Essays on Teaching English
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Short Stories
I had to use a different approach to previewing short stories.
But first, some background. I’m a great fan of The New Yorker. It has great nonfiction and always publishes a short story. I used to read the short stories from beginning to end. But too many times at the end, I had to ask myself, “Why on earth did I read that?” Sometimes the stories were without plots, sometime they were character sketches about people I couldn’t care less about and sometimes they were “slices of life” that had little to do with my life experiences. In short, they were a waste of my time. I needed some way to preview them in order to determine if they were worth my time.
Out of nowhere, I tried something. I tried reading just a paragraph a page. It worked! Reading a paragraph a page [or, in the case of The New Yorker, a column] I found that I gained the essence of the story and understood just enough of it to know whether I wanted to read any more. The paragraph a page took relatively little time.
When I was teaching in a community college, however, I had a different problem. The students simply would not read the short story I assigned them. Now, I could fail them or I could try to entice them into reading the story almost without their knowing it. Here’s what I did. All the reading took place in class:
1. The students read a single sentence on each page or in each column throughout the story. I asked them what they had learned about the story and if they had any questions. Reading a sentence a page or column took very little time. And the students gained a surprising amount of information about the characters, plot and setting. I recorded any questions they had in key words on the board.
2. The students next read a paragraph a page or in each column. Now the students knew a considerable amount about the story’s characters, setting, plot and even theme. And they had some very interesting questions. These were good short stories.
3. I finished it off by having the students read in class the first paragraph, the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph and the last paragraph. Since the stories were good, we had excellent questions to discuss and when we needed additional information, students could quickly locate what they needed—and, if they could not locate it in the text, we needed to interpret with what information we had.
Gotcha!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Active Reading: Efficient Reading.
Essays on the Teaching of English
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Efficient Reading.
Previewing is another way to read efficiently. You survey the chapter, sample passages from a novel and read the foreword, first and last paragraphs, the first sentence of each paragraph in most or all of the chapters in nonfiction or textbooks and the preview tells you what you need to know and you can find it without wasting time.
Why read efficiently?
As long ago as 1625, Francis Bacon realized that too many books existed for anyone to read all of them. In his famous essay, “On Studies,” he wrote “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested.” Bacon was saying that some books should be read only in parts; that some can be read completely with little effort, as in reading for entertainment—romance fiction, Westerns and mysteries—and that some few need to be read carefully and thoroughly absorbed.
If people could not read all that was published in 1625 when relatively few books existed, the publishing explosion of newspapers, magazines, journals and books today makes reading everything completely impossible. According to Bookwire (www.bookwire.com), in the year 2000, a total of 122,108 books were published in the United States alone, including 3,378 in education, 14,908 in sociology and economics and 14,617 in the category of fiction.
The Web site, Editors and Publishers.com, says that 3,265 newspapers were published in the U.S. in 2002, and according to Magazine Publishers of America, 25,617 magazines were published in 2002, including 404 in education, 607 in travel, 615 in computers and automation, 718 magazines of regional interest, 698 in business and industry and 339 in the category of women’s magazines.
And how much time does the average American have to read? According to William Zinsser in his book On Writing Well, “The reader is a person with an attention span of about twenty seconds…assailed on every side by forces competing for his time…by television and radio and stereo, by his wife and children and pets, by his house and yard and all the gadgets that he has bought to keep them spruce, and by that most potent of competitors, sleep” (page 9).
Add gabbing on cell phones, surfing the ‘Net and playing computer games and this picture of modern readers is a far cry from the frontispiece that accompanied books published in the early twentieth century showing an aristocratic looking man seated in an easy chair, in a robe or smoking jacket, by the fireplace, spending his evenings reading a good book with his faithful dog Fido by his side.
Except when you are reading for leisure [some people still do that], reading becomes a search for ideas, ideas that you can quickly use and apply. That’s why you need to read efficiently and why you need to preview.
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Efficient Reading.
Previewing is another way to read efficiently. You survey the chapter, sample passages from a novel and read the foreword, first and last paragraphs, the first sentence of each paragraph in most or all of the chapters in nonfiction or textbooks and the preview tells you what you need to know and you can find it without wasting time.
Why read efficiently?
As long ago as 1625, Francis Bacon realized that too many books existed for anyone to read all of them. In his famous essay, “On Studies,” he wrote “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested.” Bacon was saying that some books should be read only in parts; that some can be read completely with little effort, as in reading for entertainment—romance fiction, Westerns and mysteries—and that some few need to be read carefully and thoroughly absorbed.
If people could not read all that was published in 1625 when relatively few books existed, the publishing explosion of newspapers, magazines, journals and books today makes reading everything completely impossible. According to Bookwire (www.bookwire.com), in the year 2000, a total of 122,108 books were published in the United States alone, including 3,378 in education, 14,908 in sociology and economics and 14,617 in the category of fiction.
The Web site, Editors and Publishers.com, says that 3,265 newspapers were published in the U.S. in 2002, and according to Magazine Publishers of America, 25,617 magazines were published in 2002, including 404 in education, 607 in travel, 615 in computers and automation, 718 magazines of regional interest, 698 in business and industry and 339 in the category of women’s magazines.
And how much time does the average American have to read? According to William Zinsser in his book On Writing Well, “The reader is a person with an attention span of about twenty seconds…assailed on every side by forces competing for his time…by television and radio and stereo, by his wife and children and pets, by his house and yard and all the gadgets that he has bought to keep them spruce, and by that most potent of competitors, sleep” (page 9).
Add gabbing on cell phones, surfing the ‘Net and playing computer games and this picture of modern readers is a far cry from the frontispiece that accompanied books published in the early twentieth century showing an aristocratic looking man seated in an easy chair, in a robe or smoking jacket, by the fireplace, spending his evenings reading a good book with his faithful dog Fido by his side.
Except when you are reading for leisure [some people still do that], reading becomes a search for ideas, ideas that you can quickly use and apply. That’s why you need to read efficiently and why you need to preview.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Active Reading: Why Preview?
Essays on Teaching English
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Why Preview When You Are Studying?
Previewing textbook chapters means reading the first and last paragraphs of the chapter, reading the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph, and raising questions that you will go back to read for the answers.
Previewing novels means reading for ten minutes near the beginning, half way through the novel, three-fourths through the novel and near the end of the novel. After each sampling, you raise questions about what you are reading and after the last sampling, you summarize your questions and begin to read to answer the questions.
By the way, when, as occurs in reading any long book, you begin to slow up and feel as if you want to quit, simply read a paragraph a page until you are again caught up in your reading.
Also, don’t worry that learning the plot will prevent you from having questions. If you don’t have questions, the book is probably not worth reading any further anyway.
Previewing nonfiction or textbooks means reading the foreword or preface for a brief summary of the author’s main ideas, reading the first paragraph and last paragraph of each chapter and, after having read those most important parts of each chapter, begin to read the first sentence of each paragraph throughout each chapter. If you’re “hooked,” keep reading and when you are “unhooked,” go back to the first sentence of each paragraph.
Why preview? Students often respond to my suggestions that they preview before reading by saying that they are wasting time. ”Why not just begin to read starting on page one?” they ask. What follows is my answer to that question:
1. Previewing what you are about to read builds up background information on the topic. The more you know about a topic the better you will comprehend it.
2. Previewing what you are about to read will cause you to see certain unfamiliar vocabulary words that are important to the meaning of the chapter. You can look them up before reading.
3. Previewing what you are about to read raises questions, giving you a purpose for reading—to answer those questions.
4. Previewing what you are about to read tells you how much of it you will have to read. Sometimes only the first and last paragraphs of an article are enough. Sometimes only the first and last paragraphs and the first sentence of intermediate paragraphs are enough. Sometimes, you will need to read the entire article or chapter to answer all your questions. That does not happen often.
5. Previewing leads you to information you can use immediately.
6. Previewing quickly involves you in material that you might not want to read, but have to read. Previewing can motivate you to read.
7. Starting on page one gives you no real clue as to the scope of ideas in the entire article or novel or nonfiction book, leading to your wondering, “Why am I reading this?”
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Why Preview When You Are Studying?
Previewing textbook chapters means reading the first and last paragraphs of the chapter, reading the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph, and raising questions that you will go back to read for the answers.
Previewing novels means reading for ten minutes near the beginning, half way through the novel, three-fourths through the novel and near the end of the novel. After each sampling, you raise questions about what you are reading and after the last sampling, you summarize your questions and begin to read to answer the questions.
By the way, when, as occurs in reading any long book, you begin to slow up and feel as if you want to quit, simply read a paragraph a page until you are again caught up in your reading.
Also, don’t worry that learning the plot will prevent you from having questions. If you don’t have questions, the book is probably not worth reading any further anyway.
Previewing nonfiction or textbooks means reading the foreword or preface for a brief summary of the author’s main ideas, reading the first paragraph and last paragraph of each chapter and, after having read those most important parts of each chapter, begin to read the first sentence of each paragraph throughout each chapter. If you’re “hooked,” keep reading and when you are “unhooked,” go back to the first sentence of each paragraph.
Why preview? Students often respond to my suggestions that they preview before reading by saying that they are wasting time. ”Why not just begin to read starting on page one?” they ask. What follows is my answer to that question:
1. Previewing what you are about to read builds up background information on the topic. The more you know about a topic the better you will comprehend it.
2. Previewing what you are about to read will cause you to see certain unfamiliar vocabulary words that are important to the meaning of the chapter. You can look them up before reading.
3. Previewing what you are about to read raises questions, giving you a purpose for reading—to answer those questions.
4. Previewing what you are about to read tells you how much of it you will have to read. Sometimes only the first and last paragraphs of an article are enough. Sometimes only the first and last paragraphs and the first sentence of intermediate paragraphs are enough. Sometimes, you will need to read the entire article or chapter to answer all your questions. That does not happen often.
5. Previewing leads you to information you can use immediately.
6. Previewing quickly involves you in material that you might not want to read, but have to read. Previewing can motivate you to read.
7. Starting on page one gives you no real clue as to the scope of ideas in the entire article or novel or nonfiction book, leading to your wondering, “Why am I reading this?”
Monday, August 11, 2008
Active Reading: Previewing Nonfiction Books, Including Textbooks
Essays on the Teaching of English
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Previewing Nonfiction Books, Including Textbooks
The biggest problem with reading long, long nonfiction books, including textbooks, is not getting started. We all are enthusiastic to begin reading a fresh, new book. The biggest problem is staying enthusiastic as the book begins to tire us, somewhere about the second chapter. Here’s how to start reading and keep reading without falling asleep.
1. Read the cover material, outside and inside, together with information about the author. Think about the title. What message does it imply?
2. Read the foreword or preface. Don’t read introductions. They are much too long and do not mean all that much because you have not read the book. Forewords and prefaces are short, usually no more than a couple of pages and they succinctly express the author’s point of view toward the material. They usually contain the main idea of those 570 or so pages.
3. Read the first and last paragraph of each chapter. They will introduce the topic of the chapter and summarize the main ideas of the chapter. It might be a good idea to briefly—and I mean briefly—summarize each chapter based on the first and last paragraph. You will begin already to raise questions about the contents of the book.
4. If some chapters stand out as being more important than others, begin with them. Read the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph. You will gain the details of the author’s ideas. If you become “hooked” on the first sentence of a paragraph, keep on reading until you have satisfied yourself that you now have a full explanation of what you wanted to know.
When you have read the first sentence of each paragraph of important chapters, go back and begin reading the first sentence of each paragraph in other chapters. If you’re not “hooked,” just keep reading the first sentence of each paragraph in the chapter.
5. In the process of reading the first sentence of each paragraph, you will answer almost every question you could have about the book.
The effects of this approach to textbooks will amaze you. When the professors lecture, you will understand what they are talking about. You will be able to ask intelligent questions. And, if you find some material that you had not covered, you can quickly go back to the book to read in more detail what you might have missed. This preview of nonfiction or textbooks will give you a great head start on the rest of the class, which will have little knowledge going in about the course. It will change your approach to study. You will truly become a student.
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Previewing Nonfiction Books, Including Textbooks
The biggest problem with reading long, long nonfiction books, including textbooks, is not getting started. We all are enthusiastic to begin reading a fresh, new book. The biggest problem is staying enthusiastic as the book begins to tire us, somewhere about the second chapter. Here’s how to start reading and keep reading without falling asleep.
1. Read the cover material, outside and inside, together with information about the author. Think about the title. What message does it imply?
2. Read the foreword or preface. Don’t read introductions. They are much too long and do not mean all that much because you have not read the book. Forewords and prefaces are short, usually no more than a couple of pages and they succinctly express the author’s point of view toward the material. They usually contain the main idea of those 570 or so pages.
3. Read the first and last paragraph of each chapter. They will introduce the topic of the chapter and summarize the main ideas of the chapter. It might be a good idea to briefly—and I mean briefly—summarize each chapter based on the first and last paragraph. You will begin already to raise questions about the contents of the book.
4. If some chapters stand out as being more important than others, begin with them. Read the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph. You will gain the details of the author’s ideas. If you become “hooked” on the first sentence of a paragraph, keep on reading until you have satisfied yourself that you now have a full explanation of what you wanted to know.
When you have read the first sentence of each paragraph of important chapters, go back and begin reading the first sentence of each paragraph in other chapters. If you’re not “hooked,” just keep reading the first sentence of each paragraph in the chapter.
5. In the process of reading the first sentence of each paragraph, you will answer almost every question you could have about the book.
The effects of this approach to textbooks will amaze you. When the professors lecture, you will understand what they are talking about. You will be able to ask intelligent questions. And, if you find some material that you had not covered, you can quickly go back to the book to read in more detail what you might have missed. This preview of nonfiction or textbooks will give you a great head start on the rest of the class, which will have little knowledge going in about the course. It will change your approach to study. You will truly become a student.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Active Reading: Setting Purpose for Reading
Essays on the Teaching of English
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Setting Purpose for Reading
10-Second Review: How I learned not to read everything.
In my first year of teaching, a dramatic example of the power of setting purpose for reading changed forever the way I read for information. Suddenly, I understood the meaning of Bacon’s 1625 advice that some books need to be read only in parts. At no time in my schooling, from first grade through college, had anyone ever suggested that “you don’t have to read everything.” I almost always read as if I had to read every word from beginning to end, and the only alternative I thought I had was, frankly, to decide not to read long assignments at all.
My first year of teaching English was very busy. I needed time to plan my lessons, to mark tests and compositions, and to find interesting ways to teach difficult subjects like writing, spelling and vocabulary, not to mention the literary selections I was going to teach. In addition, all teachers were required to oversee an extracurricular activity and, in the spring, I became co-director of the junior class play. Still, in addition to the duties associated with teaching, I picked this particular spring to enroll in a master’s degree program in English. One afternoon a week, I had to drive many miles down to the university to attend a class and then turn around and drive back again to be in time for play practice, usually held in the evening after supper.
Book Report. The course in which I was enrolled was called The Life of Johnson, Dr. Samuel, that is. In addition to the texts of Johnson’s poetry and essays and Boswell’s Life, the instructor required that we read one book of criticism of Johnson and to report on it in class.
Desperate. With everything else I had to do, that book went on the shelf. Occasionally, I looked at it and said to myself, “I really need to get to it or I’m going to be in trouble.” But I didn’t “get to it.” Weeks passed, then months, and, suddenly, it was the day before I was scheduled to report on that book in my graduate class. I was desperate. I had not even cracked the cover.
After play practice that evening, I came back to my room, took down the book and thought about what I could do. I was tired. I had just completed a full day of teaching and play directing, faced the same prospect tomorrow and, with no break, needed to drive to the university immediately after school for my class on Dr. Johnson. And this time I needed to report on a book I had not read.
Finally, I decided to spend two hours learning as much as I could about the book, taking another two hours to write my speech, and then, regardless of how good or bad it was, to take my chances. It would be late, but I needed to have some sleep before trying to teach the next day. I was no longer capable of pulling “all-nighters.” I would allow myself four hours to do what I could. Not a second more. I planned to be in bed at 1:00 a.m., no later.
I opened the book and read the foreword. In a page and a half the author summarized exactly what she was going to say in the book. I was surprised at how much I learned about her point of view from only a page and a half. Since my assignment was to summarize the author’s point of view toward Johnson’s writing and to respond to that point of view, I thought to myself that I could almost write the paper with just the information from the foreword.
Then another thought struck me. I was teaching my students to introduce their topics in opening paragraphs and to summarize in closing paragraphs—wouldn’t professional writers do the same? I decided to read the opening and closing paragraphs of each chapter. As I did so, I began to realize that some chapters were more important than others, and I was learning about the author's supporting arguments. With some of those arguments, I needed more detail. Remembering that I taught students to begin paragraphs with topic sentences, I took the first “important” chapter and read just the first sentence of each paragraph in the chapter, looking for details of her main arguments.
Excitement. I was becoming excited. In a relatively short time, I was feeling confident that I knew the author’s argument. Since all I had to do in the speech was to give the major points of her arguments and then respond to them, I already felt that I knew almost enough to begin writing my speech. I quickly read the first sentences of paragraphs in the remaining three or four “important’ chapters and began to write.
Confidence. Within an hour I was finished. The paper did not have to be typed until a later date. I had summarized the critic’s argument and then I had responded, somewhat sarcastically, to her point of view about Samuel Johnson. It was 11:00 p.m., and I was soon in bed, feeling wonderfully confident that I had accomplished what the instructor wanted from a review of this piece of literary criticism.
I still had a feeling of confidence when I moved behind the desk on the dais in that classroom at the university the next afternoon. I read my speech. I gave the author’s point of view in some detail, and then I launched into an attack on that point of view. You see, Samuel Johnson was one of my favorite authors, and I did not like at all the critic’s opinions of his writing and ideas.
Success! Finished speaking, I stood, but was stunned when the entire class began to clap. The instructor, his face in a broad grin, said, “Mr. S….., that was an exquisite speech.” I almost sat down again, in complete disbelief. One thought kept running through my mind: “…but I didn’t read the book.”
How explain it? Of course I had read the book—enough to achieve my purpose. The book was not worth reading cover to cover. It was not a masterpiece of criticism of the work of Dr. Johnson. I read what I needed to read, found the gist of the author’s argument, and completed the task of responding to it. That’s what the professor wanted and that’s what I accomplished. I learned for the first time that all books do not have to be read from cover to cover and to do so could be a monumental waste of time. I now understood Francis Bacon’s advice about reading, “Some books are to be tasted….”
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Setting Purpose for Reading
10-Second Review: How I learned not to read everything.
In my first year of teaching, a dramatic example of the power of setting purpose for reading changed forever the way I read for information. Suddenly, I understood the meaning of Bacon’s 1625 advice that some books need to be read only in parts. At no time in my schooling, from first grade through college, had anyone ever suggested that “you don’t have to read everything.” I almost always read as if I had to read every word from beginning to end, and the only alternative I thought I had was, frankly, to decide not to read long assignments at all.
My first year of teaching English was very busy. I needed time to plan my lessons, to mark tests and compositions, and to find interesting ways to teach difficult subjects like writing, spelling and vocabulary, not to mention the literary selections I was going to teach. In addition, all teachers were required to oversee an extracurricular activity and, in the spring, I became co-director of the junior class play. Still, in addition to the duties associated with teaching, I picked this particular spring to enroll in a master’s degree program in English. One afternoon a week, I had to drive many miles down to the university to attend a class and then turn around and drive back again to be in time for play practice, usually held in the evening after supper.
Book Report. The course in which I was enrolled was called The Life of Johnson, Dr. Samuel, that is. In addition to the texts of Johnson’s poetry and essays and Boswell’s Life, the instructor required that we read one book of criticism of Johnson and to report on it in class.
Desperate. With everything else I had to do, that book went on the shelf. Occasionally, I looked at it and said to myself, “I really need to get to it or I’m going to be in trouble.” But I didn’t “get to it.” Weeks passed, then months, and, suddenly, it was the day before I was scheduled to report on that book in my graduate class. I was desperate. I had not even cracked the cover.
After play practice that evening, I came back to my room, took down the book and thought about what I could do. I was tired. I had just completed a full day of teaching and play directing, faced the same prospect tomorrow and, with no break, needed to drive to the university immediately after school for my class on Dr. Johnson. And this time I needed to report on a book I had not read.
Finally, I decided to spend two hours learning as much as I could about the book, taking another two hours to write my speech, and then, regardless of how good or bad it was, to take my chances. It would be late, but I needed to have some sleep before trying to teach the next day. I was no longer capable of pulling “all-nighters.” I would allow myself four hours to do what I could. Not a second more. I planned to be in bed at 1:00 a.m., no later.
I opened the book and read the foreword. In a page and a half the author summarized exactly what she was going to say in the book. I was surprised at how much I learned about her point of view from only a page and a half. Since my assignment was to summarize the author’s point of view toward Johnson’s writing and to respond to that point of view, I thought to myself that I could almost write the paper with just the information from the foreword.
Then another thought struck me. I was teaching my students to introduce their topics in opening paragraphs and to summarize in closing paragraphs—wouldn’t professional writers do the same? I decided to read the opening and closing paragraphs of each chapter. As I did so, I began to realize that some chapters were more important than others, and I was learning about the author's supporting arguments. With some of those arguments, I needed more detail. Remembering that I taught students to begin paragraphs with topic sentences, I took the first “important” chapter and read just the first sentence of each paragraph in the chapter, looking for details of her main arguments.
Excitement. I was becoming excited. In a relatively short time, I was feeling confident that I knew the author’s argument. Since all I had to do in the speech was to give the major points of her arguments and then respond to them, I already felt that I knew almost enough to begin writing my speech. I quickly read the first sentences of paragraphs in the remaining three or four “important’ chapters and began to write.
Confidence. Within an hour I was finished. The paper did not have to be typed until a later date. I had summarized the critic’s argument and then I had responded, somewhat sarcastically, to her point of view about Samuel Johnson. It was 11:00 p.m., and I was soon in bed, feeling wonderfully confident that I had accomplished what the instructor wanted from a review of this piece of literary criticism.
I still had a feeling of confidence when I moved behind the desk on the dais in that classroom at the university the next afternoon. I read my speech. I gave the author’s point of view in some detail, and then I launched into an attack on that point of view. You see, Samuel Johnson was one of my favorite authors, and I did not like at all the critic’s opinions of his writing and ideas.
Success! Finished speaking, I stood, but was stunned when the entire class began to clap. The instructor, his face in a broad grin, said, “Mr. S….., that was an exquisite speech.” I almost sat down again, in complete disbelief. One thought kept running through my mind: “…but I didn’t read the book.”
How explain it? Of course I had read the book—enough to achieve my purpose. The book was not worth reading cover to cover. It was not a masterpiece of criticism of the work of Dr. Johnson. I read what I needed to read, found the gist of the author’s argument, and completed the task of responding to it. That’s what the professor wanted and that’s what I accomplished. I learned for the first time that all books do not have to be read from cover to cover and to do so could be a monumental waste of time. I now understood Francis Bacon’s advice about reading, “Some books are to be tasted….”
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Active Reading: Previewing Novels (3)
Essays on the Teaching of English
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Previewing Novels (3)
10-Second Review: An example of previewing a novel.
Here is an example of previewing. The novel was Henry James’s Washington Square.
1. Read for ten minutes in the beginning of the novel.
What we have learned: Long paragraphs and convoluted sentences. Dr. Sloper: snide comments; not much respect for women, except for his deceased wife; makes negative judgments about people. Catherine, Dr. Sloper’s daughter; “stolid, unresponsive.”
Questions: Does the plot center on Catherine? Dr. Sloper?
2. Read for ten minutes in the middle of the novel.
What we have learned: Dr. Sloper is aloof; observes life; curious how things will turn out; does not respect his daughter; cynic. Conflict between Dr. Sloper and Catherine’s suitor, Morris Townsend.
Questions: What is the relationship between Dr. Sloper and his daughter Catherine? Does Dr. Sloper manipulate the lives of others?
3. Read for ten minutes about ¾ through the novel.
What we have learned: Sloper tells his daughter he will disinherit her if she marries Townsend. Sloper manipulates the lives of people over whom he has power.
Questions: Does Sloper suspect Townsend of wanting Catherine’s money? What is Townsend’s character? How will the plot conclude? Will Sloper change his mind about Townsend? Will Catherine marry Townsend?
4. Read for ten minutes near the end of the novel.
What we have learned. Years later. Sloper is dead. Aunt Penniman and Catherine living together. No sign of Townsend. However, Mrs. Penniman meets Townsend and he wants to renew his relationship with Catherine. When he comes to call, Catherine says, “No,” and she means it. Townsend goes away. Reveals the hardness of his heart.
Final Questions: How did Townsend break with Catherine? Was it because she would be disinherited? Was Dr. Sloper’s judgment about Townsend accurate? To what extent did Dr. Sloper manipulate his daughter’s life? Why did Catherine decide never to marry? How does Catherine’s character change from the beginning to the end of the novel? How does the narrator’s role change in telling the story? What is the theme of the novel—if there is one? Why did James write this novel?
Note: As discussion continues, I added questions.
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Previewing Novels (3)
10-Second Review: An example of previewing a novel.
Here is an example of previewing. The novel was Henry James’s Washington Square.
1. Read for ten minutes in the beginning of the novel.
What we have learned: Long paragraphs and convoluted sentences. Dr. Sloper: snide comments; not much respect for women, except for his deceased wife; makes negative judgments about people. Catherine, Dr. Sloper’s daughter; “stolid, unresponsive.”
Questions: Does the plot center on Catherine? Dr. Sloper?
2. Read for ten minutes in the middle of the novel.
What we have learned: Dr. Sloper is aloof; observes life; curious how things will turn out; does not respect his daughter; cynic. Conflict between Dr. Sloper and Catherine’s suitor, Morris Townsend.
Questions: What is the relationship between Dr. Sloper and his daughter Catherine? Does Dr. Sloper manipulate the lives of others?
3. Read for ten minutes about ¾ through the novel.
What we have learned: Sloper tells his daughter he will disinherit her if she marries Townsend. Sloper manipulates the lives of people over whom he has power.
Questions: Does Sloper suspect Townsend of wanting Catherine’s money? What is Townsend’s character? How will the plot conclude? Will Sloper change his mind about Townsend? Will Catherine marry Townsend?
4. Read for ten minutes near the end of the novel.
What we have learned. Years later. Sloper is dead. Aunt Penniman and Catherine living together. No sign of Townsend. However, Mrs. Penniman meets Townsend and he wants to renew his relationship with Catherine. When he comes to call, Catherine says, “No,” and she means it. Townsend goes away. Reveals the hardness of his heart.
Final Questions: How did Townsend break with Catherine? Was it because she would be disinherited? Was Dr. Sloper’s judgment about Townsend accurate? To what extent did Dr. Sloper manipulate his daughter’s life? Why did Catherine decide never to marry? How does Catherine’s character change from the beginning to the end of the novel? How does the narrator’s role change in telling the story? What is the theme of the novel—if there is one? Why did James write this novel?
Note: As discussion continues, I added questions.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Active Reading: Previewing Novels (2)
Essays on the Teaching of English
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Previewing Novels (2)
10-Second Review: Sampling the novel, raising questions and reading to answer them.
Here’s how I previewed novels with my students. Each student reads for ten minutes at the beginning of the novel. It is better to have students read for ten minutes rather than to have them read a certain number of pages because the students will read at different speeds and the class will have to wait for slower readers to finish the required number of pages. The teacher asks students to report on what they have read and then asks if the students have any questions about the novel so far. This sampling also gives the students a good idea about the writer’s style of writing. I record the questions on the board or overhead projector, using key words rather than full sentences.
Now the students sample from the middle of the novel, from ¾ through the novel and near the end of the novel. After each sampling, the students review what they have learned and raise questions about the meaning of the novel.
I reorganize the questions into questions of fact (will be found in the pages of the novel), questions of interpretation (usually beginning with the question “Why?”) and questions of criticism (about the writer’s methods ).
The students read in order to answer the questions that they have raised and discussion follows.
How do English teachers usually introduce novels? I was a language arts supervisor for twenty years in a primarily academic high school. Invariably I saw teachers distributing the books, listing the dates for reading and writing assignments, dates for quizzes, and dates for discussions. Then the teacher would say, “Start reading.”
In one class in which this approach to introducing the novel took place, I suggested to the teacher that she try my method of sampling. When, the next day, she tried the sampling, she stopped me in the hall and said, “They wouldn’t shut up. They were full of what they thought about the novel and they had tons of questions. They could not wait to get started reading.”
I rest my case on how to motivate students to read novels.
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Previewing Novels (2)
10-Second Review: Sampling the novel, raising questions and reading to answer them.
Here’s how I previewed novels with my students. Each student reads for ten minutes at the beginning of the novel. It is better to have students read for ten minutes rather than to have them read a certain number of pages because the students will read at different speeds and the class will have to wait for slower readers to finish the required number of pages. The teacher asks students to report on what they have read and then asks if the students have any questions about the novel so far. This sampling also gives the students a good idea about the writer’s style of writing. I record the questions on the board or overhead projector, using key words rather than full sentences.
Now the students sample from the middle of the novel, from ¾ through the novel and near the end of the novel. After each sampling, the students review what they have learned and raise questions about the meaning of the novel.
I reorganize the questions into questions of fact (will be found in the pages of the novel), questions of interpretation (usually beginning with the question “Why?”) and questions of criticism (about the writer’s methods ).
The students read in order to answer the questions that they have raised and discussion follows.
How do English teachers usually introduce novels? I was a language arts supervisor for twenty years in a primarily academic high school. Invariably I saw teachers distributing the books, listing the dates for reading and writing assignments, dates for quizzes, and dates for discussions. Then the teacher would say, “Start reading.”
In one class in which this approach to introducing the novel took place, I suggested to the teacher that she try my method of sampling. When, the next day, she tried the sampling, she stopped me in the hall and said, “They wouldn’t shut up. They were full of what they thought about the novel and they had tons of questions. They could not wait to get started reading.”
I rest my case on how to motivate students to read novels.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Active Reading: Previewing Novels (1)
Essays on the Teaching of English
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Previewing Novels (1)
10-Second Review: Plunging into a novel.
The previous technique of previewing textbook chapters is well known in education. It is called “chapter survey.” How can this technique be adapted to reading a long work of fiction, a novel?
When I attended Syracuse University, I learned about a technique that was useful for students who had a difficult time starting and completing reading assignments—in this case, novels. The originator of the idea, a professor named Dr. Shirk from the University of Kansas at Missouri, called the technique “Successive Sieves.” His target: reluctant readers at the college level.
The students gathered in small groups and read for ten minutes somewhere near the beginning of the novel and then shared what they had learned with each other. Since the students read at different places in the beginning, collectively they had covered a good portion of the beginning section of the novel. The students then reported to the group what they had read, including character, setting and plot. They repeated the process about half way through the novel, then ¾ of the way through the novel, and at the end of the novel.
Each time students explained what they had read and collectively they would put together a pretty good review of the novel. The cost in time was less than two hours. As a result of this “preview,” students were prepared to participate in class discussions and even to take quizzes. Such an activity was certainly superior to not reading at all. But such an activity, I discovered, also had a surprisingly desirable side-effect.
When I tried this technique in class, I found something wonderful happening. The “preview” from different parts of the novel proved to be a terrific discussion starter—and motivator. One night in a continuing education class at a community college, I tried the technique with Knowles’s A Separate Peace, a novel I’m not crazy about. I just happened to have enough copies for every member of the class.
The class read for ten minutes near the beginning, in the middle, ¾ through and near the end of the novel. After each reading, they told what they had learned and began asking questions about the meaning of the novel. But I was unprepared for the class’s response to previewing the novel. When I was ready to collect the books, hands shot up. The students wanted to take the novel home to read. They had been motivated by the sampling and the discussion and the questions raised to want to read the entire novel. About 80% of the class took A Separate Peace home that night. It was not assigned reading.
I immediately began thinking about how to make use of this discovery in teaching novels in my English classes. In my next essay, I will tell you how I used it.
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….
Active Reading: Previewing Novels (1)
10-Second Review: Plunging into a novel.
The previous technique of previewing textbook chapters is well known in education. It is called “chapter survey.” How can this technique be adapted to reading a long work of fiction, a novel?
When I attended Syracuse University, I learned about a technique that was useful for students who had a difficult time starting and completing reading assignments—in this case, novels. The originator of the idea, a professor named Dr. Shirk from the University of Kansas at Missouri, called the technique “Successive Sieves.” His target: reluctant readers at the college level.
The students gathered in small groups and read for ten minutes somewhere near the beginning of the novel and then shared what they had learned with each other. Since the students read at different places in the beginning, collectively they had covered a good portion of the beginning section of the novel. The students then reported to the group what they had read, including character, setting and plot. They repeated the process about half way through the novel, then ¾ of the way through the novel, and at the end of the novel.
Each time students explained what they had read and collectively they would put together a pretty good review of the novel. The cost in time was less than two hours. As a result of this “preview,” students were prepared to participate in class discussions and even to take quizzes. Such an activity was certainly superior to not reading at all. But such an activity, I discovered, also had a surprisingly desirable side-effect.
When I tried this technique in class, I found something wonderful happening. The “preview” from different parts of the novel proved to be a terrific discussion starter—and motivator. One night in a continuing education class at a community college, I tried the technique with Knowles’s A Separate Peace, a novel I’m not crazy about. I just happened to have enough copies for every member of the class.
The class read for ten minutes near the beginning, in the middle, ¾ through and near the end of the novel. After each reading, they told what they had learned and began asking questions about the meaning of the novel. But I was unprepared for the class’s response to previewing the novel. When I was ready to collect the books, hands shot up. The students wanted to take the novel home to read. They had been motivated by the sampling and the discussion and the questions raised to want to read the entire novel. About 80% of the class took A Separate Peace home that night. It was not assigned reading.
I immediately began thinking about how to make use of this discovery in teaching novels in my English classes. In my next essay, I will tell you how I used it.
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