thought it was a very creative idea, and the kids loved it.

Darn. Now I'm out another twenty dollars.

I was expecting to sell this book back in a month. I really was. I was taking notes on all the useful things I found and was already hearing the sweet "ka-ching" of another twenty (oh, wait. University bookstore. Thirteen.) dollars in my checking account. But then Gallagher has to go and impress me and give me too many useful ideas to write down.

I loved the chapter on collaboration and groupwork. I think he has some fantastic ideas about getting students to contribute and really focus on what they're reading. His group roles (well, Harvey Daniel's group roles) also cater to certain interests. I've been in Facilitator/Recorder/Reporter groups before and I always end up as the Facilitator (um, TEACHER!) and I feel like I do all the work. I love that his students are expected to prepare for and contribute to the discussion in a unique way. I also think all of his activities and questions would make great reading journal prompts.

Speaking of which, Stan already commented on reading journals. What do you guys think of using them in a High School classroom? I go back and forth. In some of my classes, I hate(d) my required journal; in others, it's the most useful part of the class (and not just by comparison). For me, I find the difference might lie in how much we're required to write and how often. My favorite journals have been for Dr. Moser, for ENG 351 and 354. She asks for 10 minutes, not a length, so it seems like less pressure to me. And she collects them every class and reads them so it helps her structure her lectures/discussions. I really liked it...well, at least I recognized its importance and liked it the most of any journal I've ever been required to keep. I think I would very rarely give the class a specific prompt, unless it was something I REALLY wanted them to get, to maybe prepare for the final assessment. I might give them a huge list of things to get them thinking, but they could write about any of them, as long as it was a critical response. The best way to get kids writing well is to get them to write in the first place.

I'm still trying to figure it out, but that's what this is about, right? So if you hate journals (as I often do) don't jump down my throat. I hate them too...sometimes.

Chapter 6 ... Accountability

I know I some of you felt that "Popcorn Reading" made you feel anxious and on-edge, because you never knew if you were going to read, but I think that Gallagher agrees with the intent, accountability. If you never knew when you would be chosen to read in the story, you paid attention to ensure you knew where we were. Although this might be awkward with a new class, I think the intent and effects of on-task behavior out-weigh the anxiety of a few students.

~Stan

What do you think? Read it again?

I was wondering what everyone else thought about re-reading difficult texts. If I have a class read "Romeo and Juliet" straight through, the go back and re-read and point out things that require a deeper reading, would that make it more enjoyable? Like watching "Sixth Sense" a second time? What do you think?

~Stan

I know, this is just one of many....

Posts that is. I like to read each chapter and then write something on the Blog. Lumping them together well, lumps it all together. And yes Kevin, I do sit at my computer all weekend and do homework.

I think the most important question that we can ask our students and ourselves, is what does it matter? Why are we going to read/watch something? Why should the students know this? What is the need? These are all in the scope of "What does it matter?" and we may have to answer this question if the principal asks it.

This is one question we should be able to answer before starting any lesson. Students, on the other hand, should be privy to this answer up front. It gives them reasons to pay attention, not text or write notes, and understand why we are teaching them the materials.

I liked chapter five and found many useful tools that I could use in my class. I think these two books are the most useful I have ever bought. Ever dollar was well spent.

~Stan

survivor, the office....oh, and some gallagher

So I read chapter five tonight during commercials of Survivor and The Office (I promise, I paid attention). But it was a timely read in light of my field experience today. My class has been reading Metamorphosis and then also read two essays/short stories by George Orwell. For probably 45 minutes, I watched the teacher engage her students in an amazing conversation that was exactly what Gallagher was talking about in reference to deeper reading. I watched light bulbs go off as students made connections to the deeper parts of what was happening, why and what Orwell was trying to say. And they actually had fun with it. I promise, these students really seemed interested in the conversation. They talked voluntarily. They showed enthusiasm. And I walked out of the room saying, "ha, it really is possible to have that kind of classroom."

Mrs. Morton has been doing this teaching thing for a long time and is definitely one of the pros. So she wasn't tied to these structured questions that Gallagher shares with us. But I would be willing to bet that in her first few years of teaching, she had her own list of questions - and then it just came natural. And that is what I am hoping we will encounter the more experience we gain.

Gallagher stuff

As I've been saying all along, this book is almost exactly like the book I have to read for my Content Area Literacy class. They both have pretty much the same information, concepts, methods, etc. They both offer great information, it's just a litte redundant after a while...
Anyway, in chapter 5 the three key questions we read about in chapter 5 are really similar to the "About-Point" exercise that is recommended in the other book. Basically at the end of every section/chapter/paragraph/whatever the students write the phrase "This chapter was about ______ and the point was _____." Both of these are great ways to check comprehension.
One thing I hadn't heard about before and I thought could be a fun exercise was the Literary Dominoes idea. That seems like something that could definitely help students keep events in order.
My favorite idea for an activity was on page 100. The paragraph plug-ins was something I had thought about doing for my in-class lesson. It seems like a fun and orignial idea.
In chapter 6 the term "hitchhiking" made me giggle while I was reading. I think we're all guilty of "hitchhiking," but after I taught a lesson at my practicum school I have seen from the teacher's perspective how important it is to prevent that. My practicum teacher told me that she never ever does group work, only partner or individual. I don't necessarily agree with this, but I can see her point.
I appreciated Gallagher's point when he reminded us to make sure students are critical of ideas, not people. That's especially important when it comes to fragile high school egos.
The next chapter was about metaphors and I've done enough talking about metaphors lately, so I'm going to skip this one!