I thought it was really interesting in this chapter when they talked about how there were two classrooms, one was a fifth grade and one was a tenth grade. Both of these classes were reading different texts, but they were basically doing the same work. The teacher in the tenth grade class was expecting the same things as the one in the fifth grade class. They would read the book out loud in class, discuss the themes and take a level one question quiz. It said that they even took several weeks to write a short paper about the book. I was really disturbed by this because I don't think that's a good way for students to learn. I feel like as teachers we should be pushing them to go beyond level one questions. We as teachers also shouldn't be force feeding the information to our students, we should be allowing them to make inferences on their own. I think by doing this we will be following Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development and not the Zone of Minimal Effort.
I also liked when this chapter talked about confusing pleasure reading with the study of literature. I think this is important because when we assign literature it is often hard for students to understand and if they won't read it we simply supplement it with a young adult novel we know they can get through. I think it's important for students to practice reading whatever satisfies them, but we should also be trying really hard to help them understand the study of literature in conjunction with young adult books they can relate to so that they can see that they can also relate to both.
I agree, and I think most if not all teachers will agree, that level one questions don't allow for much learning. But I wonder if this means they are unnecessary or if it means they need to be used in a different way? Also the confusion of pleasure reading and literary study I couldn't agree more that the replacement of a difficult novel with an easy one is a problem. Classics are worth the work it takes to read them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Angel. I think it is important for students to not only read young adult literature, but also classical literature. I think both texts have advantages to each; however, that doesn't mean that students should just focus solely on one type of literature because it is viewed as an easier read.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the way that integrated Educational Psychology into your response. I completely agree with you, as teachers we should never force-fed our students information and expect it to be meaningful to them. This is where I do believe that small group or classroom discussion can become very useful. We, as teachers will only be scaffolding and facilitating the conversation, while students are constructing their own interpretation and understanding of literature.
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