From cdesmet@virtual.park.uga.edu Thu Mar 26 10:51:00 1998

Dear ETEACH-L participant,

Welcome to our listserve!  We are glad that you have joined us for our discussion of the relationship between "teaching knowledge" and "knowledge of subject matter" in the field of English. ETEACH-L is a group of student teachers, teachers-in-training, mentor teachers in the UGA-NETS program, and undergraduate students who are contemplating careers as English teachers. The goal of our discussion is to explore the relationship between teaching and content knowledge and to think about ways of improving the training of Georgia's future teachers by forging a stronger relationship between the kinds of training UGA  ndergraduates receive in the English Department and in the Language Education Program.

As you know, this project was conceived jointly by Christy Desmet and Sally Hudson Ross under the auspices of the Dean's Forum. The Dean's Forum is a group of faculty at the University of Georgia that was brought together by Dean Russ Yeaney (College of Education) and Dean Wyatt Anderson (College of Arts and  Sciences) to make stronger connections between the Colleges of  Education and Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia. During the group's first discussion at a Dean's Forum retreat, the responsibility of both olleges for training teachers was an important topic of discussion. One of the questions that occurred to us, and undoubtedly has occurred to you over the course of your careers, is: "Which is more important for teachers of English, knowledge of teaching as a pedagogical process or knowledge of the subject matter?" When the question came up again at a GCTE panel last July in Athens, we decided to find out just what teachers at different stages of their careers thought about the relationship between pedagogy and subject  atter in their teaching lives. And so this project was born.  Between now and June, each of us will post once a week on a single question, responding not only to that question but to one another's responses. Sally and Christy will get the dialogue started and post the weekly questions, but we hope that all of you will be forthright about shaping the discussion. This project belongs to us all. The discussion will begin April 6 and extend through about May 24. We hope to meet on Saturday, June 2 for lunch (date's still up in he air) to discuss our
findings and share our opinions about the profession of teaching.

A FEW PRACTICAL MATTERS:
        1. If you ever need to be taken off the list, contact Christy Desmet at <cdesmet@virtual.park.uga.edu> and I'll remove you.
       2. When writing to the list, send your message to ETEACH-L@uga.cc.uga.edu.
       3. If you reply to a message that has gone to the entire list, your reply will be sent to all members as well.
        4. If you want to send a private message to anyone on the list, you need to get out of the message you are currently reading and send a message to that person directly. (Otherwise, 15 people will be reading
your private mail!)
        5. When in doubt, look at the "Reply to" line of your message. That will tell you who the recipient of your message or reply is.

You might want to print out this message for future reference!

Once again, we are looking forward very much to working together on a project of mutual interest and to establishing and re-establishing contact with students and teachers who have been important to us over the years. Thank you again for participating and all the best,

Sally and Christy

You have been added to the ETEACH-L mailing list (Teachers of English) by Christy Desmet <cdesmet@VIRTUAL.PARK.UGA.EDU>.

Please save this message for future  reference, especially if this is the first time you subscribe to an  electronic mailing list. If you ever need to  leave the  list,  you  will find  the  necessary instructions  below. Perhaps  more importantly,  saving a  copy of  this message  (and of  all future subscription notices  from other mailing lists) in  a special mail folder will give you instant access to the list of mailing lists that you are subscribed  to. This may  prove very useful the  next time you  go on vacation and  need to leave  the lists temporarily so  as not to  fill up your  mailbox while  you  are away!  You should  also  save the  "welcome messages" from the  list owners that you will  occasionally receive after subscribing to a new list.

To send  a message to  all the people  currently subscribed to  the list, just send mail to ETEACH-L@listserv.uga.edu. This is called "sending mail to the  list", because  you send  mail to a  single address  and LISTSERV makes  copies  for all  the  people  who  have subscribed.  This  address (ETEACH-L@listserv.uga.edu) is  also called the "list  address". You must never try to send any command to that address, as it would be distributed to all the people  who have subscribed. All commands must  be sent to the "LISTSERV address",  listserv@listserv.uga.edu. It  is very  important to understand  the difference  between the  two, but  fortunately it  is not
complicated. The LISTSERV address is like  a FAX number that connects you to  a machine,  whereas the  list  address is  like a  normal voice  line connecting you to a person. If you make a mistake and dial the FAX number when you wanted to talk to someone on the phone, you will quickly realize that you  used the wrong  number and call again.  No harm will  have been
done. If on the  other hand  you accidentally make your FAX call someone's voice  line,  the  person  receiving the  call  will  be  inconvenienced, especially if your FAX then re-dials  every 5 minutes. The fact that most people will eventually connect the FAX machine to the voice line to allow  the FAX  to go through  and make  the calls stop  does not mean  that you
should continue to send FAXes to  the voice number. People would just get mad at you.  It works pretty much  the same way with  mailing lists, with the difference  that you are calling  hundreds or thousands of  people at the same  time, and consequently  you can expect a  lot of people  to get upset if you consistently send commands to the list address.

You  may leave  the list  at  any time  by sending  a "SIGNOFF  ETEACH-L" command to listserv@listserv.uga.edu. You can  also tell LISTSERV how you want it to confirm  the receipt of messages you send to  the list. If you do not trust the system, send a "SET ETEACH-L REPRO" command and LISTSERV will send you a  copy of your own messages, so that you  can see that the message was distributed and did not get damaged on the way. After a while you  may find  that this  is getting  annoying, especially  if your  mail program does not  tell you that the  message is from you  when it informs you that new mail has arrived from  ETEACH-L. If you send a "SET ETEACH-L ACK  NOREPRO" command,  LISTSERV will  mail you  a short  acknowledgement instead, which will  look different in your mailbox  directory. With most mail programs you  will know immediately that this  is an acknowledgement you can read later. Finally, you can turn off acknowledgements completely with "SET ETEACH-L NOACK NOREPRO".

Following  instructions from  the list  owner, your  subscription options have been  set to "REPRO"  rather than  the usual LISTSERV  defaults. For more  information about  subscription  options, send  a "QUERY  ETEACH-L" command to listserv@listserv.uga.edu.

Contributions sent to this list are automatically archived. You can get a list  of the  available  archive  files by  sending  an "INDEX  ETEACH-L" command to listserv@listserv.uga.edu. You can then order these files with a "GET  ETEACH-L LOGxxxx"  command, or  using LISTSERV's  database search facilities. Send an  "INFO DATABASE" command for more  information on the latter.

This  list is  available  in digest  form.  If you  wish  to receive  the digested  version of  the  postings,  just issue  a  SET ETEACH-L  DIGEST command.

IMPORTANT: This list is confidential. You should not publicly mention its existence, or forward copies of information  you have obtained from it to third  parties. Please  note  that the  "GIVE"  command is  automatically disabled for all archive files.
 
Please note that  it is presently possible for other  people to determine that  you are  signed up  to the  list through  the use  of the  "REVIEW" command,  which  returns   the  e-mail  address  and  name   of  all  the subscribers. If  you do not  want your name to  be visible, just  issue a "SET ETEACH-L CONCEAL" command.

More  information on  LISTSERV  commands  can be  found  in the  LISTSERV reference  card, which  you can  retrieve  by sending  an "INFO  REFCARD" command to listserv@listserv.uga.edu.

As promised, we will have a chance to get together, talk face-to-face, and draw some conclusions from our ongoing conversation this spring. The date is Saturday, June 6 from 10-4 in Aderhold 116. Lunch will be provided by us! More details will come later but we wanted to get the news out as quickly as possible.

Sally and I hope that you all can come. We are looking forward to your responses, as well as to your thoughts about future directions for our collaboration on this project.

Happy weekend and all the best, Christy

2.  BIOGRAPHY

Dear ETEACH-L participant,

To get the discussion under way, we would like to ask each participant to introduce her/himself to other embers of the group. In just a paragraph, tell us about yourself as a person and teacher. You might want to talk about why you became a teacher or why English is the field of your choice. You might want to talk about other things. Whatever you think is important to knowing you is what we want to hear! Then look for the first question for our dialogue to appear in your e- mail.  All the best,

Christy and Sally

Hello Amy Moore and fellow ETECH folks-

This is Mark Owen.  I'm sure some of you know me, but for those who don't, I'll introduce myself.  I am a 97 Grad. of the English Ed. program at UGA and am currently a first year teacher at Cartersville High School.  I am the REP teacher, which means I am part of a federally funded remedial program.  I also teach ESOL.  I am also the Debate coach.  I teach mostly 9th graders, but my oldest student is 19.  My classes are pretty small, ranging from 20 to 7.  We are on a 4x4 block, so I teach 3 90 minute periods and have 90 mins. of planning each day.  I have 4th block planning, so I'm done teaching each day at 1:35! Today I am very glad it is Friday.

Maybe one of the toughest things about this year so far has been the whole"small town" thing.  One Friday a group of teachers (myself included) went to Applebee's after work to hang out and have a drink or two.  The event was so scandalous it was written about in the local paper.  I realized then that when you live and teach in a small town, you never really "leave work" in the sense that normal people do.  I only live 5 miles from my school, and I thought at first this would be great.  Over spring break I am moving to Marietta, which will give me about a 30 min. commute.  I am really looking forward to it though.  I think it will help me enjoy my "down time" (and yes I do have some) a whole lot more, which will in turn help me be more  dedicated to my job when I am there.

I have thought a lot about looking for work closer to Atlanta next year, but signed my contract here a few days ago.  I plan to do a lot of soul searching this summer because I want to know what the next move in my life should be.

Teaching is strange.  I have to say it is a lot different than student teaching.  One thing I have to say is that I actually do have more free time now than I did this time last year.  Good luck to all of you student teachers. I still remember what that was like. So who else is out there?  I'd like to here some of your stories.

Take care-

Mark Owen

Hello! It is Friday afternoon and the kiddies are all gone so I'll take
a moment to relax. AHHHHHH! That was nice!!!

Now back to work!

I am Sarah Smith, a first year teacher at Dacula Middle School in Gwinnett County.I am teaching 7th grade English, a.k.a. Language Arts. I am 23 and have the unfortunate luck of looking 18.....so middle school appears to be the place for me to be for the time being!!!! I am involved in oodles of things here: Student Council, school wide talent show, helping with Beta club, running school dances, coaching Odyssey of the Mind, and just working generally ungodly hours.....our school 7:00 am and I usually don't leave until about 7pm....maybe 8. I don't know if this says that I am enjoying what I am doing or that I am nuts.... Go figure.

I chose to teach English because I have always loved literature. Let me warn any of you that loving literature and teaching are not one and the same. I am learning that I don't just teach Literature, but that I teach kids. This term sounded cliche to me a year ago but know I understand. I have a need to share knowledge. Actually, the need goes deeper than that--I have a need to trade knowledge with others. Teaching affords me my chance to perform, while watching others perform. Teaching allows me to trade my knowledge with that of my students.

So far I like this gig. It is VERY demanding!!! Student teaching ain't nothing like the real thing baby. FUll time teaching is sensory overload. YOU create every rule, procedure, and consequence....and you are supposed to remember what they all are!!! : ) I am not complaining; I have become rather used to laughing at my mistakes.  If any of you want to come out and visit you are welcome to do so. (Especially Amy Moore.....we did high school theatre together!!!)

Well, I am looking forward to meeting all of you and wish you luck in all of your endeavors. Sorry that this rmabled so, but it IS Friday ya know!!!!

Sarah Smith

I am Dorann Mansberger.  After reading the other two responses to this question, I feel a little funny about responding.  Unlike you two, I have been teaching for 18 years. When I sign my contract in April, I will be signing for the 19th year.  My life consists of one dog, one 13year old daughter, one husband of almost 19 years, one house, one parent (my mother is dead) but a brother and a sister.  I live in Athens but have done all of my teaching in "rural" areas. It has been my choice and never been something I am sorry about. I taught for 8 years in Morgan County and commuted. Most of my teaching there was 11th grade, with some gifted and honors thrown in. For the last how ever many years, I have been teaching in Oconee County. I usually teach 11th grade (and it is my true love) but also have 10th and an occasional 9th grade class. In 19 years, I have never taught a 12th grade class.

Two years ago I had to make a very important decision about whether I would continue to teach or not.  Several important things happend that year and the response I had was to question myself and what I was really doing in the classroom.  After much soul searching I realized that teching was truly my calling and it has been a pleasure for me since.  We, too, are on block scheduling and it has certainly provided us with many challenges. It has been a very positve move for me and I love it.

Reading is something that really makes me feel good. I read for pleasure, not to escape. It has taken me many years to be able to say that during the summer and on the weekends I do not read the classics.  It is my choice to read formulaic novels and it is something I enjoy.  Travis McGee and his Busted Flush(John McDonald) is a  dear friend of mine, as are Hawk and Spencer of the Robert Parker series, and all of the Ed McBain books.

Teaching came very naturally to me.  I am very ordered and like order in everything I do.  Teaching allows for that side of me to flourish but I love kids and have found that high school students provide instant gratification (and can also send you plunging to the lower bottom in a minute).

Teaching is still fun. It should be. This should also be fun and I am looking forward to some real neat dialogue.

Dorann

Hello!

My name is Dana Cooke and I currently teach 9th and 11th grade English at Twiggs County Comprehensive Midde High School.  Twiggs County is a rural district near Macon.  I am married and have a four year old daughter named Sarah.

I didn't really decide to become a teacher.  It is something I've always known I would do.  I can't remember ever seriously considering another profession.  I decided to teach English because I have always loved to read and write.  I had a very influential English teacher in high school, as well as a couple of good English professors in college.  I considered teaching French (and I am still thinking of getting certified to do so), but I love literature and writing so much - I'm afraid I
wouldn't get to teach it if I became certified to teach French (don't they need foreign language teachers badly right now?).

Anyway, I am looking forward to exchanging ideas with you all.

Dana Cooke

        Hello!  My name is Amy Moore and I am a Senior at the University of Georgia.  Right now I should be planning the Poetry Unit I will be doing with my Sophomores, but I need a break!  :)  Anyway, I have been doing my student teaching at Oconee County High School in Watkinsville this year and I am really excited about teaching full time (starting Monday).  I am having a great time at Oconee County, teaching both E glish and Drama classes.  I also work with the school's drama productions.  We are currently in the middle of rehearsing for GREASE.

        I am one of those odd people who has always known what I wanted to do with my life.  I have always wanted to teach and English has always been my strength.  Over the course of this year, I have had the opportunity to decide whether or not I made the right decision, and I
definitely think that I have.  Working with students makes me feel like I am doing something worthwhile with my life.  I also really enjoy being around the students because they teach ME something new every day (really)! So far, teaching has been an unspeakably incredible experience
and I am very thankful to have been in a college program that has allowed me to develop a fairly realistic picture of what teaching will be like for me in the future.  :)

        I look forward to hearing from all of you!
                                                        AMY

On a more serious note, I'm also getting ready to become Freshman English director next year, with an entering class of 4,200. Yikes! talk to you all soon, Christy

OK!  I'm late but still with you all!  Sorry, we were on break!  I am Sally Hudson Ross, just Sally.  I chose to become an English teacher when my mom talked me into "just for her" picking up education courses. She taught kindergarten for 30 years!  I did and loved student teaching--so I never went into Journalism, my real dream.  I chose English in 7th grade because of an inspiring teacher we thought was a Beatnik--he'd lived in NYC and read us Frannie and Zooey and played
jazz records!  I was hooked on reading as a way to be out-there while living a tame life, I think.

I just had a chapter come out in which I looked back at why I became a teacher, what influenced me, and how all of that set me up to return to high school teaching for 1993-1994 at Cedar Shoals after 17 years of being a Language Arts Consultant in Gwinnett and then a doctoral student and English Ed. professor.  That year was pivotal for me! Reading that chapter again reminded me of how important peoples' lives are in my view of English and teaching--and living good lives together. People's lives make teaching hard sometimes/often!  I think those of us who know students well, hurt a lot.  It's much easier to just DO English!  But is that really what it's all about?

More later...Excited about our journey together!  Sally

The reason I chose English specifically as a field is because of my senior English teacher, Mrs. James.  She was an incredible mentor to me, and she helped me discover my passion for literature and language.  As for why I chose teaching, I am a true advocate for literacy and learning, and I just love to be with kids.  Every job that I have held (with the exception of working part-time in a grocery store in high school) has been centered around kids and their education.  From working
with infants in a day-care center to serving as a youth ministry intern during the summer, my part time jobs have been in preparation for what I am doing now.  I can't imagine doing anything else with my life at this point!

I always wanted to teach, so I won't bore you with all that.  I am doing what I love best - working with teenagers, working with a subject I care about, working in a school where I am challenged to be my best everyday with a wonderful group of teaching peers. I think I'm contributing somehow.

I am excited about this conversation we are beginning.  I don't think everyone is qualified to teach, and I have some strong feelings about content and pedagogy. I guess I will always have to apologize before I open my mouth - even on email!  Whatever I think tends to come out.

Patti McWhorter
1201 Scarlet Oak ircle
Athens, GA  30606
(706) 769-5924
pmcwhort@sage.coe.uga.edu

Cedar Shoals High School
1300 Cedar Shoals Drive
Athens, GA  30605
(706) 546-5375
FAX:  (706) 227-7810
 

I'm Scott Corbett, and I teach eighth grade English at a small private school in Atlanta. I was a T.A./Instructor at UGA for several years, teaching comparative lit, but I craved a taste of the real world, and so went through Sally and Mark's program last year (student taught at Monroe Area with Amelia Adams, a remarkable woman indeed!). I had a hard time with my student teaching assignment because I felt I was asked to be more of a cop/social worker than a teacher, so I chose to apply only to private schools. I admit this to all of you somewhat reluctantly, but there it is.

I have found what I wanted: Galloway is a small, student-centered, totally non-tracked school with a wonderful staff and facilities. The kids run the gamut of ability levels, and suffer from the usual pathologies associated with being fourteen years old. I have spent the year doing novels (Cormier, McCullers, Salinger), Shakespeare and mythology; and managed to set up a Writing Workshop that almost works well.

You know, I wonder just how many of us have said that we "always wanted to teach." I know that's true of me. Best, CHristy

My name is Stephanie Harrison and I teach 12th grade English at Madison County High School in Danielsville, GA.  This is my 7th year of teacher and I truly can't think of a better profession to be involved in than teaching.  I love teaching, especially the contact with the students.  I'm fond of saying that "I teach kids first, then I teach English."  I really feel that making a connection with the students is vital to anything else you do in the classroom.  Either they trust you or they don't.  I liked the the question posed in the Welcome message -- which is more important, knowledge of teaching as a pedagogical process or knowledge of the subject matter?  Both are a necessity, but I favor the first one.  If you want (or are interested) I could tell why at a later date.  But back to me . . . I'm excited about this list serve and look forward to hearing various point-of-views.  Until later, have a good weekend!

I am Tiffany Tuck, I'm 23, and I am a student teacher at Madison County High School in Danielsville with our fellow listserver Stephanie Harrison as one of my mentor teachers.  I teach college prep 12th graders with her and 9th grade Project Success with my other MT.  (For those of you who don't know, Project Success is a program designed to help at-risk students stay in school. Several days I am a counselor more than a teacher, but I love it.)  I have always wanted to teach.  As a child, whenever we played school, I was always the teacher.  I would make up tests and grade them, and put stickers on the good papers.  I loved it. When I went to college I had to decide WHAT to teach.  I was good in math and science, but hated them, so they were out.  I could never remember all the dates in history, and wars bored me, so that was out.  What did I
pick?  Theatre of all things!  I went Florida State for a year as a theatre major.  Then a serious car accident forced me to think a little more practically.  I transferred to UGA and started taking my core classes.  only I kept taking lots of English and lit classes.  So the next step seemed pretty obvious.  So here I am student teaching in English and loving every minute of it!  (Well, almost every minute. There are a few hairy ones now and then.)  Okay, that was a really long introduction.

Hi!  This is Christina Wickert and I'm currently on spring break--I'm writing from Oregon!  Why did I decide to study English?  Because I love to read— anything and everything!  I was also a successful reader and writer and so I naturally fell into studying literature as an undergrad.  After college I taught briefly in Singapore (ESL) and decided that teaching was a great way to exisit.  Why do I want to teach?  Because it's fun!  I love being around young people and watching them interact with literature.  Hopefully I can spark their interest and promote an everlasting love for literature in all my students.  Nice meeting everyone!

3.  HOW DO YOU READ?
 

Dear folk,

I guess that it's time to get down to work!  Sally suggests that we use this as our first question:

1. How do you "read" a piece of literature when you are getting ready to teach it?

2. How is this kind of "reading" different from or similar to just plain reading a piece of literature or a text?

All the best, Christy

> 1. How do you "read" a piece of literature when you are getting ready to > teach it?

I tend to read the text a little more closely.  I look for things that I might need to explain and write those in the margins.  If I am reminded of something that enhances the text (such as a biographical note or a historical event) I will also write that in the margin.  I look for things that might be disruptive if read aloud -- even my eleventh graders can't seem to see the word "gay" in a text without giggling. Sometimes I decide just to have them read that to themselves to avoid
having to deal with immaturity.  I remember more of what I read.  When I read for pleasure, it is okay for me to forget something, but when I read to teach, I need to know it.

> 2. How is this kind of "reading" different from or similar to just plain > reading a piece of literature or a text?

Gosh, I think I covered most of this.  I will say that lots of times we don't teach what we read for pleasure.  I don't read much American literature at all, but I teach an entire course.  Sometimes I will do research for a reading.  For example, I taught a short story called "Old Pipes and the Dryad" last semester.  I knew my students wouldn't know what a dryad was, so I compiled some notes and wrote them on the board. At the end of the story, the main character, Old Pipes, finds the tree in which the dryad lived.  It has been cut down.  My students let out a collective "OH!" because they had learned from my notes that when a dryad's tree is destroyed, it dies.  The story never came out and said the dryad was dead, but they were able to infer it from the background
they were given.

Dana Cooke

2.  I guess I've already answered #2 within my first answer.
 Angela Bozeman

I'm Scott Corbett, and I teach eighth grade English at a small private school in Atlanta. I was a T.A./Instructor at UGA for several years, teaching comparative lit, but I craved a taste of the real world, and so went through Sally and Mark's program last year (student taught at Monroe
Area with Amelia Adams, a remarkable woman indeed!). I had a hard time with my student teaching assignment because I felt I was asked to be more of a cop/social worker than a teacher, so I chose to apply only to private schools. I admit this to all of you somewhat reluctantly, but there it is.

I have found what I wanted: Galloway is a small, student-centered, totally non-tracked school with a wonderful staff and facilities. The kids run the gamut of ability levels, and suffer from the usual pathologies associated with being fourteen years old. I have spent the year doing novels (Cormier, McCullers, Salinger), Shakespeare and mythology; and managed to set up a Writing Workshop that almost works well.

1. How do you "read" a piece of literature when you are getting ready to teach it?

Patti's response resonated with me, because, with one eye, I try to read as I think they might; but with the other I read as the Pied Piper: I look for ways/connections/links to lure them beyond those first impressions, to possibly enrich their experiences as readers. Need I say that usually I can do this only after I've read the piece myself at least once? So, reading to teach is re-reading: carefully, deliberately, strategically.

2. How is this kind of "reading" different from or similar to just plain reading a piece of literature or a text?

When I read for pleasure, I indulge myself. I let myself linger over words, passages: my tempo is sometimes slower than normal (with, say, Faulkner, Cormac MacCarthy, Yeats...). I also read certain things faster: I skim, and skip to the good parts. This way of reading feels more natural to me, more pleasant, more playful.

I, too, am a little behind - spring break and all.  Here goes...

1. How do you "read" a piece of literature when you are getting ready to teach it?

I try first to imagine how my students are going to experience the work. I am looking at it from their perspective constantly.  I wonder what will confuse or excite them.  I wonder what they will see or imagine as they read - what connections they will make to their own lives and experiences. I do the "English teacher" thing as well - jot down ideas for teaching, ideas about meaning, as I read the work.

I have always wanted to read a work for the first time with my students. I don't believe you have to be the expert all the time, but I haven't always felt that way. I want to know what it would feel like to discover meaning together, rather than paralyze my students into believing that I know all the answers.  "I don't know.  What do you think?" is my favorite response to students.  It really unsettles them - so much so, that I realize they expect me to provide the answer, the interpretation. (It is much easier for them that way.) I believe they must wrestle with the issues - my job is to facilitate that "wrestling."  It is March now, and my students finally understand (for the most part) that they are capable of discovering meaning in literature and writing about it.

2.  How is this kind of "reading" different from or similar to reading a piece of literature or a text?

Literature I read without thought of teaching I read more rapidly - for plot.  I read Alice Hoffman's Here and Now over spring break .  I devoured it in a few hours actually.  I love books with characters like hers - they are so engaging, like good friends are.

By a "text" I guess we are talking about expository text?  I don't have a specific approach unless I am looking for answers.  I read fairly rapidly, sometimes jotting notes as I go or highlighting, writing in the margins.

Bring on the questions!  This is fun!

Patti McWhorter
1201 Scarlet Oak Circle
Athens, GA  30606
(706) 769-5924
pmcwhort@sage.coe.uga.edu

Cedar Shoals High School
1300 Cedar Shoals Drive
Athens, GA  30605
(706) 546-5375
FAX:  (706) 227-7810

I also read *very slowly* when I am going to teach a work. It took me the entirety of the NCAA finals to go through 20 pp. of Christopher Marlowe's Hero and Leander. I am worried not only that when I stand up to teach, that I won't remember details of the piece we are discussing, but that the students will therefore think that I am a fraud, and that I don't know my
subject matter. It drives me crazy not to be able to find a passage I want in a text, and I'm humiliated when I have to leaf through it to find what I want. I also spend a lot of time thinking about structure. A Shakespeare play naturally breaks down into an act a day, but long poems often need to be parsed in order for students to make sense of the argument.

All the best, Christy

This is just a short response, but I think that the term "dissection" is a significant one for the reader-who will-be -a- teacher at 8 am tomorrow!

Best, Christy

On Tue, 31 Mar 1998, bozemana wrote:

> 1.  When I am reading a piece of literature that I am preparing to > teach, I look for several elements within it.  I look for elements of > plot, character development, themes, symbols, etc.  I make a  list as I > go of these items.  I tend to dissect the work paragraph by paragraph to > pull out items that I feel my students should focus on.  This is in > contrast to what I do when I read for pleasure, which is to simply read > without analyzing the work to death.  Sometimes, after a first read, I
> will analyze a "pleasure" book, but not as thoroughly as I do something > I would teach.
>
> 2.  I guess I've already answered #2 within my first answer.
>

What do I do when I prepare to teach a work? Well, unfortunately I read it fairly quickly!  The thing about being a first year teacher is that you go through so much stuff that you've either never
read, or read long, long ago.  As I read stuff though, I look first and foremost for ways to get kids interested and connected with the text.  If you don't get that there's no point in trying to teach it at all when you have remedial classes like I do.

Next, I try to come up with questions to ask at certain points during the reading that will maintain interest.  I look for things that might be confusing or need clarification.  I look for ways to make the literature relevant to the students' lives for writing assignments and attempted discussions.  I want my students to ask themselves the questions that go through the minds of avid readers, so  I try to come up with those questions and ask them myself.  I focus particularly on trying to get them to predict the action, or resolution. I also ask a lot of vocabulary - context type stuff because I want them to figure out how to guess the meaning of words based on the context.

How do I read for myself? Well, the last book I read for myself was "To Dance With the White Dog" by Terry Kay.  I read it during ITBS testing.  It was a quick, fun, short read. Some books I read over a long period of time, but If I don't get into a book enough to get hooked lots of times I just never finish and move on.

I like non-fiction and read the newspaper every day.  I also re-read stuff from college that I enjoy, like James Joyce's "Dubliners." When I get bored at home I pick it up and just read a few pages of any story.  I just like the way it feels.  I am thinking about reading another Terry Kay novel.  He spoke at my school yesterday, and it was really inspiring.  I wonder if anyone is still reading this.  Well, take care out there, everybody.

Mark

Finally, my own contribution:

1. How do you "read" a piece of literature when you are getting ready to teach it?

I'm going to think back to my year at Cedar Shoals...I read really carefully and thought of places/issues where I thought kids would connect.  I thought very broadly about the context in which the book was set (Australia for Walkabout,for example).  I tried to bring in pictures, resources, film to bring the place and people alive so that the story would play out in a place that they could visualize.  Then we could focus on people being people albeit in a strange setting.  I
guess overall my goals were to bring it alive for them and connect the characters, experiences, issues to their own American, Athens-Georgia lives.  In our talk in class, I hope they would bring in their own connections and questions.  My job is to scaffold and make that talk possible--to help kids move beyond needing reading strategies just to comprehend text and really talk about ideas, people, issues, etc.

2. How is this kind of "reading" different from or similar to just plain reading a piece of literature or a text?

I've always been interested in history and other peoples so I read a lot of historical pieces or of geographic areas or peoples or socioeconomic classes I may not know about from my own experience. Even in casual reading I feel I'm learning about people.  I learn about women's lives in most of the readings I choose (my book club only reads women authors) so I guess I'm seeking to extend my understanding of others like--yet not like--me.  I wonder why I'm fascinated by reading of hardships (even Oprah's books of abusive settings) sometimes but think I'm so baffled by it that I struggle to understand how it must be to survive abuse, survive poverty, struggle in ways I've never had to.

I deeply respect people who have been strong.  I love the voice of strong women: Ellen Foster, Sethe in Beloved...  I love language that sets me apart from the realities I see daily, that forces me to stand back.  I jsut finished Paradise, Toni Morrison's new book and was hauntered--as always--by her language.  Just realized talking to soemone today that her language so shocks  me with it's uniqueness and beauty and cold clarity that until I'm in and reading it pulls me OUT of the reading...weird!  Then I dive back in for more.  I love to savor language, admire the power of writers, revel in the lives we all struggle to understand.

Enough!!  This is fun!  Does anyone else notice differences between our answers to 1 and 2?  In what ways do we show kids what readers do by the ways we demonstrate to them that we read?  Is that--showing kids what readers do--a goal of high school English?  Are the goals of college English reading different?  Perhaps a question for next week?

Sally

----------------------
Sally Ross
saross@coe.uga.edu

Message-ID:  <1.5.4.16.19980403012203.3047658c@pop.negia.net>
Date:         Thu, 2 Apr 1998 20:22:03 -0500
Reply-To: Teachers of English <ETEACH-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
Sender: Teachers of English <ETEACH-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From: Dorann Mansberger <dorann@NEGIA.NET>
Subject:      Re: second question
 

Christy, after reading your response tonight I felt better about my own.  My feelings are the same as you read.  I wonder what it is in me that makes me "not want to appear like I do not know what I am doing?"

Dorann

Mark-

I love Terry Kay's work.  I haven't read his new one.  Do you know anything about it?  (The title escapes me.)

Patti McWhorter
1201 Scarlet Oak Circle
Athens, GA  30606
(706) 769-5924
pmcwhort@sage.coe.uga.edu

Cedar Shoals High School
1300 Cedar Shoals Drive
Athens, GA  30605
(706) 546-5375
FAX:  (706) 227-7810
 On Thu, 2 Apr 1998 Mark_Owen@cartersville.k12.ga.us wrote:

> Fellow Educators-
>
> What do I do when I prepare to teach a work? > Well, unfortunately I read it fairly quickly!  The thing about being a first > year teacher is that you go through so much stuff that you've either never > read, or read long, long ago.  As I read stuff though, I look first and > foremost for ways to get kids interested and connected with the text.  If you > don't get that there's no point in trying to teach it at all when you have > remedial classes like I do.
>
> Next, I try to come up with questions to ask at certain points during the > reading that will maintain interest.  I look for things that might be confusing > or need clarification.  I look for ways to make the literature relevant to the > students' lives for writing assignments and attempted discussions.  I want my > students to ask themselves the questions that go through the minds of avid > readers, so  I try to come up with those questions and ask them myself.  I > focus particularly on trying to get them to predict the action, or resolution. > I also ask a lot of vocabulary - context type stuff because I want them to > figure out how to guess the meaning of words based on the context.
>
> How do I read for myself?
> Well, the last book I read for myself was "To Dance With the White Dog" by > Terry Kay.  I read it during ITBS testing.  It was a quick, fun, short read. > Some books I read over a long period of time, but If I don't get into a book > enough to get hooked lots of times I just never finish and move on. > I like non-fiction and read the newspaper every day.  I also re-read stuff from > college that I enjoy, like James Joyce's "Dubliners." When I get bored at home > I pick it up and just read a few pages of any story.  I just like the way it > feels.  I am thinking about reading another Terry Kay novel.  He spoke at my > school yesterday, and it was really inspiring.  I wonder if anyone is still > reading this.  Well, take care out there, everybody.
>
> Mark
>

Patti, I am still on and just got your e-mail. Saw a book review of his new one in Book Warehouse last Saturday.  It looks great.  Would you believe I can see the book and the darn display but can't comeup with the title. If you read it and it is good let me know. I'd like to read it.

Dorann

Sally-

I like the conversation we have going as well.  Are there any rules for replying to each other?  Will the questions each week give us enough information?  Are you and Christy responsible for printing all of this out?  (I'm deleting as I read...)

Patti McWhorter
1201 Scarlet Oak Circle
Athens, GA  30606
(706) 769-5924
pmcwhort@sage.coe.uga.edu

Cedar Shoals High School
1300 Cedar Shoals Drive
Athens, GA  30605
(706) 546-5375
FAX:  (706) 227-7810

You know, I am not sure. I have not actually talked to Christy but I can print and  have not deleted anything.  As far as the information, I hope so. We may have to become a bit more narrow. There is     a pattern of "we all sorta in an odd way" operate with the same principles as we teach.  Since it is rare that people are on at the same time,  presume we can respond as we are. I have not responded to anyone until tonight but have never beenon with anyone.  Must run. Am off for the night.

See you, Dorann

Will operate under the presumption that both Christy and/or Sally will give direction to your quesions.  In the meantime, let me know about the Kay book.

D.

Date:         Fri, 3 Apr 1998 00:12:04 -0500
Reply-To: Teachers of English <ETEACH-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
Sender: Teachers of English <ETEACH-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From: Stephanie Harrison <sharris@COE.UGA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: second question
To: ETEACH-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU
In-Reply-To:  <Pine.SOL.3.95.980329171952.12089G-100000@virtual.park.uga.edu>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Length: 3401
Status: RO
X-Status:

Okay . . . I'm a little behind, but please don't kick me out.  I can tell I'll like this listserve thing already.  (Don't you just hate students like me who aren't with the group!)  Normally I'm pretty organized and with it, but we've had exams and I'm taking a gifted class at RESA and then I had company, so when I finally checked my email tonight I had 91 messages (that must be some kind of record!)

About the questions . . . I read some of your responses and am pretty much in alignment with you guys -- guilty as charged!

1.  When I'm reading something I'll teach, I do one of two things.  Like most of you, I read with the kids in mind -- where is there a good point to stop and discuss, is this language going to be hard for them to understand, can they relate to the character/situation or at least make a connection with the work, what kind of "larger" issues can I bring into the discussion with this, etc.  Now the other thing I do (which I almost hate to admit b/c it seems like cheating) is I like to read a synopsis of a work before I actually read it for the first time.  That way, since I
know what is going to happen, I read more critically and look for the symbolism, ironies, allusions, etc. . .  and can underline them THEN instead of trying to locate that passage days later in front of the class. Case in point -- I had never read Grapes of Wrath until last summer, but
had seen a play and pretty much knew what the novel was about.  So when reading all the inter-chapters and the Joad's various troubles/encounters, I was already able to make connections, see parallels, and get most of the symbolism.  After I've read, then I like to read all those lovely (hah!) teacher guide books and read their interpretations/criticism to see who I agree with and whether or not I saw what they saw.  By the way, I tend to do this 2nd technique with what we would call "great" literature -- the cannon.  I also don't believe every teacher guide info either and tend to let my students ask the questions to see where they want/need to go with a particular work.  This is mainly for my AP students, so I guess that is why I feel the need to read various p-o-v so that I can guide (scaffold as Sallie said) a student to a higher level of thinking.

2.  How is this reading different from plain 'ole reading?  Well personal reading is for me -- a gift for myself.  From Mark Faust's class, we used the term "mind candy" and I just love that phrase.  When I read for me I read to enjoy, experience emotion, or just learn about the human condition.  And since I don't feel the pressure to finish and be "knowledgable" about the work, I don't need to know a plot summary or stop along the way to ask "student" questions.  This dichotomy of what we "teach and preach" versus what we "practice" really intrigues me and is something I investigated while doing my EdS Project last year.  What kind of image are we presenting to the kids by appearing to get it all in one first reading?  Shouldn't we be teaching the process just as much as we are teaching the content and product??  I'm constantly wrestling with this
whole notion myself to find ways to help the kids see patterns in literature so that they are better able to analyze literature beyond the surface level.
 

Well I gotta go -- it's late and tomorrow is Friday, the day before our Spring Break.  Yeah!!!!      -- Stephanie Harrison

Terry Kay's new novel is called "The Runaway."  It's about two children, one black and one white, during the earliest stages of integration in the South.  I have yet to read it but it is supposed to be excellent.  When he spoke on Tuesday he said it was difficult to write, taking something like 7 drafts.  I am going to read it soon.

mark

Question 1-
        I've enjoyed reading the group's responses to this question because I am just trying to figure out how I read literature differently for different purposes.  There are a few differences I have noticed so far.  For example, I find myself jotting basic plot notes for each chapter I read in a novel I will be teaching.  I do this so that I will have a quick reference sheet when I need to find a passage during discussion.  I also look for natural breaks in the story line so that I know where there are good stopping points for assigned readings.  More than anything else, I try to find aspects of readings that might be difficult for students or passages that are really significant for any number of reasons.  Then I try to create activities that will reinforce their reading or that might provide some further insight.  When I read, I try to envision what will be happening in the classroom that will corrospond with or breathe life into the reading.

Question 2-
        When I read for pleasure, I read just before I go to sleep or when I wake up in the morning and am not quite ready to actually get out of bed!  My reading, therefore, is much more leisurely than the reading I do for teaching.  I still write all over the books I read for pleasure and I still try to decide if I could ever use what I am reading in the classroom, though, so I guess I can't shut off that teacher brain completely!

FUN! FUN! FUN! Don't laugh too hard at the student teacher!  :)   AMY

I think we're learning the "rules" as we go!  Of course we can reply to each other!  I guess it makes sense to do so in public so others can jump in too!  I think this is much more interesting if we DO --as I said, I'm looking for patterns and thinking those might set up some interesting discussions.  For example, I notice a push pull between (a) knowing everything and (b) helping/letting kids discover.  Is that problematic or ok?

(Christy and I ARE printing and saving so the rest of you can delete unless you want to save/print!)

Sally
 

On Thu, 2 Apr 1998 20:00:35 -0500 (EST) Pattie McWhorter
<pmcwhort@coe.uga.edu> wrote:

> Sally-
>
> I like the conversation we have going as well.  Are there any rules for > replying to each other?  Will the questions each week give us enough > information?  Are you and Christy responsible for printing all of this > out?  (I'm deleting as I read...)
>
> Patti McWhorter
> 1201 Scarlet Oak Circle
> Athens, GA  30606
> (706) 769-5924
> pmcwhort@sage.coe.uga.edu
>
> Cedar Shoals High School
> 1300 Cedar Shoals Drive
> Athens, GA  30605
> (706) 546-5375

I am enjoying the  list serve too.  Are you seeing patterns like I am. Have a good week.  You should be a wiz, Christy.  You probably wrote some of the books you are teaching.
Dorann

At 01:10 PM 4/5/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Boy, do I feel dumb this quarter. I'm teaching Elizabethan lit, whioch
>I've never taught, with books that I have not read since the late 1970's!
>I'm enjoying hte listserve!  C--
>
>On Thu, 2 Apr 1998, Dorann Mansberger wrote:
>
>> Christy, after reading your response tonight I felt better about my own.  My
>> feelings are the same as you read.  I wonder what it is in me that makes me
>> "not want to appear like I do not know what I am doing?"
>> Dorann

I am Tiffany Tuck, I'm 23, and I am a student teacher at Madison County High School in Danielsville with our fellow listserver Stephanie Harrison as one of my mentor teachers.  I teach college prep 12th graders with her and 9th grade Project Success with my other MT.  (For those of you who don't know, Project Success is a program designed to help at-risk students stay in school. Several days I am a counselor more than a teacher, but I love it.)  I have always wanted to teach.  As a child, whenever we played school, I was always the teacher.  I would make up tests and grade them, and put stickers on the good papers.  I loved it. When I went to college I had to decide WHAT to teach.  I was good in math and science, but hated them, so they were out.  I could never remember all the dates in history, and wars bored me, so that was out.  What did I
pick?  Theatre of all things!  I went Florida State for a year as a theatre major.  Then a serious car accident forced me to think a little more practically.  I transferred to UGA and started taking my core classes.  only I kept taking lots of English and lit classes.  So the next step seemed pretty obvious.  So here I am student teaching in English and loving every minute of it!  (Well, almost every minute. There are a few hairy ones now and then.)  Okay, that was a really long
introduction.

So my answer to the questions of the week: When I am preparing to teach a work, I read once fairly quickly.  I mark any places I have to stop if I'm confused or places I need to reread to understand or words I think my kids may not know.  Then I think about the general plot ideas, themes, images, stuff like that.  Then of course, I reread the whole thing with these things in mind.  I usually time myself rereading it too, either out loud or silently, depending on how it will be read by my  tudents--just to get an idea of how long it will take them.  This second reading is when I underline or mark places I think are important to stop or point certain things out to students.  I usually have an idea pop out at me for an activity or writing assignment.  Then I try to figure out how I can make the students care--why they should bother reading it.  This is always the hard part for me.

When I read for pleasure, I just read.  I just read for the story.  I usually read right before I go to bed.  I'll read a chapter or two until I drift off.  It's a good way to relax my mind and forget the worries of the day to be able to go to sleep.  I have to admit, I enjoy reading the classics.  N ot all of them, but most.  I love Shakespeare, and I will willingly spend my spare time reading him.  I also love Faulkner and Steinbeck.   Can't stand Hemingway or Melville. (Hope that doesn't offend anybody.)  But I read plenty of other stuff.  I read Anne of Green Gables over Christmas break and Anne of Avonlea in January.  I like reading YA lit because it helps me remember what it's like to be a teenager (even though I'm not that far from it.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm not fat. . . I'm festively plump."  --Cartman
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Besides subject material, I look at the vocabulary- is it too hard or too easy?  I also think about my students--would this topic interest them, is it relevent to their lives, would it broaden their knowledge base of other cultures, etc.  I also look to see how this new work might fit into what the students already know and how it flow in and out of a new unit. In general, when reading a work for possible use in the classroom, I consider the following questions:  Would my students like it, what would be my rationale for teaching this material,  is there any material in the text that would lead to knock down, bloodied fights,  would this work capture my students' imaginations, would this material motivate my students to learn more about a particular subject? We have such a big responsiblity to students, parents and the board.  I always look out for things that will offend or upset my students and their parents. I just try to rememeber that not understands the authors intent.  It is my job to help my students figure out why certain language is used or certain subject matter is being explored.  This can be dangerous.  If I pick out anything that might bring up the slightest bit of controversey, I make sure that I can defend it to students and to parents.

Dear fellow literature teachers,

Here is the next question for out discussion. It seems that most of us read differently for pleasure than we do when preparing to teach a text. I myself am like Dorann. I read mysteries for fun precisely because I don't process them as I do canonical "literature."

Leaving aside for the moment the question of how our methods of "reading" in preparation for teaching might differ (we can tell that more precisely when we see the transcript of our conversation), let's think about how we want students to read. That is, how should they read when are finished working our magic with them!  I'll be interested in learning this!

All the best, Christy

From: Tiffany R Tuck <tifftuck@JUNO.COM>
Subject:      next question
To: ETEACH-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU
Content-Type: text
Content-Length: 1798
Status: RO
X-Status:

How do I want students to read?  Well, I think the answer should be similar to our first question responses for ourselves.  I think students need to be able to read for information (e.g. textbooks, manuals, etc.), but they should read differently for pleasure.  Or maybe I should just say they SHOULD read for pleasure.  I've found my most of my students don't read on their own.  (They say they don't have time, and I have to fight back a laugh!  They don't know what no free time is, right?)  I think we need to show them how to read for information from a textbook and maybe they should learn how to read for  symbols and themes, etc,  but some of mine can't read a textbook because they can't stop along the way and process what they've read so that they remember it.  But maybe that's a skill they can develop if they just read a lot.  I think if my students read for pleasure more, they would enjoy reading.  Then it wouldn't be such a big, ugly task to ask them to read something.  Maybe after learning to enjoy reading, they would come to realize the different ways of reading, and then they would have an easier time reading the things that we tell them to read.   That would be half of our job done!  My main goal for my ninth graders right now is just getting them to read anything they want in the hopes that they will learn to enjoy reading.

Tiffany Tuck
:)

-------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm not fat. . . I'm festively plump."  --Cartman

This is a tough question and I think that is why the responses are trickling in.  I am really not sure how I want students to read.  I suppose I would be happy if they just read for pleasure -- things they didn't have to read.  My life has been enriched so much through reading. I really wish my students could feel the same fulfillment.  I think that Winder-Barrow High School has the right idea.  They have instituted a sustained silent reading session for 30 minutes at least two days a week (or at least it was two days last week).  The students choose the reading material -- books, magazines, newspapers.  My MT Cheryl Sauls instituted a Fiction Friday for her students as well.  I loved it.  I got a chance to read too!  The students seemed to have a stronger appreciation for reading.

So how do we teach kids to read for pleasure.  Let me know if you do, because I have struggled with that so much this year.  My students this year just will not read.  Nothing bothers them -- not the fact that their grades are suffering, that the literature is covered on a test, that it is covered on the graduation test, not anything.  Maybe I have failed as a teacher because I can't inspire them.  On the other hand, I have a few students who love to read.  One loved "Winter Dreams" by F. Scott Fitzgerald so much that he asked me where he could find more stories by him.  He loved The Crucible so much he read The Witch of Blackbird Pond because I recommended it.  But the majority of my student won't even read their assigned work.  I don't know what to do.

Dana Cooke

I meant to say that Winder-Barrow High School's Sustained Silent Reading program was two days a week last YEAR when I was student teaching, but I actually wrote next WEEK in my email.

Dana Cooke

I musat say that I agree. This is a tough question.  I have been carrying it around in my book bag this week thinking on it off and on. This is what I think happens to me as a teacher on a subconsious level. When an assignment to read is made in any of my classes it is because I want the students to understand the gist of what has happened. So, does that mean I am asking them to read for the basic idea, yeah, guess so.  This is so that some type of logical discussion can ensue.  It just works better for me.  Now, when we are reading together, say "Julius Caesar" as my tenth graders do, hearing the language is important to the students (deemed by me in my room, of course) and it is easy to interupt and interpret and explain. The students will stop you and ask questions also.  When class disussion ensues I have found that if a students has not read for basic understanding and meaning then he does not understand the underlying things in the story anyway....how can the theme make sense if you do not understand what has occurred in the  tory to start with?  These are questions I ask of myself.  On a much more conscious level I want them to acquire some type of interest in the literature, the author, or just the story.  Aren't we all waiting for that student to return to our little cave and say, "because of you I realized how much I really like to read, you opened worlds for me...."  In the society we live in it is much harder to make students see the importance of good reading habits.  I do like the silent sustained reading but in block scheduling it is very hard to make time for any in class reading.  (Okay, on occasion I do read aloud to my students but not often, it has become relegated to the homework category!)

So....my response is, what you see above....a question that concerns me deeply and one that I wish I had a good answer for.....
Dorann

Please welcome to our listserve three members of my sophomore literature class:

Victoria Barabas
Christy Harris
Jessica Van Cleave

They have just finished their first test, been added to the listserve, and should be introducing themselves to the group soon.

I also promise to finish editing the previous responses this weekend and get caught up on my posting!  All the best, Christy

This question is very relevant to the work I am doing with my AP students as we are reading All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren.  We have discussed how we often "read for plot" or experience that first visceral reaction (reader-response theory) to a text.   As readers, I want them to be able (in a critical stance) to distinguish between this position (reading for plot) and a critical position, where the plot becomes integral to the meaning - not a separate entity.  Student reaers, when given the opportunity to ask their own questions about a work, frequently ask plot questions - details I always lose in my own personal memory - details which are often not connected in any real way to a deeper meaning.   Reading a work like Warren's is a challenge for these students because the narrative structure is complex, and the significance of everything is
often overwhelming.  I find, however, that I can teach students to read more deeply by simply introducing them to the concept of reader-response theory. We acknowledge that our first reactions and responses as readers are the most immediate and important.  These must be explored first in order to move beyond them.  In an AP class, where students must operate
within a narrower field of interpretation (because of the constraints of the exam), we explore how personal connections can lead readers away from an interpretation that cannot be supported by the text.  Hence, I teach New Criticism.   Now, this is important in an AP English class - senior high school students who are developmentally ready (for the most part) for this level of discussion.  With younger students, I find myself spending more time with the readers' responses - exploring these on a very personal level and moving them more gradually to questions on the upper end of Bloom's Taxonomy - synthesis, application, interpretation... This is not to say that I deny the AP students personal interpretation - in fact, I encourage them to do this - they must, however, be able to support their interpretation from the work itself first.

 I want students to experience literature on a personal level first and always.  I do think that human growth and development allows us as teachers of literature to begin to challenge students to seek deeper meaning in what they read, to think philosophically, to question different life views, to connect with humanity.  I believe all ages of students can do this on some level.

Patti McWhorter
1201 Scarlet Oak Circle
Athens, GA  30606
(706) 769-5924
pmcwhort@sage.coe.uga.edu

Cedar Shoals High School
1300 Cedar Shoals Drive
Athens, GA  30605
(706) 546-5375
FAX:  (706) 227-7810