(Ch 3 &4) Highlights

One of the things I have become very conscious of as I have begun to collate resources and information and guidelines and ideas for my own development as a teacher is observing teachers and texts that practice (or do not practice) what they preach. For example, the long, boring, too difficult, poorly set out textbooks instructing readers on the importance of being mindful of students' cognitive capacities and improving students' retention - or the two hour long passive listening sessions on improving retention which outlive my attention span by approximately an hour and forty-five minutes...

Chris Tovani's book is a breath of fresh air. It's stuff I need to know presented in a way I can understand. I particularly like the fact that Tovani uses anecdotes to get her message across. I've highlighted a couple of the anecdotes which I found particularly relevant to my teaching (...and if I highlighted 'em, they must be important!)

I particularly liked the story of the teachers attempting to make sense of "Di Tri Berrese" because I found it very interesting to see the process broken down into the various individual strategies the teachers used to interpret the text. I have picked out a few of the strategies identified that we use regularly to read and understand. Skipping words/phrases that are unknown and moving on to passages that are more readily understood. I do that! Phonetic pronounciation. Thinking hard whilst reading and making connections to known/familiar information. Asking questions about confusing parts and substituting logical phrases for ones that make no sense. Wrestling with words and being flexible in thinking. Perhaps the reason this particular anecdote stood out is because I seem to recall applying a number of strategies very similar to these to attempt to decode the piece of text in Professor Lowe's lecture last week. Interesting how quickly it all fell into place when just one part of the code became known - the fact that it was about a birthday.

Next I have highlighted Tovani's description on how to support readers who are struggling with a book and might like to abandon it. Having devoted much of my time as an undergraduate to the study of literature I can certainly relate to the torturous experience of wading through text that has failed to grab me, whether it be due to content that is not interesting to me, or writing that is verbose, difficult, and BO-RING (as the students would say - and in all honesty, sometimes they have a point...). Using Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as an example, Tovani identifies her own strategies for persevering with a challenging text. These include getting an overall picture of the novel and how it is organised to provide a frame of reference and help stick it out through the slow bits, knowing about the author and the context in which the book is written (in fact, even as I read this paragraph I recalled a really interesting film called Gothic about the night Mary Shelley conceived of the monster, and suddenly I found myself wanting to read the book, which is sitting on my bookshelf - unread!), remembering that it is not important to understand every single word, and piquing interest by reading a good part. This example stood out to me because I know it is going to be a challenge to get students enthusiastic about novels, particularly the classics (or anything written more than five years ago...) and it was fascinating to see how Tovani used her own challenges with the book to work out how to support the students with the same challenges - with the result that they all wound up excited to read it. Me too!

Next I have highlighted a question put to Tovani by an English teacher called Rick: "Do you think we focus too much on teaching our curriculum, and don't devote enough time to teaching our students?" I appreciated this discussion on perceived academic rigor versus selecting accessible texts and alternative reading that is interesting to students, connected to real life, and appropriate for their reading ability - not too easy, and not too hard. I thought referring the student to the Website to assist with To Kill A Mockingbird was really helpful, because, as Tovani points out, now that the student has gathered some information she can understand about the book, perhaps someday she can return to the book. I'm a big fan of information available online. When I was at school there were pretty much just Cliff Notes to provide additional reading to supplement a text. Now it is possible to explore firsthand any aspect of a text which might arouse curiosity. Of course this applies to any subject - but using Drama, specifically Death Of A Salesman, as an example - it is possible to guide students on an exploration of Arthur Miller, America in the 1950's, the Committee for Un-American Activities, Marilyn Monroe, Broadway Theatre, The Pulitzer Prize, staging techniques, reviews of the play - I could actually go on and on - but the potential for enriching and enhancing students' appreciation of the text and arousing their curiosity and encouraging them to persevere with a text utilising supplementary, easily accessible material online is pretty much limited only by the teacher's own imagination (and enthusiasm level). And of course this is also true of the Text Sets Tovani describes - collections of reading material of varying style and difficulty about and surrounding the area of study providing students with a variety of perspectives and a well rounded view of the subject. As you can see - I'm all for it. I'm a pop culture junkie. When I read history, or a play, or a novel, or a poem my understanding and appreciation are greatly enhanced by knowing what the clothes were like, what the music was like, what the furniture looked like, what people did for fun, who was in the movies... that's how I learn and remember!

I think that's enough out of me for one day...