Deep Reading to Deeper Writing

1. Deep Reading to Deeper Writing Using Informed Annotating + to Improve Student Writing Jeanette Barry

2. Classroom Challenge: • How can I help to develop my students into more independent readers, thinkers, and writers?

3. Answer: • Teach them to be more critical readers first!

4. Why do we need to teach students how to read critically?

5. Because we want “their experience to be much more than simply liking the story, or understanding the characters, or being intrigued by the resolution . . . I want my students to move beyond the text and consider its implications to them as human beings who live in the world today.” Kelly Gallagher, Deeper Reading, pages 19-20

6. And because. . . • “Reading is a process of constructing meaning or composing a text, exactly like writing. The reading of any difficult text will entail drafting and revision (largely in the reader’s head) and will frequently begin with what amounts to a zero draft. Just as writing may be defined as rewriting, so is any reading worth doing essentially a process of rereading.” Robert Scholes, as quoted in Blau’s Literature Workshop, page 53

7. 2 elements to work on in this Demo: • Strategies for deeper reading -- used as a stepping stone for • Strategies for finding major ideas within literature

8. Reading Strategy Help Students Decipher Words 30-15-10 List (See handout)

9. Reading StrategyGive reader a focus to prepare for a reading. • My German teacher • Quick, 5-minute write -- no worries, just write!

10. Share • For 2 minutes, turn to your neighbor and share your memory of a favorite teacher.

11. Read • Now that you are focused, quietly read to yourself the story entitled “Love” by William Maxwell • When you are finished with the reading, flip the story over, so I’ll know when everyone is finished.

12. Remember • Write down on the back of your story any ideas of foreshadowing that you remember regarding Miss Brown’s death. • How many did you have? Discuss with your neighbor for 1 minute.

13. Re-read & Annotate • Go back to the story, read it for a second time, and write down any evidence of foreshadowing that you find. • You have 10 minutes; go!

14. Discuss as a Group: How many did you find??? • Images of death • Images of flowers • Sign on side of road

15. Why is the re-reading and annotating important? • First time reading is like a rough draft -- you’re just trying to get the facts straight. • Second reading with a purpose allows you the freedom of looking for other aspects of the writing.

16. Why is the discussion/sharing important? • Edgar Dale states in his book Audio-Visual Methods in Teaching (p. 43) that we remember • 10% of what we read • 20% of what we hear • 30% of what we see • 50% of what we both see and hear • 70% of what we talk about with others!!!

17. Teaching Metaphors: A Strategy toward Deeper Reading & Writing We’ll use the idea of metaphors to help students begin to think outside of a literal reading.

18. Some good metaphors, just for fun! • “The past is a pebble in my shoe.” Edgar Allan Poe • “I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.” Mother Teresa

19. And a couple more . . .

20. Reading StrategyUsing metaphors to deepen comprehensionKelly Gallagher, Deeper Reading, p. 22-23 Intangible Tangible - - - - - - - -

21. Make your own metaphor/simile. • Complete the following sentence by selecting one intangible item and one tangible item, and then explore the relationship between these two items as follows: (Intangible item) is like a (tangible item) because ______________.

22. Share. • Turn to your neighbor and share your new metaphor/simile.

23. Stretch. • Now, extend your metaphors by completing the following: (Intangible item) is like a (tangible item) because __________, _________________, and _________________.

24. Share again. • Turn to your neighbor, and share your new extended metaphor/simile.

25. Apply . . . • Now complete the following sentence, using your new metaphor strategy. The boys’ love for Miss Brown is like (a) __________ because _______________________.

26. Reading StrategyTeaching Students to Infer • Many students only see literature literally, and they must be taught to think beyond what is written.

27. If I tell you . . . • “I can’t believe I have been sitting here among all these sick people for over an hour waiting for them to call my name. Why do they over-schedule so many people? I hope I am called next; I don’t know how much longer I can tolerate this sore throat” (Gallagher 81).

28. Where do you suppose the narrator is? How would you know that?

29. Share. • Now write an example of your own, where you do not give the actual place, but you give hints that might help your reader. 1 minute • Share with a neighbor when you are finished writing. 2 minutes

30. Now, read the following: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men, Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

31. Surprise! Humpty Dumpty is not really about an egg. What do you think it might really be about?

32. 3 Leading Theories: • King Richard III, who fell from his horse in the Battle of Bosworth Field & was butchered on the spot. • Charles I of England, who was booted by the Puritan majority in Parliament. The King’s Army could not restore his power, and he was executed • The name of a powerful cannon during the English Civil War. Mounted on top of a church; when church tower was hit by enemy fire and knocked off, cannon went tumbling to ground & could not be repaired.

33. What if our inferences are wrong? • “That doesn’t mean you stop inferring; it suggests that inferring correctly takes a lot of practice. The more you infer, the better you get at it” (Gallagher 82).

34. Yertle the TurtlebyDr. Seuss • Read aloud while class listens.

35. A bit of context . . . • Seuss rejected the idea that children's stories should only be about modeling good behavior and even called himself "subversive as hell.” • The book was written in 1958.

36. Guess What? • Yertle the Turtle is not really about a turtle • Discuss & share.

37. Metaphors & Inferences -- now what? • Strategies for a first reading (headed toward writing!)

38. 1st Reading of a Piece of Literature • Reading something the first time is “like getting used to the cool water in a swimming pool before beginning a rigorous workout” (Gallagher 53).

39. And Sheridan Blau says, • “As much as you might want to abbreviate the process, you can’t get to your second reading except by way of your first. And if in your first reading you feel completely lost (a familiar feeling to all experienced readers), well then, that’s what it takes to get to the second reading, in which you begin to find your bearings” (Blau 197-198).

40. Kelly Gallagher, in his Deeper Reading, says . . . • “When my students read a difficult work for the first time, this is the ‘down’ reading draft. My hope is that they get the basics down -- familiarizing themselves with the characters, recognizing significant plot points, getting used to the language and structure of the novel” (53).

41. Let’s Be Honest . . . • How many of our students will read an assigned novel twice just so that they might really understand it? • Answer: 3 out of 284 (-ish) So . . .

42. Reading StrategyAnnotating with Sticky Notes • For this purpose, I have found sticky notes work really well. • As part of their reading assignments, students expect that they will write on sticky notes to record new characters, settings, or events -- I require one note per 2 pages of reading.

43. Reading StrategyInformed Annotating(when students are ready to move beyond simply summarizing) • Make a laminated bookmark with the following ideas: • Make predictions: anticipate what will happen next, supporting with specific references to the text • Recognize literary devices: note techniques used by author • Make connections: from either real life or other books, films, poems, and stories • Challenge the text: challenge the author or the characters & their choices Kelly Gallagher, Deeper Reading, page 101.

44. Reading StrategyShare • At the end of a chapter, have students trade their books and look for evidence of each of these elements. You might use the following symbols for each of the elements: Element Symbol Prediction P Literary Terms LT Connections C Judgments J Challenges CH Summary S Kelly Gallagher, Deeper Reading, page 101

45. Reading StrategyTrading Annotations: • “When students trade [books to analyze annotations], they get a double dose of deeper reading reinforcement” (Gallagher 101). • Have students mark P, LT, C, J, Ch, or S on each of their partner’s annotations to help readers discover how deep their annotations really are. Kelly Gallagher, Deeper Reading, page 101

46. Avoid the “S” • Eventually, students should move further and further away from summarizing in their annotations. • I grade the completion of annotations with a homework grade, and after a week or so, I also grade the complexity of their annotations.

47. Common Teacher Problem: • Keeping track of annotations

48. No Worries!!! • Sheridan Blau has a solution!!!

49. Mid-book Annotating Audit(Sheridan D. Blau) • Section 1: Description of Annotations • Section 2: Analysis of Annotations • Section 3: Reflection of Annotations • Section 4: Sample Annotation Entries

50. Annotating AuditSection 1: Description of Annotations • What is the average length of your notes? • How many are long or short or in between? • How many chapters have you covered? • Generally, what does your collection of annotations look like?