October 4th, 2012:
As I concluded my second week of "field experiences", I began to be more aware of the fact that this - a high school - is where I am going to be working for the majority of my adult career. I guess it wasn't so much me become aware as it was a sudden feeling as though a semi-truck full of reality had completely ran me over! The reality set in that I have to begin seeing myself as one of the individuals that is up at the front, or the back, of the class, molding the young minds of the youth of this Nation, rather than just a mere observor.
I am in 5 different english classes throughout the day, and Kelly Gallagher's book Deeper Reading, and Deborah Appleman's text Critical Encounters in High School English had really opened my eyes to the various ways you can prepare these young readers to relate to, and maybe even appreciate, the pieces that they are reading. During one of the modified ELA classes, the girl outright said to the teacher: "This book is SO boring!! I don't understand why we have to study this stupid book! Maybe THAT's why we all completely failed the chapter test...". It was difficult to listen to her speak this way about The Chryslids, after hearing so many good things about this text. After reading Gallagher's chapter on framing activities to use before reading a major work, I was introduced to different ways of possibly engaging this young person and her classmates into the ideas around the book before actually beginning reading, so hopefully they could gain some insight on how to make the piece relevant to their lives, and maybe, by some stretch of their youthful imaginations, actually excited to read the book.
Different approaches that Gallagher suggests are:
(1) Web Searches
For a possible web search prior to reading The Chryslids, a teacher could assign students to search, on the internet, for articles, books, music, magazines, business, art, tv, organizations, editorials, essays, political cartoons, etc. that pertain to the topic of the disadvantages of minorities in the past. They could possibly use the KKK, the Nazi's, the Feminist Movement, disabled peoples' rights/lack of in the past (or even present!), treatment of immigrants (BC internment, etc.), etc. This would give the students an insight into how John, Sophie, Petra, and Rosalind are feeling about their "place" in society - given that they have special abilities/physical "abnormalities".
(2) Anticipation Guides
A teacher could create a well-planned anticipation guide prior to reading The Chrysalids, just because it is such a deep book with issues that still pertain to our world today in regards to human nature, and human behaviour.
(3) Theme Spotlights
For this tactic, you could write up a group of examples of the range in degree of human nature and behaviour, from pleasant and accomodating, to cruel and inhumane. This approach will hopefully have students gain empathy for the characters in the book, and create a connection that encourages further reading.
(4) Focus Poems
There is an amazing ammount of poetry available to us now that we have access to the internet. Poems have been written by those with disabilities, or exceptionalities, and their struggle within their environment and societies. (A good example of an individual that students can hopefully relate to is Helen Keller).
(5) K-W-L-R Chart
I think this is an absolutely fantastic way to pre-frame a reading! You could ask the students what they know about world disasters and how society has had to be "repaired", and what exactly that meant for some individuals. What people know about typical science fiction works, the types of large changes that have been made throughout society that even our generation can still relate to, etc. We could even ask about our experience with exceptional people, and maybe how the world today is still making it challenging for them to succeed?
I am sure that there are a ton other ways you could frame a text, my co-op teacher used current events to get the students to relate on a more present level, and then brought events from the past in the conversation to force them to realize how the world changes, and sometimes history repeats itself. All of these tactics are worth the effort if you can make a student interested in reading the book assigned to them. They don't want to be in school as it is, for the most part, and would rather be anywhere but there, so the more engaging, exciting, and relevant you can make a potentially 60-year-old book ("*yawn*-boring! This book is old and doesn't relate to us" - is the general response), the better feedback and higher level of interest you will hopefully recieve.
I just know that I am going to pack these methods into my mental tickle trunk of teaching tips, and hopefully they will help me reach out to my students someday when their books are "boring" or "stupid".
I can totally relate to your point about students finding the Chrysalids boring Ashley. I read the Chrysalids in grade 10 english and I remember enjoying the book, but it took me a few readings to figure out the meaning. I was one of those nerds who read the whole book the first day we got it and by the time the teacher started discussion questions in class I found them super easy even though most people in my class seemed lost or uninterested. I think having been given more background to the information covered in the book would have been helpful to many students.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading it and not understanding any of it until the second time and I think that had our teacher presented the major themes of the book and held discussions around the major themes before, instead of after, that perhaps I wouldn't have been the only student answering questions.
Which strategy as a student do you think you would have found interesting?
The idea about being moulding students's minds for the rest of my career is a daunting task, and this is definitely something I will have to remember!