Looking back, the majority of my posts have been about the general ideas of education. Whether it's setting up a classroom or building relationships with students, there are certainly many topics to consider and dive into when it comes to being a teacher. Even my most recent post about ALICE sparks something to do with education.
I realized I've very rarely discussed how I teach English Language Arts.
How could I go this long without going in-depth with what I do to establish mastery of reading and writing skills?
Truth be told, the content that I teach is not the most important thing to being a teacher. I am a natural lover and student of literature and writing; I am still only two years into walking into a class of 20+ young adults and getting them to comprehend a short story. I can't get there simply by loving literature. There are so many different characteristics that make a teacher a master teacher. I could honestly write more blog posts about building relationships and establishing a comfortable environment than the lessons I create to encourage a passion for reading and writing.
But today? Content was ridiculously fun and I'm still too excited about it to not talk about it. And we haven't even discussed the short story.
When I was in high school, I feel like it was more of a natural requirement for students to simply pick up the book, read it and figure out the themes and symbols on their own. And I could do that. But the fact is... that is not how the majority of my students work. It would be an insult to them to demand that they make an immediate, perfect connection to the themes from The Crucible or colonial documents. I feel like throwing them into reading something is like saying, "Hey, I really don't care what you think about the major themes or whether you can really understand them; you need to figure it out on your own." Students don't realize until long after finishing The Crucible that they can relate to the feeling of ostracism and modern day "witch hunts" because we don't take the time to get them thinking about the themes and ideas before they read.
That is where the art of pre-reading comes into play.
I didn't fully learn about pre-reading activities until I was in my ENG 311: Teaching Reading to Adolescents course in college. Our professor would walk in, present an assignment to us and we would complete the assignment with gusto but also wonder, "What the heck does this have to do with reading?" We would write opinions over obscure statements, read scenarios and describe our reactions to them, get into heated debates over seemingly normal topics. And we would get into it. It wasn't just another do-the-reading-and-participate-in-discussion college course; we found ourselves invested in these random activities.
And then our professor would reel us in: "How could you use this before teaching a short story or a novel?"
Suddenly, the class erupted in a "mind-blown" frenzy: we had established the themes for the novel study we were about to do. Before reading the book. As we went through and read Tangerine, we found ourselves coming back to these pre-reading activities and remembering the themes we were already prepared to handle. It wasn't a shot in the dark. We had already made the connections before ever picking up the book.
And since that class, I have completely altered how I approach teaching any form of reading. We pre-read to our heart's content before we ever pick up the book.
There are many activities I do that I will most likely link in later posts with more in-depth descriptions (because you never know when you might need a pre-reading activity). But for now, I want to focus on what I did in class today to prepare to read "The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving.
Some background: "The Devil and Tom Walker" isn't a new or original story by any means. It is indeed a fantastic classic of American literature and boasts the incredible techniques and traits of Irving's beautiful writing. It is based on the Faust legend of selling one's soul to the devil. As I explained to my students, we have seen this story in other mediums: a person wants something, the devil appears, that person sells their soul for their something and everything eventually falls apart. Irving takes a comical, imagery-heavy take on this story and uses it to give us his opinion on the true nature of humans.
...but to be honest... it can be difficult to get to that answer if the students don't first put themselves in the position of Tom Walker and his decision to make a bargain with the devil.
When my students walked into the classroom, there was a set of instructions on the board: grab some paper; write down 10 words on the paper (family, friends, happiness, independence, job I enjoy, high school diploma, money, a new home, good looks, car/truck of choice); on the back, rank these from 1-10 (1=the most important to you; 10=the least important). No context. No other information. Just make 10 slips of paper with these words and numbers.
After we were done, I explained what they needed to do with these items. The class would go through 3 rounds of trading with 3 different groups of people. Their goal: get as many of their top 3 priority items as possible. For example, if their #1 item was happiness, they would need to get as many other happiness papers from other people; if their #10 item was money, they could use that to trade with others for their top items. I went through a few examples of how they could go about this (I mimed trying to get another student to give me their "family" for "money"; when they said no, I added "good looks" and "a new home" to my trade to get them to give me "family"). There was a little confusion and a few blank stares. There were a few chuckles when they watched me mime my trade.
But then I put them in their first groups and started the 3-minute timer.
Immediately the room erupted. Students took to the competition and became ruthless in doing what they could to get their top 3 priority items. It is rare that you hear the phrase, "I'll give you my friends for money!" and it makes complete sense. We went through three rotations of trading and the energy never died. The students were deadset on trading what they could to get their top three items. Even students who I never see actively speak up got into it and became extreme negotiators. I had one student whoop loudly and do a happy dance when she realized the only cards she had left were her top three.
It was chaotic but it was so enjoyable.
After our three rounds, we came back as a class and talked about what just happened. I had students remark that they were a little surprised that they were so willing to part with things like "family" to get "money" or a "high school diploma." Some said that they were fueled by the competition and knew that they would never truly make trades like this in real life; others described how they learned a little about themselves today as to what they were willing to sacrifice to get what they want. They discussed the struggles and extreme sacrifices they needed to make if they talked to someone who had the same priorities as them; the trade became bigger and more intense in order to get what they made their number one.
The rest of the class period was a little less energetic. My students started reading "The Devil and Tom Walker" on their own and worked on answering reading questions that would help guide them in a full class discussion we are working up to.
But I could see it in their eyes and hear it in their words as I wandered around while they read. This wasn't just another short story their crazy English teacher was making them read. They had just gone through what Tom Walker and Mrs. Walker went through: a choice to make sacrifices in order to get what they truly wanted. I stopped and chatted with students about what they thought about Tom Walker's choice and the deal he made with the devil. They described that it was extreme... but they could see where he was coming from.
Now, I won't know completely if this helped until we finish the story and get to our discussion on Friday. But I feel incredibly confident that they wouldn't be able to make a connection to the short story without first going through a pre-reading activity.
Until I retire, I will never not appreciate and use the art of pre-reading to prepare my students to make a connection to a piece.
I've included a link to an article over the activity. The article is called "Trading Spaces with Tom Walker: Moving the Devil out of Fourth Hour." I read through this last year when I first taught "The Devil and Tom Walker" because I had no idea where to start with such a story. I made a few modifications to suit my students but ultimately drew my inspiration from this article. It has now helped two groups of juniors better get acquainted with the major idea of one of America's iconic short stories.
The irony in all of this?
The article is co-written by the professor that taught my Teaching Reading to Adolescents course.
The apple does not fall far from the reading tree.
http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1192&context=lajm
(link to the original article)
I realized I've very rarely discussed how I teach English Language Arts.
How could I go this long without going in-depth with what I do to establish mastery of reading and writing skills?
Truth be told, the content that I teach is not the most important thing to being a teacher. I am a natural lover and student of literature and writing; I am still only two years into walking into a class of 20+ young adults and getting them to comprehend a short story. I can't get there simply by loving literature. There are so many different characteristics that make a teacher a master teacher. I could honestly write more blog posts about building relationships and establishing a comfortable environment than the lessons I create to encourage a passion for reading and writing.
But today? Content was ridiculously fun and I'm still too excited about it to not talk about it. And we haven't even discussed the short story.
When I was in high school, I feel like it was more of a natural requirement for students to simply pick up the book, read it and figure out the themes and symbols on their own. And I could do that. But the fact is... that is not how the majority of my students work. It would be an insult to them to demand that they make an immediate, perfect connection to the themes from The Crucible or colonial documents. I feel like throwing them into reading something is like saying, "Hey, I really don't care what you think about the major themes or whether you can really understand them; you need to figure it out on your own." Students don't realize until long after finishing The Crucible that they can relate to the feeling of ostracism and modern day "witch hunts" because we don't take the time to get them thinking about the themes and ideas before they read.
That is where the art of pre-reading comes into play.
I didn't fully learn about pre-reading activities until I was in my ENG 311: Teaching Reading to Adolescents course in college. Our professor would walk in, present an assignment to us and we would complete the assignment with gusto but also wonder, "What the heck does this have to do with reading?" We would write opinions over obscure statements, read scenarios and describe our reactions to them, get into heated debates over seemingly normal topics. And we would get into it. It wasn't just another do-the-reading-and-participate-in-discussion college course; we found ourselves invested in these random activities.
And then our professor would reel us in: "How could you use this before teaching a short story or a novel?"
Suddenly, the class erupted in a "mind-blown" frenzy: we had established the themes for the novel study we were about to do. Before reading the book. As we went through and read Tangerine, we found ourselves coming back to these pre-reading activities and remembering the themes we were already prepared to handle. It wasn't a shot in the dark. We had already made the connections before ever picking up the book.
And since that class, I have completely altered how I approach teaching any form of reading. We pre-read to our heart's content before we ever pick up the book.
There are many activities I do that I will most likely link in later posts with more in-depth descriptions (because you never know when you might need a pre-reading activity). But for now, I want to focus on what I did in class today to prepare to read "The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving.
Some background: "The Devil and Tom Walker" isn't a new or original story by any means. It is indeed a fantastic classic of American literature and boasts the incredible techniques and traits of Irving's beautiful writing. It is based on the Faust legend of selling one's soul to the devil. As I explained to my students, we have seen this story in other mediums: a person wants something, the devil appears, that person sells their soul for their something and everything eventually falls apart. Irving takes a comical, imagery-heavy take on this story and uses it to give us his opinion on the true nature of humans.
...but to be honest... it can be difficult to get to that answer if the students don't first put themselves in the position of Tom Walker and his decision to make a bargain with the devil.
When my students walked into the classroom, there was a set of instructions on the board: grab some paper; write down 10 words on the paper (family, friends, happiness, independence, job I enjoy, high school diploma, money, a new home, good looks, car/truck of choice); on the back, rank these from 1-10 (1=the most important to you; 10=the least important). No context. No other information. Just make 10 slips of paper with these words and numbers.
After we were done, I explained what they needed to do with these items. The class would go through 3 rounds of trading with 3 different groups of people. Their goal: get as many of their top 3 priority items as possible. For example, if their #1 item was happiness, they would need to get as many other happiness papers from other people; if their #10 item was money, they could use that to trade with others for their top items. I went through a few examples of how they could go about this (I mimed trying to get another student to give me their "family" for "money"; when they said no, I added "good looks" and "a new home" to my trade to get them to give me "family"). There was a little confusion and a few blank stares. There were a few chuckles when they watched me mime my trade.
But then I put them in their first groups and started the 3-minute timer.
Immediately the room erupted. Students took to the competition and became ruthless in doing what they could to get their top 3 priority items. It is rare that you hear the phrase, "I'll give you my friends for money!" and it makes complete sense. We went through three rotations of trading and the energy never died. The students were deadset on trading what they could to get their top three items. Even students who I never see actively speak up got into it and became extreme negotiators. I had one student whoop loudly and do a happy dance when she realized the only cards she had left were her top three.
It was chaotic but it was so enjoyable.
After our three rounds, we came back as a class and talked about what just happened. I had students remark that they were a little surprised that they were so willing to part with things like "family" to get "money" or a "high school diploma." Some said that they were fueled by the competition and knew that they would never truly make trades like this in real life; others described how they learned a little about themselves today as to what they were willing to sacrifice to get what they want. They discussed the struggles and extreme sacrifices they needed to make if they talked to someone who had the same priorities as them; the trade became bigger and more intense in order to get what they made their number one.
The rest of the class period was a little less energetic. My students started reading "The Devil and Tom Walker" on their own and worked on answering reading questions that would help guide them in a full class discussion we are working up to.
But I could see it in their eyes and hear it in their words as I wandered around while they read. This wasn't just another short story their crazy English teacher was making them read. They had just gone through what Tom Walker and Mrs. Walker went through: a choice to make sacrifices in order to get what they truly wanted. I stopped and chatted with students about what they thought about Tom Walker's choice and the deal he made with the devil. They described that it was extreme... but they could see where he was coming from.
Now, I won't know completely if this helped until we finish the story and get to our discussion on Friday. But I feel incredibly confident that they wouldn't be able to make a connection to the short story without first going through a pre-reading activity.
Until I retire, I will never not appreciate and use the art of pre-reading to prepare my students to make a connection to a piece.
I've included a link to an article over the activity. The article is called "Trading Spaces with Tom Walker: Moving the Devil out of Fourth Hour." I read through this last year when I first taught "The Devil and Tom Walker" because I had no idea where to start with such a story. I made a few modifications to suit my students but ultimately drew my inspiration from this article. It has now helped two groups of juniors better get acquainted with the major idea of one of America's iconic short stories.
The irony in all of this?
The article is co-written by the professor that taught my Teaching Reading to Adolescents course.
The apple does not fall far from the reading tree.
http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1192&context=lajm
(link to the original article)