Monday, December 22, 2014

It Really Is All In the Details!

I've been setting some new foundations this year for our units of study.  I've thought a lot about what I want the enduring skills that will thread through each unit this year will be, and Falling in Love With Close Reading has really helped me with some of those ideas.

The first is the idea of having a reading "ritual."  My students get a kick out of this, asking me when we'll be sacrificing the chicken, but the idea that a ritual is much like an ingrained routine that one just expects or does without really realizing it is important with the reading and writing work we'll do this year.  It's especially important when doing the work of a close reader.

So far, I've had students working on the steps to this:
From Falling in Love With Close Reading page 12




We labored through each step using Of Mice and Men with eighth grade, and the short story "LAFFF" by Lensey Namioka with seventh.  When the "steps" to this ritual were individualized, students did great!  But, when asked to put them all together . . . disaster.  Hmmm.  There's no point in reading the details closely and finding patterns and relationships if a greater understanding doesn't occur.  Students are missing the point of our "ritual."

As I try this myself as a reader, I notice that I often overlook details that really do deepen my understanding.  Without these details, I still get the gist of the text, but don't have the understanding that makes me love to read.  Simple as that.

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