A question about novel studies....

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A question about novel studies....

by Helen

Oct 18, 2009

I am wondering how you approach novel studies.

My grade 10 students have started a novel and I have a whole range of reading abilities - some students I had to get them to promise me they wouldnt read the entire book the first weekend!

My question to you is do you:

A - have them read the novel then do all of your activities, assignments, projects, questions when they are done reading?

or

B - Have assignments along the way? hoping that those who are slower readers get caught up and the quick readers will be able to remember what they have already read....

Just wondering what you do.

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L. Swilley On 10/18/09, Helen wrote: > I am wondering how you approach novel studies. > > My grade 10 students have started a novel and I have a whole > range of reading abilities - some students I had to get them > to promise me they wouldnt read the entire book the first > weekend! > > My question to you is do you: > > A - have...See MoreOn 10/18/09, Helen wrote: > I am wondering how you approach novel studies. > > My grade 10 students have started a novel and I have a whole > range of reading abilities - some students I had to get them > to promise me they wouldnt read the entire book the first > weekend! > > My question to you is do you: > > A - have them read the novel then do all of your activities, > assignments, projects, questions when they are done reading? > > or > > B - Have assignments along the way? hoping that those who > are slower readers get caught up and the quick readers will > be able to remember what they have already read.... > > Just wondering what you do.

=========================================================

Before I begin any novel, I pursue a regimen of short stories, teaching the same approach - formal criticism - as will be used in teaching a novel.

NOTHING is taught without first assuring myself that the students have read the carefully the material that is to be discussed in class. To this end, assigned readings are brief - the short story, or one or two chapters of a novel - and the class is quizzed with 5-minute matching tests with 10 items on one side and 13 on the other, before any discussion begins.

This done, and with my own full knowledge of the "shape" of the story or novel, I begin questioning individual students about the *story of the main character*: what is he/she like at the beginning of the story and what at the end; then the "middle" is filled in with events that step along that change.

Dealing with a novel, I question the class(who may have read only the first or second chapters) about events in the first few pages that *I* know are building-blocks for the larger issues of the work. (This may have to begin with a close reading of the material in class - something perhaps useful when dealing with slow-readers and particularly helpful when studying plays by Shakespeare).

This is, of course, slow-going, but it works: questions posed to *individual* students and their answers forming the substance of questions to other *individual* students - this procedure *used by a teacher who knows what he/she wants the students to "discover"* engages the most recalcitrant mind, because *every* student wants to give his opinion about anything. (Do NOT throw questions out to the whole class, pinpoint individual students with the first and following questions, building your question to the next student on the answer given by the last student.)

See an example of this procedure at this site:

[link removed]

Note that the aim of such a procedure is to *produce the mind of teacher thinking rationally and carefully about the subject* in the minds of the students. Every work examined becomes an exercise to that end. The aim is not finally to learn this story or that novel, but to learn how to judge works of literature using the teacher's critical principles, and the advantages and limitations of those principles.

L. Swilley

Oct 19, 2009

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christina On 10/18/09, Helen wrote: > I am wondering how you approach novel studies. > > My grade 10 students have started a novel and I have a whole > range of reading abilities - some students I had to get them > to promise me they wouldnt read the entire book the first > weekend! > > My question to you is do you: > > A - have...See More

Oct 20, 2009

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Mrs.Borgersen On 10/19/09, L. Swilley wrote: > On 10/18/09, Helen wrote: >> I am wondering how you approach novel studies. >> >> My grade 10 students have started a novel and I have a whole >> range of reading abilities - some students I had to get them >> to promise me they wouldnt read the entire book the first >> weekend...See MoreOn 10/19/09, L. Swilley wrote: > On 10/18/09, Helen wrote: >> I am wondering how you approach novel studies. >> >> My grade 10 students have started a novel and I have a whole >> range of reading abilities - some students I had to get them >> to promise me they wouldnt read the entire book the first >> weekend! >> >> My question to you is do you: >> >> A - have them read the novel then do all of your activities, >> assignments, projects, questions when they are done reading? >> >> or >> >> B - Have assignments along the way? hoping that those who >> are slower readers get caught up and the quick readers will >> be able to remember what they have already read.... >> >> Just wondering what you do. > > ========================================================= > > Before I begin any novel, I pursue a regimen of short > stories, teaching the same approach - formal criticism - as > will be used in teaching a novel. > > NOTHING is taught without first assuring myself that the > students have read the carefully the material that is to be > discussed in class. To this end, assigned readings are > brief - the short story, or one or two chapters of a novel - > and the class is quizzed with 5-minute matching tests with 10 > items on one side and 13 on the other, before any discussion > begins. > > This done, and with my own full knowledge of the "shape" > of the story or novel, I begin questioning individual > students about the *story of the main character*: what is > he/she like at the beginning of the story and what at the > end; then the "middle" is filled in with events that step > along that change. > > Dealing with a novel, I question the class(who may have > read only the first or second chapters) about events in the > first few pages that *I* know are building-blocks for the > larger issues of the work. (This may have to begin with a > close reading of the material in class - something perhaps > useful when dealing with slow-readers and particularly > helpful when studying plays by Shakespeare). > > This is, of course, slow-going, but it works: questions > posed to *individual* students and their answers forming the > substance of questions to other *individual* students - this > procedure *used by a teacher who knows what he/she wants the > students to "discover"* engages the most recalcitrant mind, > because *every* student wants to give his opinion about > anything. (Do NOT throw questions out to the whole class, > pinpoint individual students with the first and following > questions, building your question to the next student on the > answer given by the last student.) > > See an example of this procedure at this site: > > [link removed]

Ok. Hello, I am Mrs.Borgersen (Language Arts teacher in Las Cruces,NM. For novels, I would suggest Ender's Game, or The Giver. Have chapter study guides with unsuspectable questions. I usually use 15-17 questions. Then, after 2 days, collect the papers, give 100% for effort because the book is challenging, and edit the papers. After all chapter guides are through, have students study, then give a test on whatever book they've read. Give a 10 extra pointer if under 70%, and start another book. Mrs. BOrgersen

Oct 22, 2009

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Robert F On 10/19/09, L. Swilley wrote: > Dealing with a novel, I question the class(who may have > read only the first or second chapters) about events in the > first few pages that *I* know are building-blocks for the > larger issues of the work. (This may have to begin with a > close reading of the material in class - something perhaps >...See More

Oct 28, 2009

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L. Swilley On 10/28/09, Robert F wrote:

Today I found during discussion that some > students had read the story, but had not understood it well.

[Were they quizzed on the assigned reading? I use matching tests with 10 items on one side and 13 on the other. This avoids a process of elimination. The quiz takes 5 minutes and determines very...See MoreOn 10/28/09, Robert F wrote:

Today I found during discussion that some > students had read the story, but had not understood it well.

[Were they quizzed on the assigned reading? I use matching tests with 10 items on one side and 13 on the other. This avoids a process of elimination. The quiz takes 5 minutes and determines very well whether the students have read the assigned material.]

We > are reading "The Devil and Tom Walker" and Irving is a bit coy > here and there. After Walker's wife is killed by the devil, we > learn that "Tom consoled himself for the loss of his property > with the loss of his wife, for he was a man of fortitude." To > understand, you need to know what "consoled" means, and have a > sense of irony.

[You mean, I take it, that some or many students did not know the meaning of "consoled". In-class reading of the first few paragraphs of a story is always a good idea, and will resolve such problems. Ask a student to rephrase a sentence, then another to rephrase another. Perhaps you have assigned the whole story when only part of it should be addressed with your group.]

It seems that a close reading was called for.

[Yes, definitely. Never be pressured into that awful "covering of the material"; start slowly and precisely. With that foundation, larger parts of the work can then be addressed.]]

> How do you proceed? In the past you've mentioned reading > Shakespeare line by line. I don't think that is called for here, > but even going a paragraph at a time leaves many students > staring into space. How do I slow it down for some without > making it excruciating for many?

[You won't know how many or how few are involved until you give the quiz described above, then start with the first paragraph, asking what a story beginning so might be about. At this initial point, of course, the possible "paths" are many - but the exercise is to have the student *defend* his "path" by pointing out words or phrases in the first paragraph that give him his idea.]

[Look at the first paragraph of Conrad's "Secret Sharer": it describes the confusion of shore-line and sea. When we see that this is a story about the ambuiguity of law, its inability to judge every case fairly because of the confusing complexity of some cases (like this one of the secret sharer), we can see the possible art and purpose of such an opening. I am sure there are other readings of that first paragraph that anticipate parts of the argument in the story that follows, but there is at least *that*. If the teacher knows the story well - and he must know it as well as possible - he will recognize in the student's projections something he can give direction to, direction by continued questiolning of individual students that "bends" the thought of the class to what he wants them to see. There is NOTHING that can replace the teacher's prior knowledge of the "shape" of the work he is teaching; without that, he has nothing to direct the minds of his students to - and *that*, of course, is the whole purpose of his teaching: to re-create his own mind thinking out the problem into the minds of his students, and this by questioning them to have them "discover" what he knows and - above all - *how* he knows it. This is teaching *par excellence*; there is literally nothing else.]

[By the way, "Secret Sharer" is a wonderful story to teach.]

[L. Swilley]

Oct 30, 2009

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