RoAR for Monday 10/17 Beach 8 Gallagher 3

To answer a few of the questions from reading.
Beach, Ch. 8
1. How do we help students acquire knowledge of genre conventions?
   I think this answer is simple- use the variety of genres in the classroom and at times compare and contrast the elements of the different genres.

2. In what ways can you model ways that students can connect common features of text and transfer this knowledge to other encounters with that genre?

   Modeling comes as we use genres and examples of the genres that break with the common form.  The way to transfer that knowledge is to teach Genre's as sets of guidelines rather than rules.

4. Why do we need to consider students' prior knowledge as we work with genres?
    Students have experience with a variety of genres- starting with one they are familiar with, a movie perhaps, and talking about it's conventions allows us to move to another topic, like the short story, and start on common ground aspects of the genre like Plot, Characters, Setting, etc.  If they can recognize that they already have knowledge, students will be more confident that they can learn and connect with new material.

Gallagher, Ch. 3

3. What is the "chop, chop curriculum" and how can we find a balance between teaching the standards and enjoying real literary experiences?
   "chop, chop curriculum" is the teaching of a book in so many parts that it students are taken from the flow and lose the whole picture by analyzing every little thing.  It is damaging because students feel like the text has been killed.  Or, from personal experience, I feel like over analyzing books bit by bit can make the student feel like they are missing things, when really they got the point and just don't want to say that it's obvious.
   I think Gallagher suggests a good balance - have time for students to study literary works and fun reads. When reading something difficult, tackle it, but don't address every single possible little thing you could get out of the book- just pick a few points and don't go on about them for too long.
   One idea that I think would be good is to build students stamina little by little.  Start with a fun short story or article(s) that the teacher spends time reading.  Allow students some free time to experience their own reading flow.  Ask for basic reflections- opinions about the book without requiring analysis.  Then, as time moves, read more difficult works out loud, and assign some to read and then discuss first opinions, then for deeper meaning. When going into deeper things just keep it simple and rejoice in a few details rather than every literary significance possible.  If you want to cover more aspects, do it through supplementary texts or other vehicles.