It felt only fitting to return to Gallagher for my final blog entry. In Chapter 10 of Deeper Reading, Gallagher tackles the notion of backwards planning. He notes that writing the course exam for the class after reading a text is actually poor teaching. On a strictly chronilogical basis it may not seem as such. Having the end in sight, however, helps focus the class. "Instead of trying to assess whether our students understand every layer of a complex work, we would better serve them if we consider the one or two areas within the text we think to be the most important and target those areas for our students' consideration," says Gallagher (2004, 210). This is the approach I am taking in developing my lesson plans for my week of teaching.
My cooperating teacher has asked me to teach a section of the grade ten unit, the Mysteries of Life. At the basis of my lessons is the deeper understanding question, "How do our imaginations carry us far beyond the borders of the everyday world?" As we go through texts, such as Ray Bradbury's The Veldt, students will be able to draw on their personal reflections on the deeper understanding question. Combined with their views of the deeper understanding question, I am also discussing the importance of atmosphere in speculative and horror fiction. Using another Gallagher notion, I am framing the text so as to direct the students reading of The Veldt.
I am not telling the students what to think, rather I am trying to guide their focus.
Remember, everything that has a beginning has a end...
Haley Claire: I think it is very cool that you are focusing on certain parts of the texts that you think are the most important. I find that students are often overwhelmed on exams and even in class in general with content and then they miss the important parts of the literature! I am sure your kids will thank you thinking this way!
ReplyDeleteYou point out some very important things for us as teachers to remember, such as not overwhelming the students with too much information. I really appreciate your end comment that you are not telling them what to think but guiding their focus, which is a reminder that often our role is to be facilitators in the guise of teachers.
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