Chapter four is about finding the perfect teaching techniques for your particular students. This is necessary to do for each class, and even single students within each class. The author, Kelly Gallagher, is against chopping up books to study as a group, taking away the reading flow and author-reader connection. I agree with him. I want my students to do what I call "real reading."
When we have a class novel, I have students read chapter 1, and when each student is finished (this will happen at various times), I give them a sheet with questions on it from the chapter. They look over the questions, and if they can answer each question then they can move on to reading chapter 2. If they cannot answer some or all of the questions, I sit down individually with that student and go over the questions, with the novel open, and show him or her where the answers can be found. Usually I just have to do 2 or 3 of them, and then they get the picture and can do the rest on their own. After about 5 chapters (depending on the book) we have a class discussion, with four or five questions on the smartboard guiding the discussion. This has worked well for many of my classes, from 9th grade through 12th grade. It does't chop up the book too much.
Another thing I do to help students have the experience of "real reading" is have students read a novel on their own every month. These can be chosen from the current list of 20 wining YA novels, or last year's 20 YA winners. (I have found if I let them choose any book, they choose ones they have already read, or something too young for them.) I give a book talk on each set of 20 novels. They have the month to read the novel on their own time, and do a report at the end of it. This report is as follows: 100 words plot, 200 words + 1 quote for theme, another 200 words + 1 quote for another theme, 100 words life and thought (if this were the only book left in 500 years, and people read it, what would they think our society was like?), and 100 words how it connected to me. If they have any questions during the month about the book I can help them because I have read all of them. (I'm on the state YA reading selection committee).
At the beginning of the second month, I meet with each student individually and find a book for them which is a classic book but that has a connection of some sort to the YA book they just read. For instance, the YA book Confessions of a Triple-Shot Betty is very similar in theme and events to the classic book Jamaica Inn (by Daphne DuMaurier). In fact, I bet the author of the YA book read the classic book in their youth! I have a list of classic books that go along with each YA book that I have developed. I can vary it according to reading level and gender because there are 5 or 6 classic novels that match each YA novel.
The third month they choose another YA novel, and the 4th month I help them choose a classic book that can be used as a companion novel. This system also works well with all my classes, from 9th through 12th. Many students tell me it is the first book --then books-- that they have read all through by themselves. It's a good way to ease them into classic literature, too.
By the second or third month, the students are talking with each other about "their" novels, and sharing favorite parts, and in short becoming a literary community (though they don't recognize that's what it is.)
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