Tuesday, February 2, 2010
2nd Draft Reading
In his book, Gallagher discusses first readings, second readings, etc... in order for a student to understand and appreciate a book. As a student, I know that their are some works that require to reread (more than once at times) in order to gain understanding. I also know that the more I read a book, the greater I appreciate what the author is attempting to say. However, asking students to read something once is like getting them to line up for the firing squad. With all the testing and material that must be covered in a single semester, is having students read and reread a wishful fantasy?
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Of course students are resistant to re-reading a text! Many of them don't want to read the first time. I think that it is a fantasy, unless we have a specific task in mind. To say generally, "we're going to re-read this, just so we can get more out of it" will not work.
ReplyDeleteWe need to first educate students that there is a legitimate reason for re-reading a text. Probably the best way to do this would be to find a good film clip that rewards multiple viewings. Gallagher mentions "The Sixth Sense" in his text; that would be good, but there's probably something more relevant to our particular population.
After that, if the class reads something once, and then the teacher gives them a specific task, it might work better. For example, students could read "The Bet" a first time for the story. The second time, maybe they could look for examples of irony (there's multiple instances). For this to work properly, the teacher would need a working familiarity with the story, to know what sort of post-reading activity would work best.