Appleman, D., & Graves, M. (2012). Reading better, reading smarter: Designing literature lessons for adolescents. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 

Beers, G. (n.d.). When kids can't read, what teachers can do: A guide for teachers, 6-12. 

Gallagher, K. (2009). Readicide, Finding the sweet spot (pp.90-109). Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Milner, J., Milner, L., & Mitchell, J. (2012). Bridging English. (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
Styslinger, M., Ware, J., Bell, C., & Barrett, J. (2014). What Matters: Meeting Content Goals through Teaching Cognitive Reading Strategies with Canonical Texts. English Journal, 103(4), 53-61. 

Finding the Right Balance (between personal response, formal analysis, critical synthesis, strategic reading, and teaching vocabulary)

Say:
     The Readicide article starts with mentioning Atwell and how she encourages teachers to come out from behind their desk and model for the students--to be a mentor that writes, reads, and listens with the students. If I have learned anything from these articles, I swear that it's the importance of modeling in the classroom. The article mentions how you don't necessarily have to help someone read Harry Potter, the real challenge comes from not "over teaching" or killing canonical texts (Gallagher 91). I spent little time thinking about the value of having assigned, nationwide texts--they can create a cultural foundation of literacy and understanding for many, and in addition "rigor [with challenging texts] is not avoided"(92).
     I enjoy the idea of the saying "lousy classic" being an oxymoron. The canonical works have value, even if students who read them take nothing from them. If that happens, it's the teacher's fault. This is why Gallagher argues that instead of pushing students to like the books as much as we may like them, to instead get them to take something from it--to leave the page with a connection or understanding not previously had. The argument behind this was the museum analogy, students may not think of the texts as fun, but with a connection and understanding of the texts, they can have a more enriched life (but not that's not to say to forget about the beauty in the written word).
     How do we prevent Readicide? Frame it in a way the students can understand, whether that be with the vocabulary, context, or discussions and connections. Remember the value in re-reading something. Thinking from Reader Response--the text has no meaning without the reader, and your student's (and yours) may change. model confusion and scaffold them into the big chunks by working on little chunks together. When discussion or tackling little chunks, dont be afraid to read with a pencil in order to annotate (or to show this verbally can work).
"If you want to kill the love of reading in a student, plant innumerable stop signs in the text that will require the student to examine his reading processes at each stop."(106).
     There are an immense amount of ways to bring the larger texts to a relatable place for students. The examples of visualization through drawing (with the Crucible), reader response, discussion and isolating imagery (with Gatsby), and even modeling how to connect to texts by illustrating a cold-reading and live response to the student's books.
"Did students transfer strategies to other areas of reading and life?" (Styslinger 59).
      We can't force students to ask questions if they have no questions. As teachers, we can oversaturate strategies. I've already noticed a few times in my internship when I'm reading aloud to the class or attempting to help with a question that I can pause too frequently in order to question or verbally visualize. "Some students just want to move on with the reading"(59). Also, I'm learning that it's important and valid for students to connect not just to the text, but to be able to read other forms of text and media that exist in the world around them. If we as teachers claim to want to instill critical thinking skills, we must realize where the majority of students' effort is going to go.
     A big thing that has been pushed in this program is the importance of pushing the students to read more than one text at one time. This allows teachers to teach and illustrate multiple strategies without bogging one particular text down with too many different strategies. As i'm learning, students are even better multi-taskers than me--perhaps this is due in part to technologies impact on the modern adolescent. 
     Milner and Milner believe that we're currently stuck at and instructional crossroads between New Criticism and Reader Response. I'm hoping that there is a happy ending for both. Formal analysis is something that I need to come to see as not and "end in itself but as a way of enriching and deepening one's growing interpretation" (Milner 142).
"If students have some to care about literature (reader response) and to communicate with each other about it (interpretive community), their deepening thoughts and their curiosity will ideally drive them to question form. You should be ready for that" (144).
     Review of the Beer's and Appleman's texts was nice, as I felt like i was getting strategy after strategy. Anticipation Guides, KWLs, Probable Passage, Tea Party, etc. I was reminded, again, of this great reflection "The more we frontload knowledge of a text and help them become actively involved in constructing meaning prior to reading, the more engaged they are likely to be as they read the text" (Beers 101). During Reading: Saying Something, ReTelling, Think Aloud, DEJS, Bookmarks, Post Its, Character Bulletin Boards, Syntax Surgery, and Signal Words. "If you aren't thinking it, you aren't reading it" (137). Scales, Somebody Wanted But So, Retellings, Texts Reformations, It Says-I Say, and Save The Last Word were the after reading/extended stratagies for review. Some "students more than others need activities that bring the invisible process of comprehending to the visible level, these...help readers 'get it' throughout the entire reading process" (175).
     Vocabulary was a new beast this week. Beers says that educators know that we should be teaching it somehow, but don't really understand the best way, so we end up defaulting on the ways that we we often taught. This is very dangerous and something i've noticed already in my internships--something that i'm actively fighting (with the help of Beers and company). 
"Apart from the [vocabulary book], I'm not sure where the kids would ever see these words again. maybe thats's the problem" (180).
     Beers goes on to discuss the experiment with the vocabulary lessons and how teachers in the past have tried multiple forms of drilling and study, but the best way to get them to the students was having the teachers study them and use them naturally in the classroom setting in everyday conversation. Read Alouds are important in their own right as well. I had a rule growing up to never think less of anyone who mispronounced an unusual word, because that more than likely meant that they had only read or seen that word and never heard it properly pronounce in everyday use. In the shortest of short,
"Effective vocabulary instruction means students use words they learn" (183).

Do:

     So, even though it's a less important part of the learning process, it's part of the holistic language approach, and I enjoy teaching and learning new vocabulary, so the new section from Beers was refreshing in a way--to know that there is a effective and fun way to help kids learn new words.
     I enjoy the thought of having some sort of vaculary or word wall or tree. They are more than likely targeted toward younger learners, but I think that students of all ages can benefit from them.
     Latin wasn't taught at my school, but my English teacher had weekly roots, prefixes, and suffixes lessons. These are the most powerful thing that I have in my arsenal today, and despite flirting with them being near a sub-skills frame, I am a believer in the teaching them. I am also a believer in organically teaching them in context.
      I took some ideas from Milner and Milner for min-lessons about Intertextuality and thinking (again) about the rhetorical triangle while mixing in genre for a halloween fun. I've been focusing on writing for the majority of my Internship placement and I want to bring a little reading and discussion into the class before I change placements The below ideas I plan to use as community building journal and discussion exercises.
Fun Mini Lessons from M&M

Inviting Other Theoretical Perspectives

Appleman, D., & Graves, M. (2012). Reading better, reading smarter: Designing literature lessons for adolescents. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

-Milner, J., & Milner, L. (1999). Bridging English (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill.
-Appleman, D. (2000). Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents, (pp.xv-24, 154-158). NY: Teachers College Press.

Say:Appleman Article: "The students haven't been inmpressed with the hand-me-down theory articles that Jessie pulled from her college notebooks" (xv). Well this is an important little note. As neat an interesting that I may think my collegiate work is to other--it probably isn't, especially to high-schoolers. This is yet another reminder why it's important to craft fun and engaging lessons from very textbook material. Even though the students in the article have all been exposed to these ideas before, they did not have the theory labels. It's important that the students don't see my teaching as some sort of artificial "teacher-game", that it appears genuine. 

      "Many people think literary theory is arcane an esoteric...a literary parlour game for the MLA types." This bugs me. What could all these theories have to do with the modern adolescent they ask. These theories give students a way to read the world. I swear, if people aren't complaining about one thing, it's the other. First we're not teaching enough classics, then they're not applicable, so when teachers try to make them applicable--to give students critical thinking skills to analyze not only literary works but life's situations as well, it's not relevant.

 “Students can see what factors have shaped their own world view and what assumptions they make as they evaluate the perspectives of others, whether a character from a text, an author or literary movement, and MTV video, a shampoo commercial, peer pressure, or the school system in which they find themselves” (3).

      I absolutely love how the article points out that this also helps us bond and form social connections with the people around us, both in school and in larger society. Literary theory reminds us that we "do not live in isolation" (3).

“Broadly stated, teachers often feel torn between either presenting literary texts as cultural artifacts…or relying heavily on students’ personal experience through a RR approach” (4). I completely understand this, as a student it sometimes feels like im bombarded with all of these great theories that I need to immdiately take to the classroom, but i'm often left asking, "Which one at what time?"

“Our profession is challenging its assumptions about literacy heritage…the demands that we challenge the notion of a single truth about the literature we read together”(5). The later quote on page seven about how the vast majority of secondary teachers had little to no experience with theories is disheartening, but makes me excited because this very say/do is writing about theories, what they mean, and how to teach them...so i'm not completely in the dark.  It makes me think how important it is tho always know not just what i'm teaching, but why i'm teaching it.

-->The whole point is not to turn them into theory zombies, but to help them get to a place where they're comfortable as learners to construct their own readings of the world around them.

     "No book is genuinely free from political bias" (60). The Marxist lens helps us to see the political context of the story. Aside from extensively deep criticisms, these lens help with the idea found on the rhetorical triangle (audience, author, context).

"The consequence deepens the common student error of attempting to arrive at an authoritative, usually reductive, interpretation of a text. Students do not develop the useful tools that are available for approaching any text" (Milner 161).

      Starting students with some sort of metacognition activities before introducing them straight into theory may help scaffold them. Also, reminding students that we do not live or operate in isolation is important as well. You may have them work through some theory work in groups or small pods to help explain this. You could even have them apply certain critical lens to their partner work in addition to texts--to help show that these skills are useful outside of the classroom as well.

      Thinking with a teacher lens, Milner makes some good practical 'no duh' advice, "a clear understanding of the field will ground you more confident in it and will protect you from being prey to literary assumptions and judgments that you cannot locate or name," also known as know your content (163). To be honest, this was said in relation to how to analyze theory, but I think  it applies in more than one area. Most of the Milner reviews the details of the specific schools of criticisms and offers some intriguing questions to give students when introducing it.

"If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" -Mark Twain.

      Reading Better starts off the reading by saying a common misconception about teaching literary theory is that it should be taught to "advanced students in the upper grades" (76). Appleman argues these ideas can be taught as early as grade 6. She even suggests doing this with pop-culture like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars in order to better reach your students and/or help them understand how to apply the lens. The text then refreshes the readers memory on everything within the Literary Perspectives toolkit. These tackle all the major idea from Marxism, etc. but the phrasing is less intimidating and may be more useful in certain classes (no pun intended). 

      

Do:
       As cheesy as it sounds, I love the physical glasses activity. Having students put on glasses and coaxing them to understand that they force you to see things that are already present, but in a different light. I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to find some tinted flasses.
      For teaching Marxist theory, you could do a lesson on migrant workers from any of Steinbecks popular books, the plight of african americans in Black Boy  or Native Son, or even describing the landscape form Eliot's The Wasteland. 
      Reviewing Platos and Aristotle's early moreal and philosophical ideas in Milner got me thinking that they has to be a fun way to teach these very old lines of thought. Perhaps dressing as Aristotle for a lesson is a little thing that would make it fun for the kids.
      The True Story of the Three Little Pigs is a great way to start off a lesson of theory. This helps students see instead of just trying to grasp new words and concepts on a page. Appleman even lists a great little mini lesson on pg 76. She actually lists another great visual with clowns invading the classroom.
      The Gary Soto "Oranges" activity is another great way to scaffolded literary lenses (Appleman 80)
Using Picture Book for Feminism LP

(re)Introducing Reader Response

-Probst, R. (2004). Response & analysis: Teaching literature in secondary school (2nd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
-Milner, J., & Milner, L. (1999). Bridging English (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill.
-Articles: Critical literacy as comprehension: expanding reader response; An introduction to Reader-Response Theories; What is Written Conversation?; A summary of engagements to help students transact with texts; 21 Lessons Teachers Demonstrate about Reading; Dimensions of Failure in Reader Response; The Challenge of Literature (chp.1); The Lens of Reader Response: The Promise and Peril of Response-Based Pedagogy; Where We Are: Responsive Reading using Edmodo;  Responding to Reading (chp. 5)

Say:

     "We have to bring those texts to bear upon our lives"(Probst vii). Wow. I wanted to wait until more than the 3rd page of Probst to start responding, but the entire section bout reading "trash" really hits home. As pretentious or learned as I may act sometimes, I connect with the idea that "'Literature'...is what you want to have read, but you don't particularly want to read it tonight" (3). That is still as true today as it was in my high school days. Even before hitting this quote I began thinking about how i'd really like to have some Milton under my belt once I was reminded of him, thanks to a name-drop a page earlier. Yet right now my personal read is a YA sci-fi book. The bit about the rise of New Criticisms reminds me of an idea I've seen many times where students are given The Rose That Grew from Concrete with the title withheld for a big reveal after initial reaction.
     Subjective Criticism and the process of reformation is very important to Bleich, about how readers "transform the text into symbols...and we interpret the symbols we have created. "Not until the text is read, and thus reformulated in the reader's mind, does it become literature" (6). The reader alone is the one directing the thoughts on the text--the text cannot act. This is quite the opposite from New Criticism in which the meaning resides in the stable text regardless of the human interaction (7). Bleich goes on to mention discussion as well with the idea that literature is "not a source of knowledge, but only a stimulus...the knowledge is formulated later, in the interchange among reader" (12). This is pretty wild to me; while i'm not sure that I entirely agree, it's a great starter for conversation among students or teachers at any level. Personally I tend to lean towards the idea that texts have inherent meaning. The idea of asking, "What does that mean? How do you feel? Isn't that nice?" and moving on doesn't always attract me--sometimes I do want them to analyze for the text's sake. I get the point though, "The uniqueness of the reader must be respected" (14).
      Reception Aesthetics. Rosenblatt apparently is more moderate, she understands that the reader/viewers experience will have a part to play, but understands that the work itself has powers. The exercise of word-association with the car is a good indication of this (the experiences are different, but the word still clearly matters). Therefore the reading is not about finding what does it mean, but more combining that question with, "What can we do with the work?" (18). 
      "Iser's discussion suggests...that a literary work is not a thing, but a process. Often, perhaps especially in the secondary school classroom, the work is treated as a single unchanging entity" (23). This is so true. This is part of the very reason that i'm sure nearly every single of my peers in this MT cohort have the same understanding of most major canonical works that find their way into the classroom. I'm beginning to see that it may not be the right course of action to push one interpretation--one complete text. The work's meaning lies in the process. The work's meaning lies in the process. The work's meaning lies in the process. A great example of this are powerful books like To Kill A Mockingbird or Huck Finn, where the act of questioning "general 'attitudes toward human nature and conduct' that permeate society at the time they were written, and still contaminate it" (25) is what really connects with the students--I suppose i agree with Iser because these are the things in my opinion makes the books worth teaching. 
      "The pleasures that first drew us to literature were not those of the literary scholar"(29). 
      "Adolescents should not yet be content with their conception of the world, with their understanding of themselves and their society. They should not grow rigid and unchanging, working as hard to avoid learning as the young child does to learn" (30). That is what is so beautiful about this discipline, how responsive the works and material can be within everybody. Even if it's not Hamlet, there is a work of English out there that strikes a chord with everyone--speeches, famous movie monologues, etc. 
     Students read literature "to know themselves". Reading helps everyone refine what they believe their own selves to be as well as sharpen their larger perception of the world and larger society (31). It's so wonderful that just as each person in the world is unique and special in their own way, so is literature--and there is a text that connects with each and every one. 
      Literature (in the secondary curriculum) is not written for academic exercises, it's not the "private domain of the intellectual elite" (34). Rosenblatt pushes that reading is an unmediated, private exchange between the text and the reader, and It's hard to disagree.
      The discussion of Jones' poem, As Best She Could addresses two very important issues that seem to conflict with the touchy-feely Rosenblatt connections above. Errors in Reading and Authorial Intent can skew the interpretations away from the intended or what would be productive. If a students cannot perform at a certain level during reading, with vocabulary and fluency, then it's time to back up. The errors are mentioned next to Intent in the text because they are connected--if the errors in understanding skew the details enough, purpose of the piece can disappear, weakening it all around. This reminds me of my most recent class Lesson Plan in which I planned an assessment, but due to larger and more basic reading and writing skills, many of the students were not able to even communicate their thoughts.
      There are conditions for these response teachings (As I'm very quickly noticing every day)... Students have to be receptive, tentative, and rigorous. They have to be willing to take risks.
      Reviewing Bridging English reminded me of some great and basic strategies of the teaching cycle: Enter, Explore, Extend. Among these are things like ThinkPairShare and such. It seems basic, but a reminder of Reader Response--> Interpretive Community--> Formal Analysis--> Critical Synthesis is helpful to remember when planning lessons.
      "I see students who choose a failing grade rather than: make a phone call to a stranger, get up in front of the class for two minutes, take a bus to a library for research,read an entire book, compose an original poem, have a parent sign a form. And nowhere is this apathy and fear more evident than in my English classes"
      Students greatest weapon against learning it there passivity. The less effort they put in, the less they'll be disappointed if they fail. Bridging the gap is convincing them to be themselves, that they are safe, and that it's ok to mess up a few times.

Encourage Response: 

1. Don't makes the pieces too long.

2. Videos.

3. Be careful during the critical beginning minutes of a discussion.

4. If they won't talk, have them write.

5. Give them different modes to express in.

Do:
        I also like the idea of starting a classroom discussion with the question of "subjective synthesis"; having students respond to these literary philosophies that they probably were never presented with. This would work well to pair with the idea about the earth being flat until "rebels" were brave enough to explore it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2tEAoQnQ_m8MXFoT2ZsOEtLWmc/view?usp=sharing

        I love Probst's Word-Association exersize that illustrates to the students how experience of reading and teaching literature is related to the "subjective syntheses of the reader". This is something that can easily be done without any external materials, just the students pen and paper.
      The Marginalia activity is a useful tool to have in your arsenal, though I don't tend to exhaust my struggling CP seniors with it at the moment (though i'm sure there is a way to pair it with something that will make it appear practical or exciting). 
      One Text, Two Poems Activity.

I don't have a physical representative of this, but I've been doing Dr. Vic O's Celebrations ice-breakers at the open of class in order to help build community and create a safe space to be yourself and share. I say this because of it's relation to the "Dimensions of Failure" article specifically and how (i've noticed too) so many students are so reluctant to share and participate.

Transacting with Literature (8/31-9/7)

-Teaching Young Adult Literature
-Mike Roberts-Using Graphic Texts in Secondary Classrooms: A Tale of Endurance 
-Mary Rice-From Hinton To Hamlet, Chp.3, "Directing vs. Exploring: How to get where you're going without a Literary Map"- Herz/Gallo

Say:

     In the Roberts piece, there is talk about new teachers getting into the profession due to their fiery love of people like Shakespeare, Twain, and Hawthorne, thinking that these same passions which struck a chord with them/us as students would work as teachers. Using basic contexts clues (reading the title, and understanding of how foreshadowing works), my fears of having to accept and learn to work within this new realm of YA Literature is becoming more and more of a reality. It doesn't honestly bother me as much as a may sometimes let on--kids are kids, and reading, for the most part is just that-reading. So whether we're reading some new NPR recommended 9th grade coming-of-age story, or Macbeth, i'll be just happy to see pages turning. 
        The sample teacher in the article, Haskins, mentions that both her levels of excitement and her experiences with YA in the classroom have shifted, progressed, and only gotten better over the long haul. But how long does this go on? After all, if I wanted to be a high school English teacher, shouldn’t I have been devoting more time to reading the classics (Roberts 101)? I think that the answer is a couple pages down on pg.104 where he says, "Let me set the record straight. I’m not saying young adult literature should replace the literary canon. At the same time, if I can use YAL to help make reading enjoyable, my students stand a better chance of someday appreciating The Scarlet Letter...And even more importantly, they stand a better chance of leading literate lives.
        Boom. There's the takeaway for me. If my time with Styslinger has taught me only a few things, one of them would be to understand that my teaching should not be about how well they understand the themes of Shakespeare, but whether or not they have the tools in order to read for meaning, and therefore transfer their literacy skills across different texts, inside of the classroom and out.
        The sample teacher in the article, Haskins, mentions that both her levels of excitement and her experiences with YA in the classroom have shifted, progressed, and only gotten better over the long haul. But how long does this go on? After all, if I wanted to be a high school English teacher, shouldn’t I have been devoting more time to reading the classics (Roberts 101)? I think that the answer is a couple pages down on pg.104 where he says, "Let me set the record straight. I’m not saying young adult literature should replace the literary canon. At the same time, if I can use YAL to help make reading enjoyable, my students stand a better chance of someday appreciating The Scarlet Letter...And even more importantly, they stand a better chance of leading literate lives.
        Boom. There's the takeaway for me. If my time with Styslinger has taught me only a few things, one of them would be to understand that my teaching should not be about how well they understand the themes of Shakespeare, but whether or not they have the tools in order to read for meaning, and therefore transfer their literacy skills across different texts, inside of the classroom and out.
       When I was younger, and even still today i see it--there was always a stigma against working on artistic endeavors vs. working on official Model U.N. resume builders. Like many kids before me, at one point in my life someone made art come alive for me and I thought that I could be an artist, a painter, illustrator, something. Even though being from the humanities department with my English works makes my art friends essentially in the same boat as myself, Rice's piece really helped me to remember not to marginalize the artistically inclined students. Even as a lover of art, I have many times placed the power of the 
      Rice talks about the complexity of reading a graphic novel, something that is very evident to avid readers of the genre, and unfortunately something very lost on the majority on the outside. Reading a novel is reading the words and the rhetorical devices (usually), where as reading a graphic novel means using those same basic reading strategies on top of art analysis. Read, view. View. Read. Go back and re-interpret the artist's depiction from last chapter. more often than not the pictures are more than just pretty pictures; i really think that students can get excited learning and applying the same analytical eye that they've used for Cormac McCarthy onto Neil Gaiman.
      $$$$$$. Jesus, the affirmation of what i already knew about teachers being underfunded for their classroom libraries doesn't excite me, though I appreciate how Rice goes into heavy detail about how she acquired different grants and outside donations in order to complete her class sets (it's a shame that art/graphic novels are so much pricier than traditional texts). Though, the age of technology (in the classrooms) makes it fairly easy for me to purchase or find select graphic novels or art pieces, and then illegally distribute them via email or by simply projecting them for an individual lesson.
      In From Hinton to Hamlet there are some quotes that reinforce my desire to integrate (possibly replacing traditional titles) quality YA Lit. into my classroom. "I hated almost all of the books we studied in English class...I couldn't finish it and have never been able to force myself to try again"(Herz/Gallo 16). My fear is that once English is made to be boring and one-dimensional, then it's infinitely more challenging to re-appeal to young readers. Quality lessons working with, and embracing YA texts (I believe) can do this.

"Shouldn't a major purpose in teaching literature be to help students find pleasure in reading and to become lifetime readers (Herz/Gallo 17)?" Yes, there are tests to prepare them for, but the same techniques can be taught with books that kids will actually like.

Do:

        The Reader's Profile is something that I believe i'll do with my class at the start of next week. I may or not have time or space in the unit to make them immediately relevant via follow-up lessons, but at the very least i'll be able to get a sense of what my students have read, know their personality a bit more, and hopefully be able to recommend them some titles. Classroom community is very important to me, and something that is even more difficult to cultivate and affect being that I am only an intern at the moment. One of the best ways to connect with your different classes is to teach to their individual personalities and understandings. 
        I think that the most obvious way to best integrate appreciation of graphic novels and illustration into the classroom would be to obviously teach at least one graphic novel a year. In addition, there is art for the romantic period, the modernist movement, the transcendentalists, the enlightenment, etc. Art, like more familiar texts, is associated with nearly everything that we go over in the English classroom. Even if it's just a political cartoon, fan-art, or animations of famous short stories--the connection and importance is there. Showing things like helpful animations and graphic alternatives to accompany canonical works would be very useful and received. 
      Using graphics that are purposefully controversial in relation to a story's theme is a good idea as well--it links the class works with ideas found in public. Some examples might be hyper-masculine or sexist depictions of characters, or even alternative interpretations of famous characters from literature (black Harry Potter characters for instance).

      Most importantly, I want to try and find ways to get kids at least thinking about reading something for pleasure.
(will upload Reader Profiles as they come)