Do-do-do-do-dooooo. I’m lovin’ it! I swear if I was smart enough to know how to get that McDonald’s theme song playing on here, I’d do it. This book is just awesome!!! I have so much highlighted in this chapter, I’m finding it difficult to narrow a quote down! Let’s just go with this one…
(Page 40) “Novels are not part of the problem; the problem lies in how the novels are taught.”
Who can tell me who Atticus Finch’s first two clients were when he became an attorney? C’mon, most all of us have read To Kill a Mockingbird. Surely, having that information about Atticus is important, right? It gives us information about Atticus’ abilities as an attorney, right? Ugh! WHO CARES??? I think this is the kind of stuff Gallagher is getting at with the problem of how novels are taught. Sometimes we get so caught up in teaching the novel itself instead of the theme or what we learn from the novel. When teaching a particular novel, ask yourself this question: What do I want my students to get out of this book? By focusing on the theme, we can relate it to students’ lives and make the book more relevant (particularly those books written by the Dead White Men who did not write for a teenage audience). Once we know what we want our students to get from the book, we need to make sure our final assessment reflects that. If we want students to realize the signs of abuse when reading Breathing Underwater, then why ask them who Nick’s best friend is? (Sidebar: I’ve read that book at least a dozen times, I can’t think of the name of Nick’s best friend off the top of my head.) Also, by focusing on the theme instead of the details of the book, I think it helps with students who don’t necessarily love the book. It’s not very often you’ll find a book that absolutely everyone loves, so if it’s approached as using it to examine a theme, then it becomes more of a tool for analysis than just reading a book because it’s supposed to be good. Also, with the classics, there needs to be lots of teacher support for instruction. Again, these are not novels that were written for teenagers, so why would we just have them read the pages without much help? Would you want to read a tax code book without any guidance from an accountant???
Oh, and just in case you’re dying to know about Atticus Finch’s first two clients…they were the last two men hanged in Maycomb county. And just so ya know, I’ve read To Kill a Mockinbird several times but didn’t know that about Atticus. I had to break out the book to come up with that question.
(Page 40) “Novels are not part of the problem; the problem lies in how the novels are taught.”
Who can tell me who Atticus Finch’s first two clients were when he became an attorney? C’mon, most all of us have read To Kill a Mockingbird. Surely, having that information about Atticus is important, right? It gives us information about Atticus’ abilities as an attorney, right? Ugh! WHO CARES??? I think this is the kind of stuff Gallagher is getting at with the problem of how novels are taught. Sometimes we get so caught up in teaching the novel itself instead of the theme or what we learn from the novel. When teaching a particular novel, ask yourself this question: What do I want my students to get out of this book? By focusing on the theme, we can relate it to students’ lives and make the book more relevant (particularly those books written by the Dead White Men who did not write for a teenage audience). Once we know what we want our students to get from the book, we need to make sure our final assessment reflects that. If we want students to realize the signs of abuse when reading Breathing Underwater, then why ask them who Nick’s best friend is? (Sidebar: I’ve read that book at least a dozen times, I can’t think of the name of Nick’s best friend off the top of my head.) Also, by focusing on the theme instead of the details of the book, I think it helps with students who don’t necessarily love the book. It’s not very often you’ll find a book that absolutely everyone loves, so if it’s approached as using it to examine a theme, then it becomes more of a tool for analysis than just reading a book because it’s supposed to be good. Also, with the classics, there needs to be lots of teacher support for instruction. Again, these are not novels that were written for teenagers, so why would we just have them read the pages without much help? Would you want to read a tax code book without any guidance from an accountant???
Oh, and just in case you’re dying to know about Atticus Finch’s first two clients…they were the last two men hanged in Maycomb county. And just so ya know, I’ve read To Kill a Mockinbird several times but didn’t know that about Atticus. I had to break out the book to come up with that question.
