Teaching Adolescent Writers

Another book by Kelly Gallagher. I'm using this one to plan my lessons for ENG 080 and 090, which start in a couple of weeks.

Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12

Touch Base Night at West Po High School is the equivalent of parent conferences speed-dating style. Parents stand in a line in front of their students' teachers and wait their turn for a five minute opportunity to discuss grades, behavior, and attendance. It's a testament to how ridiculous our society has become that many of the parents use the five minutes to haggle with the teachers over a few points here or a few points there. I have so few parents show up for Touch Base that I normally get to read or grade papers during the two hour conference marathon. I decided last night to use the 110 minutes to catch up on my professional development, so I finished reading Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12. This book is by Kelly Gallagher, an English Teacher celebrity! I saw him speak earlier this year, and it was truly humorous how much actual fawning took place around him.

That being said, the man does do everything. After reading his book, I know that he

• Teaches high school English full time
• Teaches at a primarily Latino school
• Runs a faculty book club
• coaches softball for this girls
• reads voraciously on a variety of topics
• writes books - at least three that i know of
• gives presentations and workshops around the country

He is also apparently still successfully married, and this is a feat in and of itself. I can see why people admire him so much. He does seem like a totally regular guy though, and while I thought most of his ideas were stellar, I also found myself disagreeing with him from time to time (and I think that's healthy).

His book has 10 chapters in it, and it is not really a sequel to Reading Reasons, but it is definitely about teaching "challenging texts" as opposed to teaching people how to read. This is an important distinction. Almost all high school teachers are trained to help students access texts well above their grade level, but almost NONE of them are trained to help students learn to read. The course that I teach now is supposed to increase reading level, and I've found that I have no idea how to do that...hence reading this book. I plan to read others as well. If I choose to stay in this line of work, I will also probably want to take a few classes as well.

The first chapter, "Why Reading Is Like Baseball," is Gallagher's metaphor for deeper reading. He explains how many people know the basic rules of baseball, but they do not read the game on a sophisticated level. Since I am not a sports fan, I understood this analogy perfectly. Every time I have ever tried to talk sports with anyone who knew the sport, I have come up woefully lacking in knowledge. The second chapter outlines his method for teaching deeper reading, which includes focusing the reader, helping with effective first-draft reading, deepening comprehension through second-draft reading, making time for collaboration with peers, using metaphor to deepen comprehension, and leading students to meaningful reflection. Each of the next six chapters takes one of those topics and goes into it more deeply. In the interest of space and time, I'm just going to share some of the ideas that were most enlightening to me.