First and foremost, did anyone else giggle a little when they read on page 40 the guy's name that came up with the list of popular required texts? His last name is Applebee...I wonder if he's eatin good in the neighborhood?
I always thought that I would just teach books that I liked, and could have fun reading over and over again. But Jago challenged me to choose books that are in depth, and can be torn apart. As much as I love Sonya Sones, and as much as I would love teaching "What My Mother Doesn't Know", what WOULD I teach? This book only really has one layer (if there's more, then someone please enlighten me!) and I think the only reason I would want to teach it is because it's a quick read, it's fun, and it seems VERY relatable to high school students. But what would I be doing to my students? Nothing. They wouldn't be gaining any knowledge, so right now, I'm making a vow that I will only choose books that meet the six requirements on page 47.
The exercise that Jago did with her students while reading Frankenstein on page 55 was a really good idea too. It's weird how you know there's a certain mood set for a book, but if you actually look at the wording, you can see how the author planned their vocabulary for the exact mood. If you teach students how to discover the important words, they're that much closer to understanding texts as a whole. Thus far, I really enjoy the tips that Jago is giving us as teachers.
Like the Applebee logo :)
ReplyDeleteIf you were teaching writing, you could also use What my Mother Doesn't Know to teach writing/style/etc...