Topic: Re-reading and Discussion

10-second review: After students read a novel or short story, teacher has them re-read difficult passages.

Title: “You Want Me to Teach Reading? Confessions of a Secondary Literature Teacher.” P Monahan. English Journal (July 2008), 98-104. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary: Sometimes the teacher picks the passage for re-reading, sometimes the students pick it. What makes it difficult to read? The class summarizes it after discussion. They write in their journals how it relates to their personal lives. They discuss it again. “Perhaps the most interesting outcome of the process I am describing is that discussions that follow the re-reading activity are more detailed and provocative than the discussions I once had without the re-reading activity.” p. 103.

Comment: For me, the challenge in this activity is trying to determine what makes the passage difficult to read and to work with the students to develop a strategy to overcome the difficulty. RayS.