Literature / Reading Handout

No More Fake Reading: Merging the Classics with Independent Reading to Create Joyful Lifelong Readers

Why I Chose This Book:

     Along with most of the class, I was not sure what book I should choose for this presentation. I tried searching the library catalog but came up empty because it's hard to be intrigued by a book unless its in your hands and you can skim through it. With this in mind, I headed over to Sean's office to look through his book collection. This book stood out to me because of the cover. It was an image of The Scarlet Letter, a classic, opened up to a random page halfway through the book and a students' phone was in front of it. The student was more interested in their electronic device than a classic book of literature. This is often the case in secondary classrooms. Students are so attached to their phones that they have a hard time putting them away to focus on a lesson or read a book assigned by their teacher. I was intrigued by what strategies the book would offer to get students reading instead of being on their phones. It was also a relief to see colorful pages with examples, worksheets, and illustrations when I skimmed through the book instead of boring pages filled with small words. 

Overview of the Book:

    The essential question of this book is, how do we get our middle and high school students to love to read? That is the driving force behind this book. The answer Berit Gordon came up with? A blended model of reading in the classroom. Though it may be tempting for teachers to want to abandon the classics due to their students' lack of interest and appreciation for the books they hold dear to their heart, there is a better alternative. Students do like to read, but they like to read books that coincide with their interests and make them feel like skilled readers due to the appropriate reading level of the book. This book offers a two step approach to the blended reading classroom. First, the teacher should provide a focused lesson at the beginning of class, often a close reading of a challenging text (the classic). Second, the teacher will turn the lesson over to students for them to try the close reading strategy with their choice book. If students are able to take what the teacher just modeled and apply it to a new text, then teachers can be confident that their students are getting the concept. Students are also more likely to complete the activities because its personalized to their book and their interests. The book includes step by step approaches to building fiction-based and nonfiction-based unit plans as well as day-to-day lessons. To accompany those units, the later chapters delve into incorporating book talk in the classroom, assessing students, and building relationships with students through the blended reading model. 

Teaching Ideas:

     The first teaching idea comes from chapter 3 on creating a fiction-based unit plan. It provides a step by step model of creating a fiction-based unit plan that can be used with any fiction book under the sun. It involves teachers close reading the first few pages of the classroom classic of their choice and documenting what they noticed, questions they had, and what they book made them think of. In this way, teachers can identify what they want their students to focus on while they are reading. From the things that they noticed, the teacher can create lessons to model for students and then assist the students while they try the strategy in their own book. 

     The next teaching idea includes mind mapping and illustrations. This activity is designed to teach readers to demonstrate their thinking about reading. Again, the teacher will model how to create a mind map of illustration of the text and then ask students to try it with their own book. This strategy reinforces the notion that readers should keep an image in their head and visualize the text as they read. It also allows students to express their visual image of the book in a tactile way for others to see and learn from. 

     The last teaching idea is called partner book talks. Before the talk takes place, have students respond in writing to a prompt and generate questions for their partner. This will allow them to be prepared for their discussion and hinder off-task conversations. The book suggests that teachers group students in pairs rather than groups of 4-5 because it facilitates a more meaningful and in-depth conversation and allows for a greater portion of the class to be on task and engaged. This activity lays the groundwork for group book talks and, eventually, socratic seminars!

Possible Challenges:

     The first challenge that I could foresee with this approach would be reluctant readers. Some students may resist reading even when given the choice over what book they read. One way to overcome this challenge would be to tap into the student's interests and help them find the right book. They might not like reading just because they haven't found the book that intrigues them yet and that problem comes with a plausible solution. 

     Another challenge that could hinder this approach would be students struggling to transfer the reading strategy modeled by the teacher to their own book. It is not an easy skill, but I think the modeling of the strategy would be a big help. Students are able to see the thought process that a reader goes through to get to a certain point of comprehension or analysis. In response to this issue, I would use the portion of the class when students are applying the strategy to meet with the struggling students and provide further assistance and scaffolding. Not every student will get it on the first try, but it is important to keep working with them until they get it instead of giving up.

    The last challenge that I could see happening is that students would not have as much of a buy-in for the nonfiction unit. Nonfiction texts vary greatly and some can be rather difficult to understand or enjoy. To solve this issue, I would bring a variety of interesting nonfiction texts based on my students' interests. When they see that there are intriguing nonfiction texts that discuss what they're passionate about, they might be more willing to read and learn about the thing they're passionate about in a nonfiction source. 

Additional Note: 

     This book influenced my thinking of teaching because I always thought that ELA classes had to teach class novels. My understanding was that the classic had to be read by the whole class or students could choose from a list of 4-5 preselected books. This book gave me new approaches to teaching literature and close-reading strategies that engage students while still including the classics.