Big Chunk/Little Chunk Chapter Four

I really enjoyed this chapter. In my placement my host teacher lectures primarily; there is very little student centered learning. This seems to be an issue. The students are spending too much time listening to her talk about the subject at hand instead of working collaboratively in order to develop those crucial critical thinking skills. I love that Gallagher talked about Nancy Atwell's roles of a teacher: "mentor, mediator, and model." I hope to be all three to my students in the future. I do not want to be that talking head at the front of the classroom; I want to be in the trenches of learning with my students. Gallagher also discusses "framing" and giving a lense to students before they start a reading assignment. By framing the text you are giving the students a purpose for reading it and guiding them down a particular path, especially when working with those difficult texts. "By the nature of their difficulty, they require a teacher's presence, and if readicide is to be avoided, this presence should be asserted before students encounter page one. (Just one of the reasons I do not like hard/difficult texts assigned for summer reading.) Give a lense for students like, "pay attention to symbolism," so that they can place their efforts of understanding to one particular literary aspect instead of trying to find every little thing or not paying attention at all.

I also enjoyed the tips he gave for close reading:
1. Read with a pencil in hand to annotate the text (I write in books all the time)
2. Look for patterns--repetitions, contradictions, and similarities.
3. Ask questions about the patterns you noticed--especially how and why.

I will be using the tips with the 9th graders, who are now doing a close reading of certain sections of To Kill a Mockingbird.

The best way to teach these BIG novels or canonical texts is BIG chuck/little chunk: look at the text as whole...what meaning get you glean? and then look at some of the most important little parts to see how they relate to the whole!

I LOVE LITERATURE! and Kelly Gallagher gives very realistic and useful tips!

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 of Kelly Gallagher's Readicide is really good. He discusses some more causes of readicide one of which is the "intense overanalysis of literature and nonfiction," basically beating a book to death. I experienced this process as a student myself in high school. I remember being so exhausted and exasperated while reading To Kill A Mockingbird in the 9th grade. My teacher chopped, diced, and obliterated the novel. Until I read it again two years ago did I appreciate one of the best American novels.

Gallagher also discusses the reading flow, how it is important to introduce it to students and that chopping up great books interrupts this process. Reading flow is rare. I would consider myself well read however I rarely achieve a reading flow in which EVERYTHING floats away. I think it is unrealistic to expect all students to achieve a reading flow.

I also agree that a Big Unit like the one Gallagher discusses on To Kill A Mockingbird bogs the students down as well as the teacher. And that it only accomplishes two goals: Good state test takers and beating the novel to death. Using canned lessons and units only hinders us as teachers and does not allow for creative planning and implementation.

Gallagher offers a few solutions one of which is augmenting books do not FLOG them! not only do I love the word flog but by augmenting books you are only adding to their meaning not taking it away. He also suggests to teach students the value of academic texts. I am not sure how one would do this but it sounds like a great idea.