Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12

by Gallagher, Kelly

• ISBN13: 9781571103840
• ISBN10: 1571103848
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-10-30
• Publisher: Stenhouse Pub

Summary

Do your students often struggle with difficult novels and other challenging texts? Do they think one reading of a work is more than enough? Do they primarily comprehend at a surface-level, and are they frequently unwilling or unable to discover the deeper meaning found in multi-layered works? Do you feel that you are doing more work teaching the novel than they are reading it?Building on twenty years of teaching language arts, Kelly Gallagher, author ofReading Reasons, shows how students can be taught to successfully read a broad range of challenging and difficult texts with deeper levels of comprehension. InDeeper Reading, Kelly shares effective, classroom-tested strategies that enable your students to: accept the challenge of reading difficult books; move beyond a "first draft" understanding of the text into deeper levels of reading; consciously monitor their comprehension as they read; employ effective fix-it strategies when their comprehension begins to falter; use meaningful collaboration to achieve deeper understanding of texts; think metaphorically to deepen their reading comprehension; reach deeper levels of reflection by understanding the relevance the book holds for themselves and their peers; use critical thinking skills to analyze real-world issues.Kelly also provides guidance on effective lesson planning that incorporates strategies for deeper reading.Funny, poignant, and packed with practical ideas that work in real classrooms,Deeper Readingis a valuable resource for any teacher whose students need new tools to uncover the riches found in complex texts.

Author Biography

Kelly Gallagher serves as co-director of the South Basin Writing Project at California State University, Long Beach.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
1 Why Reading Is Like Baseball	1	(10)
Seeing the "Real" Game
Digging Deeper
Building Scaffolds
Preparing Our Students
2 Teaching Challenging Text	11	(14)
Focusing the Reader
Effective First-Draft Reading
Deepening Comprehension Through Second-Draft Reading
The Importance of Collaboration
Using Metaphor to Deepen Comprehension
Leading Students to Meaningful Reflection
Developing Self-Sufficient Readers
3 Focusing the Reader	25	(26)
Why Cold Reading Is Often a Bad Idea
Branching Out
Six Degrees of Reading (with Apologies to Kevin Bacon)
Nurturing Palm Trees
Literary Tour Guides
Framing the Text
Framing Activities to Use Before Reading a Major Work
Framing Activities to Use While Reading a Major Work
The Perils of Assumicide
4 Effective First-Draft Reading	51	(28)
First-Draft Reading
Question 1: Have I Provided My Students with a Reading Focus?
Question 2: Are My Students Willing and Able to Embrace Confusion?
Question 3: Can My Students Monitor Their Own Comprehension?
Question 4: Do My Students Know Any Fix-It Strategies to Assist Them When Their Comprehension Begins to alter?
Teaching Context in the Classroom
5 Deepening Comprehension Through Second-Draft Reading	79	(25)
Second-Draft Reading
What Does It Not Say?
Three Key Questions
Strategies to Achieve Deeper Comprehension
6 The Importance of Collaboration	104	(20)
No Hitchhiking
Building Effective Groups
Accountability
Rules to Govern Collaboration
Ten Strategies to Promote Higher-Level Thinking in Small-Group Settings
Talking to Learn
7 Using Metaphor to Deepen Comprehension	124	(24)
Airplanes Good! Helicopters Bad!
Metaphorical Graphic Organizers That Help Students Analyze Character
Metaphorical Graphic Organizers That Help Students Analyze Plot and Structure
Metaphorical Graphic Organizers That Help Students Analyze Setting
Five Considerations
8 Leading Students to Meaningful Reflection	148	(19)
Moving Students Toward Meaningful Reflection
We Read the Book...So What?
Mining the Levels of Reflection
Strategies to Encourage Reflection
9 Reading the World	167	(30)
"Loaded" Language
Cradle-to-Grave Consumerism
Let's Eat!
Talk Is Not Cheap
"Spam" Is a Four-Letter Word
Read All About It
Deeper Newspaper Reading
Reading Political Cartoons
The Untruth About Statistics
Garnering Appreciation Through Deeper Reading
If We Don't, Who Will?
10 The Art of Teaching Deep Reading	197	(20)
Planning Deeper Reading Lessons
The Importance of Backwards Planning
What You Test Is What You Get
Danger Lurks!
The Teacher as Artist
Teaching Versus Assigning
A Final Note
Works Cited	217	(3)
Index	220