Chapter 4 discusses underteaching a book -- in other words, handing a book to a child, telling him to read it, and giving absolutely no guidance as to what is important about the book, etc. Gallagher focuses on the "sweet spot" of teaching, not over teaching and not underteaching.
His pre-reading strategies (historical context, vocabulary, overarching themes) are sound practices that many of us instinctively use. Certainly all of my students want to know why in the world they have to read a specific book.
Finding that sweet spot, though, is difficult because not every student has the same needs, even students leveled into the same class. There are always students who need more guidance, more instruction than others in the classroom.
The idea of re-reading small chunks of text in class together is a strategy that has value. This strategy makes the text more manageable and creates an opportunity for the teacher to model reading for a specific purpose.
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