Finding the Right
Balance
Milner
and Milner—Bridging English (148-161)
Beers—When Kids Can’t Read (73-175)
Calkins,
Ehrenworth, and Lehman—Pathways to the
Common Core (54-62 & 77-88)
Gallagher—Readicide
(90-109)
One
of the most crucial parts of daily lessons is the section where the most
learning happens. Even though it is very important to have a beginning and an
end, to engage students and then have them long for more, the middle section of
the lesson is where teachers implement the actual information that is supposed
to be learned. Milner and Milner’s Bridging English refers to this as
“formal analysis.” Milner and Milner’s
text explains what formal analysis essentially is, and they give multiple
examples of how it can be implemented in the classroom to maximize learning
potential. Beers’ text, When Kids Can’t
Read, also gives us many strategies that can be implemented into the formal
analysis section that will continue to engage students of all different reading
levels. Furthermore, Gallagher’s Readicide also gives more information on
how teachers need to take the opportunity to engage students further in the
lesson because students are essentially being conditioned to hate reading. It is our job to renovate the way they
approach reading in the classroom.
Finally, Pathways to the Common
Core gives information about how formal analysis can be approached
realistically in terms of our standards.
Altogether, these readings work together to show teachers the formal
analysis section needs to be approached in an innovative way to maximize
learning potential in the formal analysis section.
In
Milner and Milner’s Bridging English,
they do a great job of defining the middle section of the lesson. In the “entering” stage of the lesson, the
main goal is to grab students’ attention subconsciously, if you will. The formal analysis section is the main part
of the “exploring” stage. Essentially,
this is when learning becomes very intentional.
They state, “Students begin to explore the formal dimensions of the text
more consciously and reflect on the author’s craft more intentionally” (Milner
and Milner 2008). Therefore, students
are more consciously learning. For
English teachers, some of the basic information that is taught during this time
is: plot, characters, setting, tone, style, theme, symbolism, authorial intent,
etc. Additionally, teachers are
beginning to use intertextuality more.
This is when two separate texts are used to complement each other for
one greater meaning or purpose. This is
really helpful when teachers are trying to show students how narratives work
with real world experiences (informational texts). Altogether, Milner and Milner give a brief
overview about what happens in the formal analysis section of a lesson.
Kylene
Beers’ When Kids Can’t Read goes into
a little more detail than Milner and Milner.
She have more expectations about what should be found in the formal
analysis section. The first major topic
she discusses is frontloading a text.
This essentially “activating prior knowledge” before engaging in the
actual text itself (Beers 2003). Some of
the strategies Beers gives us for frontloading are: anticipation guides, K-W-L,
Probable Passage, and Tea Party. She
goes into detail about how each of these strategies can work to pull students
in before beginning the actual text.
The
next major aspect that Beers discusses is constructing meaning. She describes this as what happens after we
pull students in. This is when we make
the reading make sense. Essentially,
reading becomes “the active process” (Beers 2003). Some of the examples she gives us to
construct meaning are: classroom talk during the reading, say something,
rereading, think-aloud, double entry journals, logographic cues, bookmarking,
ABC’s of comparing and contrasting, post-it notes, character bulletin boards,
syntax surgery, and signal words. All of
these strategies are used during reading to keep students focused and able to
understand the text.
The
last major aspect that Beers discusses with the formal analysis section of
reading is called extending meaning.
This is when students are finished with a specific text and we want them
to think about it further. This could also be called “post-reading strategies.” Some of the major after reading strategies
that Beers gives us are: Likert Scales, Semantic Differential scales, Somebody
Wanted But So, retelling, text reformulation, It Says—I Say, sketch to stretch,
save the last word for me, and most important word. All of these readings ask
students to work with the text after reading to gain insight about the text as
a whole. Overall, Beers gives teachers
many helpful strategies to use in the different stages of the formal analysis
section. A major goal of Beers is to
make sure that all students are engaged and meeting maximum potential, no
matter the reading level.
Along
with Beers, Gallagher’s Readicides
also wants to find ways to make the text more appealing to students at all
levels. Students have essentially been
conditioned by teachers to hate reading, and it is our job to fix this. Gallagher’s argument discusses how teachers
need to work towards finding “the sweet spot” when teaching reading. Essentially, Gallagher is trying to find the
balance between challenging and engaging, without making students want to run
from texts. Also, we need to balance how
involved we, the teachers, are in the students reading. Though we can guide them, the authentic
learning needs to happen individually.
Half of this battle is in choosing the right texts. We want to give students literary works that
can be applicable to their lives. Since
we are “teaching to the reading and the reader,” this relationship is crucial
(Gallagher 2009). We cannot hand them
everything.
To
prevent “readicides” from happening, Gallagher gives us multiple
suggestions. Some include: recognize the
importance of framing, remember the value found in drafts, and adopt a “big
chunk/little chunk” philosophy. Additionally,
students need to be performing metacognitive thinking. They need to independently realize how they
are identifying important points. This
will help them continuously through years of schooling. Altogether, Gallagher is concerned with how reading
is taught to adolescents.
Pathways to the Common Core gives a
brief overview of how all of this is possible while still using common core
standards. While discussing the core
reading standards, the authors state, “this work requires that readers who may
be accustomed to approaching texts with blinders on, focused jut on the words
on the page before them, must develop the ability to carry meaning across the
whole story, seeing what happens on one page as being part of a thread of
meaning that weaves through the text” (Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman 2012). Essentially, the standards correlate with
what all of the other authors want teachers to do with students. Teachers need to show students different ways
of approaching the text to students are required to work with texts to understand
and create meaning. Additionally, the
common core standards show us that this meaningful way of reading can be done
through wide range of text: narrative (novel, short story, poem, children’s
book, YA literature, etc.), argumentative (debates, public forums, etc.),
informational (newspapers, articles, news stories, memoir, etc.). All of these texts allow for close reading
and analyzing details. Altogether, the
common core anchor standards for reading parallel with what Milner, Milner,
Beers, and Gallagher want for students.
Bridging English, When Kids Can’t Read, Readicides,
and Pathways to Common Core are all working towards helping
teachers make the formal analysis section of the lesson more engaging and
insightful for students. Though the all
discuss different aspects of teaching reading, they all have similar ideologies. For students to reach maximum potential when
learning, they have to be presented information in innovative ways. All of these authors want students to be
introduced to literature in a new way, while simultaneously challenging them to
become better thinkers. Altogether,
every reading builds on the other for the teacher to find the best way of
helping their dynamic set of students.
Do: **I want this to count as one of my required "Do's." I did this in the classroom.**
Subject:
English I CP, 55 Minutes
Topic:
Literary Foils and “The Necklace”
Title:
“Do Opposites Attract?”
Objectives:
1.
Analyzing
the relationships and complex meanings of characters. (RL.9-10.3)
2.
Analyze
the author’s intent with structure and/or character relationships influence a
literary work. (RL.9-10.5)
3.
Initiate
and participate in multiple forms of discussion and/ communication. (SL.9-10.1)
Purpose:
The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students
to the literary term “character foils.”
By showing students what a character foil is in a story, they will be
learning about different ways to view and study a text. Altogether, this will help them become more
analytical and critical readers.
Materials:
·
SMART board
·
PowerPoint
·
Foils and “The Necklace” Worksheet
Procedure:
Before:
(10 minutes)
·
While
students are coming into the classroom, there will be a slide up on the board
that prompts them to take out there earbuds, put away their phones and begin a
small group discussion. This discussion
will ask students to talk about the characteristics of the husband and the wife
in “The Necklace.”
·
Following
their small group discussions, the class will come back together to reiterate
what was discussed in their small groups.
As this conversation continues, I will lead them into realizing that
their character traits contrast each other for a dramatic outcome.
·
SEGUE:
I will use the PowerPoint to segue into the definition of a foil.
During:
(Remaining time)
·
The
next slide of the PowerPoint will be a definition of a character foil. Following that slide will be multiple
examples of other character foils that can be found in pop culture. These examples will help students make sense
of character foils. As the examples come
to an end, I will reiterate how the husband is a character foil of the wife in
“The Necklace.”
·
After
the PowerPoint presentation, I will direct students to the worksheet on
character foil passages in “The Necklace.”
This worksheet is set up in the format of “It Says, I Say, And So.” The passages, or the “It Says,” section has
already been filled in for the students.
They will then have to fill in the “I Say” section to identify what is
actually happening in the passages given.
Then, students will have to identify what the “I Say” section means in
context to the two characters in the “And So” section. At the very end of this worksheet, there is a
fill in the blank sentence that asks students to identify how the husband is a
character foil of the wife.
**Because Blythewood High School is a one-to-one school, students will be look looking at the PowerPoint and complete the worksheet on their chromebooks. Every component of this lesson involves technology use.**
**Because Blythewood High School is a one-to-one school, students will be look looking at the PowerPoint and complete the worksheet on their chromebooks. Every component of this lesson involves technology use.**
Closing:
(remaining time)
·
As
an exit slip, students will be asked to write a character foil that they have
heard of from books, TV shows, or movies.
This will help bring the class full circle as students leave.
Evaluation/Assessment:
Before:
none
During:
For this lesson, students will be administered a worksheet as their
assessment. This worksheet will have
multiple passages from “The Necklace” and students will have to identify what
is happening in that scene and why the author chose to portray each scene the
way he did. By the end of the
assignment, students will be able to correctly identify traits that prove that
Monsieur Loisel is the character foil for Mithilde Loisel. This assignment will count as a classwork
grade. This grade will count for
accuracy. Classwork grades are 20% of
overall student scores.
After:
The exit slip will count as a participation grade because they are already
being counted for accuracy on something else due that day. This will be an easy grade for participation
points. Participation will count as 20%
of overall student grade.
NOTE: For a copy of this lesson, the PowerPoint, and the worksheet that would go with this "do," please visit the following link:
