I think that Chapter 4 was the inevitable depressing chapter that comes with every textbook on education, but Chapter 5 was the bringer of new hope: the literature chapter. I would have to say that literature is probably one of my favorite things about English. I am always reading something, and I hope that my excitement for reading will be passed on to my students.
I really enjoyed the section on the Characteristics of a Reader Response Classroom. I am not going to be one of those teachers that stands in front of the classroom and talks about whatever assignment was given out the day before while the students take notes and wish they were somewhere other than my classroom. I want my students to be actively involved in what they are reading, and I want them to enjoy it because they sincerely like it rather than reading it solely for the grade.
I also liked the section where Christenbury talked about the ways in which a Reader Response classroom can be abused. It is very easy to allow students to get off track when having open discussions, and as a teacher, I have to be careful not to get caught up in the side conversations, as interesting as they might be. I have been in plenty of class discussions where the teacher has allowed the class to get off on a side track, and the whole point of the discussion over what we had read the day before was lost.
I'm glad that Christenbury took the time to mention the emergence of the Graphic Novel in this chapter. The more I go into the classrooms for field experience, the more I am beginning to see graphic novels being read by the students. Christenbury suggested that the graphic novel could be an appropriate replacement for those students who would rather go to Spark Notes rather than read the text, and I think using these versions of the classics alongside the novels may be a great way to get students more interested in reading the actual novels.
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4 comments:
I agree with your point on the abuse of Reader-Response. I thin one of my problems, is that teachers have to lasso the students in, and bring them back to the topic. Students have to be informed to think about their comments first, given wait time, and connect their comment to something in the text. Maybe asking them to choose a line in a piece to connect their thought to, will make it harder to swerve off course?
thin = think
tina and aaron = Stan
Damn, we need spell check on this blog!!!!!
I have never read a graphic novel but would love to use them in my class - they are so accessible. I've vowed that the next book I pick up for fun will be a graphic novel...but that will have to wait until after Methods is over. :)
I think one of my biggest struggles will be not to let students get me sidetracked on another subject because I'm very interested in what they have to say, so I'll have to watch that.
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