Annotated Table of Contents, Chapters 18 - 22

Chapter 18: Efficient Reading: How can students find
Information quickly? “Some books are to be tasted, others to
be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is,
some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not
curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence
and attention.” This view of reading was expressed by Francis Bacon in his essay, “Of Studies,” in 1625.
While among professional reading educators, this advice has become almost a cliché, I believe that few students are actually shown how to set purposes for reading, or how to determine the extent to which a book or a chapter or an article needs to be read to achieve their purposes. In this chapter I will show how previewing the material to be read will save readers time and improve comprehension.

Chapter 19. Reading in the Content Areas: How can teachers of subjects other than English help their students read assignments successfully? Reading in the content areas refers to helping students read their assignments successfully in such subjects as social studies, science, home economics and even industrial arts in which students are required to read textbooks.
Instructing students to “read chapter 33 and answer the questions at the end of the chapter” is probably the worst way to give a reading assignment. This method of assigning reading ignores motivation for reading. Such an assignment also assumes that the student does not need any help in reading. However, most students will know very little about the topic, and the topic will more than likely be unrelated to their experience. Experience and background information have a lot to do with how well people comprehend what they read. Students can also be puzzled by a heavy concentration of unfamiliar, specialized vocabulary. Finally, an assignment like this one leaves students wondering what the teacher thinks is important and guessing about what information will be on the test.

Chapter 20. The First Grade—Secondary English Connection: What should secondary English teachers know about beginning reading and writing instruction? What is a discussion of elementary reading and writing instruction doing in a book about teaching secondary English? I include this chapter for four reasons. First, secondary teachers should know how children learn to read. Second, the method for teaching comprehension in the elementary school, beginning in the first grade, is the directed reading assignment, the technique I recommend throughout this book for secondary teachers in all subjects to help their students read difficult assignments successfully. Third, the issue of phonics and the basal vs. “whole language” is typical of issues in education that become “either/or” arguments. A similar “either/or” issue occurred in secondary English in the 1990s when proponents of the writing process battled fiercely in professional journals with the proponents of the writing product. Fourth, the issue of “invented spelling” in the early stages of learning to write is actually an issue for every grade level, including the high school.

Part Five: Literature
Chapter 21. Reading Aloud: Why is reading aloud to students of all ages important? How can students learn to read aloud effectively? I don’t care how old students are; they love to be read to. In my first year of teaching, I discovered the power of reading aloud to my high school students. I actually discovered it because I had given a fairly smart class Poe’s short story, “The Pit and the Pendulum” to read silently. I remembered reading “The Pit and the Pendulum” when I was in high school and Poe’s description of the prisoner’s experiences was so vivid that I had almost lived the experience of the prisoner myself. Therefore, I was surprised when my students finished reading it with glazed eyes and a definite air of boredom. What was wrong?

Chapter 22. Reading, Teaching and Studying Literature. What is the purpose of reading literature in school? The scene was a meeting of parent representatives from each school in the district. The purpose was to review a new part of the language arts curriculum. Before the meeting began, one of the parents asked me a question that I had never had to deal with: “Why is the literature we read in the schools so depressing?” Lamely, I tried to explain that even when the literature involves tragedy, it affirms life and is not pessimistic. Other parents around the table looked at me as if I were speaking Greek, and the chairperson of the group made it clear that she wanted to begin the evening’s main business. I knew I hadn't answered the woman's question satisfactorily, and I was troubled. I would like to answer that question now. However, the question “Why is the literature we read in the schools so depressing?” becomes “Why read literature?”