1-30-14 (moved to 2-6 due to ice delay)

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1-30-14 (moved to 2-6 due to ice delay)
Our main topic today is readicide killing the
joy of reading. Write a brief description of a
time a teacher killed a book you were
reading, or you killed a book someone else
was reading.
Be ready to read your description aloud later in
class.
But first, well discuss The Fault in Our Stars
ways to use it in class.
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Identify a passage in TFIOS that elicits an
emotional response (i.e., laughter, anger,
sadness) from you. Be ready to share the passage
and your response in class.
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What do YOU think about John Greens idea of a
contract between author and reader? Is such a
contract in force for assigned readings, or
only for self-selected readings?
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Given the entertainment bacchanalia at the
disposal of young men and women of your
generation, I am grateful to anyone anywhere who
sets aside the hours necessary to read my little
book. But I am particularly indebted to you, sir,
both for your kind words about An Imperial
Affliction and for taking the time to tell me
that the book, and here I quote you directly,
meant a great deal to you. This comment,
however, leads me to wonder, What do you mean by
meant? Given the final futility of our struggle,
is the fleeting joke of meaning that art gives
us valuable? Or is the only value in passing the
time as comfortably as possible? What should a
story seek to emulate, Augustus? A ringing alarm?
A call to arms? A morphine drip? Of course, like
all interrogation of the universe, this line of
inquiry inevitably reduces us to asking what it
means to be human and whether to borrow a
phrase from the anger-encumbered
sixteen-year-olds you no doubt revile there is
a point to it all. p 68 (excerpt from Peter Van
Houtens letter to Augustus)
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from p 141 Rather than be searched by hand, I
chose to walk through the metal detector without
my cart of my tank or even the plastic nubbins in
my nose. Walking through the X-ray machine marked
the first time Id taken a step without exygen in
some months, and it felt pretty amazing to walk
unencumbered like that, stepping across the
Rubicon, the machines silence acknowledging that
I was, however briefly, a nonmetallicized
creature.
What is the allusion in stepping across the
Rubicon? How does knowledge of the historical
event enhance your reading of the novel? (Hint
When you read widely, you get more allusions.)
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Identify the following allusions
from p 217 While the mass of men went on
leading thoroughly unexamined lives of monstrous
consumption, Augustus Waters examined the
collection of the Rijksmuseum from afar. from p
218 There is no try, I said. There is only
do. from p 220 Ignorance is bliss, I said.
The unexamined life is not worth living.
Socrates Do. Or do not. There is no try. Yoda,
in Return of the Jedi
Yet ah! why should they know their fate? / Since
sorrow never comes too late, And happiness too
swiftly flies. / Thought would destroy their
paradise. No more where ignorance is bliss, /
'Tis folly to be wise. Closing lines of Thomas
Grays Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College
How does knowing these allusions enrich your
reading of the text? What other allusions can you
identify in TFIOS?
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.2  Determine central
ideas or themes of a text and analyze their
development summarize the key supporting details
and ideas. Identify some themes in TFIOS and
explain how Green develops those
themes. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.6  Assess how
point of view or purpose shapes the content and
style of a text. Explain how a first-person
narrator affects the content and style of
TFIOS. Choose a specific scene and write it from
a different characters point of
view. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.8  Delineate and
evaluate the argument and specific claims in a
text, including the validity of the reasoning as
well as the relevance and sufficiency of the
evidence. Explain and evaluate Van Houtens
argument about the value of art. CCSS.ELA-Literac
y.CCRA.R.9  Analyze how two or more texts
address similar themes or topics in order to
build knowledge or to compare the approaches the
authors take. Compare Hazel and/or Augustus
response to terminal illness in TFIOS to that of
Ben Wolf in Chris Crutchers Deadline.
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English Language Arts Standards Speaking
Listening CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.6 Adapt
speech to a variety of contexts and tasks,
demonstrating a command of formal English when
indicated or appropriate.
Read aloud a favorite (or particularly important)
passage from TFIOS. (This is an exercise in oral
interpretation use your voice pitch, tone,
inflection, rate, and volume to interpret the
text as you read it aloud.) Perform a scene from
TFIOS for an audio-only program.
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What are some potential takeaways from TFIOS?
What are some reasonable, realistic ways to
achieve them?
Write a paper
Give a speech
Do a dramatic reading
Participate in a debate
Create a presentation
(Re)write a chapter
Write a review
Argue a position
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Other comments or questions related to TFIOS?
BREAK Be ready to share your comments about
Readicide after the break.
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Only YOUCan Prevent Readicide
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Before we discuss books, lets talk about
something (else) fun

• Consider the parallels betweenand a cookie a
  novel
• Created by cook/author
• Certain ingredients common to all cookies/novels,
  with slight variations in each cookie/novel
• Created to be consumed and enjoyed (and maybe
  shared)

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Lets study cookies! So take out some paper
List the ingredients common to cookies Explain
the purpose of each ingredient Research your
assigned ingredient for an oral report to the
class List examples of how each ingredient can be
used in other foods Take a quiz! If you didnt
pass the quiz, get remediated
Are you excited about this cookie yet?
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• Major Causes of Readicide
• Schools value development of test-takers more
  than they value the development of readers
• Schools are limiting authentic reading
  experiences
• Teachers are overteaching books
• Teachers are underteaching books
• Readicide, p. 5

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Reality Check Tell us about that time a teacher
killed a book you were reading, or you killed
a book someone else was reading.
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Test preparation How to do well on the test.
Practice test-taking strategies such as when
how to guess. Remember knowledge is useful only
as it helps get a higher test score.
Life preparation How to do well in life.
Practice test-taking strategies only briefly,
right before the test. Remember knowledge is
useful because it can be applied beyond the
classroom.
Option Discuss CCSS articles?
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Student summary The senior lecturer explores
the significance and the problems that would
occur with a triple fuel economy. There is an
understood reality in this article that for the
triple fuel economy to reach its full potential
there has to be a combination of the three
prospective fuels. As well as the fact that this
culmination of the three fuels will take a long
steady flow of improvements verses a complete
instantaneous change.
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Skill needed?
Close (and accurate) reading.
How to develop this skill?

• Use drill-and-kill worksheets and practice tests.
• (Note worksheets have little or no transfer to
  other settings.)
• B. Respond to novels
• After reading Divergent, draw on specific
  evidence from the text to create a map of the
  city, showing the location of each faction.
• After reading The Fault in Our Stars, write
  detailed physical descriptions of Hazel and
  Augustus, citing specific passages from the novel
  as evidence.

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Besides
Multiple-choice testing drives shallow teaching
shallow learning.

• Hazel joins the support group at what age?
• 14 B. 15 C. 16 D. 17
• Hazel lives in what city?
• Baltimore
• Indianapolis
• Chicago
• Pittsburgh
• Peter Van Houten is the author of
• The Fault in Our Stars
• An Affliction of Youth
• The Price of Dawn
• An Imperial Affliction

Explain Van Houtens behavior toward Hazel when
she shows up at his door dressed as Anna. (Why is
he so rude?) Why do Hazel and Gus refer to
Having Cancer rather than having cancer (that
is, with capital letters)? Explain the title of
the novel. How well does it fit? (Explain your
answer.) Would it be fair to characterize The
Fault in Our Stars as a novel about cancer? Why
or why not?
(Gallagher doesnt oppose multiple-choice testing
just exclusive use of it.)
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Who chooses your reading material? To what
extent do you use study questions? To what
extent do you study the author and/or historical
background? How do you respond to what you read?
(Do you write a paper? take a test?) Do you ever
read (and enjoy) light reading? (beach reading?
trash reading?) Why do you read what do you get
from it If your reading matched most students
reading, how much would you read?
Schools are limiting authentic reading
experiences.
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The reading and writing of our students is
guided by teachers experiences and interests,
not those of the learners. Exemplary Program
Writing Workshop in High School (Clark and
Mueller, 69)
Honors IV English Curriculum Anglo-Saxons
Beowulf, The Seafarer Middle Ages Medieval
ballads, Canterbury Tales, Sir Gawain, Morte D
Arthur Renaissance Sonnets (Petrarchan,
Shakespearian, Spenserian), Macbeth,Metaphysical
Poetry, Cavalier Poets, King James Bible, Tales
of Two Cities Restoration 18th Century Swift,
Pepys, Defoe, Johnson Romantics Wordsworth,
Coleridge, Keats Victorian Age Tennyson
Who are todays knights? How do their stories
compare to medieval tales?
Schools are limiting authentic reading
experiences.
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Range of Reading and Level of Text
Complexity CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.10 Read and
comprehend complex literary and informational
texts independently and proficiently.
A canon-only curriculum wont include a
complete range of text types.
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What were your experiences with high school
English? canon-only curriculum? heavy emphasis
on canonical works? contemporary
literature? balance of reading and
writing? direct instruction in writing, or were
papers merely assigned? in-class time for
self-selected reading? classroom libraries? If
you could, what changes would you make?
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Keep reading materials IN your classroom
Numerous studies have found the most powerful
motivator that schools can offer to build
lifelong readers is to provide students with time
in the school day for free and voluntary reading
(Gallagher 75).
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Readicide Factor The Overanalysis of Books
Creates Instruction That Values the Trivial at
the Expense of the Meaningful
Readicide Factor The Overteaching of Academic
Texts Is Spilling Over and Damaging Our Students
Chances of Becoming Lifelong Readers
When is the last time you slogged through to the
end of a book because the syllabus obligated you
to do so? When you did so, what did you
learn? What collateral damage might occur in
such situations?
Teachers are overteaching books.
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How much instruction do students need? Whats the
point of our instruction?
Teachers are underteaching books.
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The Kill-a-Reader Casserole Take one large novel.
Dice into as many pieces as possible.Douse with
sticky notes.Remove book from oven every five
minutes and insert worksheets.Add more sticky
notes.Baste until novel is unrecognizable, far
beyond well done.Serve in choppy, bite-size
chunks. Readicide, p. 73

• Gallaghers Three Ingredients to Building a
  Reader
• They must have interesting books to read.
• They must have time to read the books inside of
  school.
• They must have a place to read their
  books. Readicide, p. 84

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1. Explain
2. Demonstrate
3. Hold on
4. Run alongside
5. Watch
6. Go away

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Gallaghers advice
Teach students to recognize the value that comes
from reading academic texts. Start with the
guided tour end with the budget tour. Augment
books instead of flogging them.
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Gallaghers really radical advice
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For next week
Book Club Alanna, Lindsey and SaraHistorical
Fiction Fever, 1793Problem Novel Hold
FastTopical Novel (Holocaust) Maus (Alanna), TBD
 (Lindsey), Milkweed (Sara) Book Club Hayley,
Jared, LeslieHistorical Fiction Soldier
BoysProblem Novel Aristotle and Dante Discover
the Secrets of the UniverseTopical Novel (Civil
Rights movement) Freshwater Road (Hayley)
Read your book-club-selected historical novel and
be ready to discuss it with your group. (How
might you use this novel in a class? Generate
some ideas for a unit based on the novel, as well
as some ideas for using the novel as supplemental
reading to teach some of the CCSS.) Read your
self-selected historical novel and be ready to
give a book talk on it. (If you dont like your
first choice, choose something else. Dont do a
book talk on a novel you cant recommend to us.)
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Book Talks
The goal of a book TALK is to generate interest
in the book, much the way a movie trailer is
designed to generate interest in the movie. When
you give your book talk, imagine that you are
talking to high school or middle school students,
trying to entice them to read the book on their
own. You should have a copy of the book to show
us if you can find a good "teaser" passage to
read aloud, go ahead and read it -- then stop,
while interest is high. Each book talk should
take no more than 2-3 minutes. Anyone who is
particularly interested in the book can ask you
questions or take a look at the book after class
or during a break. (If nobody asks to look at the
book, your mission probably failed.) You should
give a book talk on each of your eight
"individual" books (for which you will also write
reviews) you are also welcome to give talks on
other YA books you read during the semester or
have read recently. You should give no more than
two book talks during any single class.
GradingBook talks are worth up to 2 pts each.
If you have a hard copy of the book (not an
electronic copy, since we can't flip through your
Nook, Kindle, or iPad after class), you set it up
without relying too much on plot summary, you
don't talk too long, and I think you have
generated some interest in the book, I will award
2 points. I may deduct points (or fractions of
points) for missing any of those criteria.
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