Gallagher's Greatest Hits
1. Anticipation guides do not need to be complex to be effective! A simple statement, framed by a 1-5 rating response on each side (one for "before reading" and one for "after reading") works. The anticipation guide can then work not only to get students into the reading by previewing the themes, but it can also turn into a unit-ending essay question: "Refer to the anticipation guide and note how your thinking has changed by reading this book. Choose one statement and ..." See a sample anticipation guide for Of Mice and Men.
2. In Chapter 3 ("Focusing the Reader") Gallagher suggests an alternative to the tired reading quiz. His idea is to simply write a word on the board that relates to the reading assignment. The word should have obvious meaning to anyone who read carefully. Students then write a paragraph on the significance of the word in the text, and the teacher is able to easily assess his or her students' comprehension. An added bonus, Gallagher points out, is that a teacher can have as many words chosen for a chapter as classes in the day; in other words, the period one students will not be tempted to "help" the period six students prepare for the assessment.
3. Chapter 2 [The SAMPLE ACTIVITY based on the William Maxwell short story "Love," and used during READING GROUP presentations at the 2007 MWP Summer Institute, is summarized below.]
a) Focus the reader...ask the students to read the story - for the first time - by giving them a simple idea to hold in mind...
["As you read this story for the first time, think about a special teacher you have had." Teacher can give an example from his/her life.]
b) Deepen the Comprehension by asking the students to read a second time, this time searching for "foreshadowing" clues* that Miss Vera Brown is going to die.
["Read the story a second time, underlining or highlighting as many words or phrases as you can find which could suggest/foreshadow Miss Brown's death.]
* Here are some examples:
FUNERAL/CEMETERY IMAGERY... "graven in stone," "wormed," "raised the lid of the box," "go to the cemetery," "dim light," "church," "angel"
FLOWER IMAGERY... (Flowers are beautiful when they are young, but even in their beauty, they begin to wilt and die.)
"pansies," "asters," "sweet peas"
USE OF LANGUAGE...
She was there to "help us past the hard part."
"Many happy returns to Miss Vera Brown."
"her delicate fingers"
"We meant to have her for our teacher forever."
"We intended to pass right up through the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades and on to high school taking her with us."
"She belonged to her illness."
THE CIRCUS POSTER...once colorful and hopeful, the boys see it (on the visit to the sick teacher) as weather-beaten, "with loose strips hanging down."
c) Collaboration...Let the students discuss with each other (in small group, for example) what they have found.
Let them dig deeper in discussion with each other.
d) Use of metaphor...After teaching them this simple formula (an "intangible item" is like a "tangible item" because...
let the students work on a simple "metaphor" like this: "The boys love for Miss Vera Brown is like (a) _____ because _____...
[Example: "The boys love for Miss Vera Brown is like a scar, because although it will fade, it will always be there."]
e) Reflection...Imagine the story "Love in a theme unit about death / separation / ritual / cultural practices...
The instructor might provided the metaphor idea: "Death is like ______________ because __________...
Perhaps, conversations about this story (and others in the unit,) might lead to reflective exploration about how various cultures
cope with death, how they talk about death and the dead, how they perform their rituals and why, how those rituals are alike and different
in various cultures.
As students grow with familiar with these steps, stress that these strategies are something that deeper readers internalize and utilize automatically as their
reading abilities mature (24).
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