Leana Jensen
April 9, 2008ENGL 610
Professor Sample

I actually applied some Graff knowledge to my classroom today. Yes, again, I cannot help but think of my own teaching situation when reading these books. In the chapter, “Why Johnny Can’t Argue,” I couldn’t help but think of my own Johnnys and Jonettes. I think teaching kids to argue on paper and in discussions is a difficult feat. I agree that teachers and academics can sometimes make kids feel that are incapable of reaching some higher level thinking that involves a highly scripted literary masterpiece. First off, who defines a masterpiece and secondly, why can’t kids be just as persuasive in the language they are comfortable with.

Because teaching argument can be daunting, I appreciated the argument templates section of the book. Though I am very much against template writing, I think presenting template-like information in more of a model/bulleted points example will be less structured and will invite strong, critical thinking. A template might be good for very reluctant learner, or for those students that crave direction. I think the best method is taking making arguments more simplistic and therefore accessible to the student. Personally, I know a lot of teachers who complain so much about the job, but teach their students through textbook created handouts and an outdated vocabulary book. We complain that kids aren’t learning in school, but I know a lot of teachers who are unwilling to take the steps to fuse good teaching with state mandated requirements. I know I may sound like an idealist, but I think it’s possible. Instead of asking my students to write me a persuasive essay about the hero capabilities of Odysseus, they are writing a letter posing as Odysseus persuading the Cyclops, Polyphemus, not to eat him. I asked them to think about reasons why Polyphemus should eat Odysseus. I mean he’s a jerk, he doesn’t follow the god’s rules, but that’s who he is. Who’s to say all Cyclopes don’t eat people.

After we discussed and I gave them an example, they understood that to understand why Odysseus gets to live, they must think of possible reasons he shouldn’t. I was inspired to rethink my assignment and show them how to create a balanced, yet strong argument after reading Graff’s suggestions. I have a really small class, so I could write a sample paragraph because I wasn’t under 120 essays. I think it makes sense to make the directions simple and easy to understand. Teachers I work with won’t write their own samples and models, but that’s what needs to be done to teach good reading and writing. They need to write persuasively, but they need to learn how to read critically and extract those strong statements and images. I honestly think that’s how they will learn to do it themselves. I have no doubt that a 9^th grader that can learn that a convincing argument sounds legit when you actually acknowledge the counterclaims, can go to college to write against or in support of the literary critics they will have to research.

I understand JJ’s concerns about Graff’s ideal educational world, and I do think it will be hard to really implement this kind of learning into the conformity known as forced school curriculums. I think teachers who are in it for the right reasons, can work with smaller class sizes and really get to teach to the students abilities, not state standards would be a great world. Perhaps Graff does need to go back to a contemporary 10^th grade English class and rework how he’d implement these great ideas.

            Gerald Graff seems to bring up an issue that quite frankly, I never thought too much about until I read the book. At times I agree that colleges and high school classes makes education seem like it’s only attainable for those who can kiss ass or memorize the  teachers expectations. The most interesting comment I read was that, “students who flourish under the do-it-yourself curriculum are of the minority that arrives at college already socialized into the club of academia by home, church, or other prior experience (67). Graff goes on to say that those who do not have the ability to adapt and learn on their own are subjected to writing to the test, teacher or syllabus. I wholeheartedly agree that we as teachers do not always teach kids to learn. But rather, we teach them to be able to identify the correct way to analyze Shakespeare or identify Marxist theory in an essay or story.

            As a huge lover and teacher of writing in my classroom, I enjoyed the chapter, “Unlearning to Write” because I think at times we as teachers do not teach students how to write, but rather, teach them how to follow a formula. To me, writing is amazing because it should be a vehicle for people to communicate and express themselves. In my classroom, I have to teach a research paper and do a character analysis, but that’s where I draw the line with forced assignments. Right now I decided randomly that instead of doing a standard persuasive essay asking my students to argue a point in the text, I would do a more creative activity. For The Odyssey I asked my students to pretend that Odysseus and his crew just met Polyphemus, the Cyclops, and he needed to persuade Polyphemus not to eat them. They took on the persona of Odysseus and succeeded in using his voice from prior books to create really persuasive letters. Again, I avoided the whole essay thing-I simply asked them to write a letter that they would turn into a speech. I was really impressed with what they came up with. Some negotiated the crew’s lives for Odysseus and others simply pleaded to get home to their wife and son. This assignment was probably the best persuasive writing I have gotten from my students since I’ve been teaching. In the past I’ve done the letter to the parents as well, which also served as a great tool. Students get involved when trying to convince their parents to let them get a tattoo or a nose piercing. I try to make all my assignments, especially writing relevant to their lives. I like to think my class they know why we do what we do. Sometimes it’s because we have to because of POS and SOL standards, and sometimes we have to because it’s a skill all people should have.

            I feel that students need assignments that allow them to actually think for themselves. The only advice I gave them was that they needed to convince me (Polyphemus) to release them by any means they choose. To take it a step further, the kids read their letters turned speeches and voted on the most convincing. In my 6^th period class, the sweetest, most quiet boy won. He doesn’t get all A’s in my class by curriculum imposed standards, but he does an amazing job when I don’t prescribe a formula.

            I think that students have learned to study to the test or teacher and they do lack the intrinsic knowledge and self-exploration that is evident in good learners. I’m not saying that those who can kiss ass and get A’s by following strict standards are less smart than those who can adapt and explore topics that are not scripted for them, but I am saying that they are less prepared for the real world. The real world wants you to think for yourself, at least most of the time. Reading this book reminded me of a friend of mine in high school. He was valedictorian and went to Duke. I do believe he scored a 1580 on his SAT’s-big stuff, I know. Well, to me he was dumb as rocks. I mean he couldn’t formulate and original idea to save his life. He quoted scholars and knew tons of facts about the earth’s crust and the branches of government, but I can’t ever remember him having an original thought. I suppose I’d be really smart too if I could memorize books and facts and regurgitate them to impress my teachers and their individual preferences.

            Schools should make students feel empowered and ready to face the world and all its elements, not make students feel less of themselves because they have never heard of Marlow or Wordsworth. Too many students go to college or their jobs unprepared and unfortunately there are few times when someone is willing to step in and help. Assumed knowledge and educational hierarchies can be dangerous if no one is helping those kids who fall through the cracks and haven’t learned how to handle new education environments and situations.

I have always been a huge fan of Peter Elbow. Since I started teaching, his name has come up in nearly every seminar or workshop I’ve ever attended. As I was reading his section in When Writing Teachers Teach Literature, I couldn’t help but wonder how he shot to such popularity among English teachers. Then it came to me. Peter Elbow is so popular among teachers because he truly thinks outside of the traditional teaching scope and does a lot to ensure that his students aren’t only reading texts, but understanding it. While reading, “Breathing Life into the Text,” I found myself, yet again, loving Peter Elbow. He basically suggests four methods we should use to help students engage in text as they do in writing. I particularly liked two of his points: having students write before reading, and having student’s text-render.

As usual when I read and respond I almost always discuss either what I’m doing with my class, or how I can improve what I’m doing with my class. I was really pleased to know that I seem to be doing ok. Elbow wrote, “Before I ask students to read the text, I like to ask them to write on the theme or issue that is central to the text” (194). Just before my class started reading The Odyssey, that’s exactly what I asked them to do. The beauty of literature is that most often the central theme is so simple that it can be applied to anyone. Personally, I think if the theme isn’t relatable then perhaps we wouldn’t have so many avid readers. I digress. Before we started reading, I asked my students about their struggle to get to the United States-and even if it wasn’t a struggle, I wanted them to discuss how they got here and people they met along the way who either helped or hindered them. They gave such amazing stories of a real life struggle to get here; I guess a real struggle to get to their new home. Most of my regular (native English speakers) students have attempted this in the past, but my ESOL students by far wrote the most descriptive pieces I have ever read. Naturally they shared out loud and I think that brought them closer together as a class. Whether from Nigeria, South Korea or Ecuador, each student knew and experienced a struggle to get to the United States. After this activity, they were a lot more empathetic toward Odysseus. In the past, my students saw him as arrogant and wily, which he is, but they neglected to see him as a human who did inevitably want to get home for a better life with his wife and son. Now as we continue to read, my students are much more involved in his journey and are paying closer attention to what he takes or loses from each encounter on his way home.

Elbow’s concept to get them writing before reading really did help my students understand and empathize with Odysseus and his journey home. I just started The Odyssey about two weeks ago and I’m pleased to read that allowing my students to experience the text will also enhance their meaning. I feel that I already have them look at the words and phrases and discuss preconceived notions and embedded reactions, but I don’t think I allow them to act or render the scenes enough. We do pop corn readings to discuss language, but I didn’t start change the tone of our reading or changing character roles until this year. After our 610 class reading and reading Elbow’s suggestions, I started doing character voices when reading in my classes. They totally love it. I almost feel like I’m reading a story to my friend’s three-year-old, but it keeps my students engaged. When we split the parts and read in voices, I notice that they add a silly or serious tone to their parts. I do think this allows them to be closer to the reading. I took Elbow’s suggestion and I asked them to act out nonverbally the scene where Hermes is sent to tell Calypso she must let Odysseus go. It was totally hilarious. There was a lot of finger waving and sass from Hermes that they would have otherwise not implied if we just did a reading. The Calypso passage was also a perfect opportunity for them to do an imaginative writing after the reading. Because the description of Calypso’s paradise is so exact and full of imagery, I asked my students to write of their ideal hideaway. Again I was impressed by their demonstration of strong images and active adverbs and adjectives. They were clearly paying close attention to Homer’s style and trying to imitate it.

I find that it is much easier for my classes to appreciate reading when they approach it as a process, but not something that is already completed. It is important for them to understand that just as a writer has drafts, a reader does to. Every time a person re-reads a passage, they are essentially adding or taking out previous readings. I really enjoyed reading this book because I think there are a lot of good ideas that can be used in the classroom. I notice that some of my colleagues are stale and love the Xerox room so it’s refreshing to be reminded how good teaching doesn’t require a ten minute wait in line in a stuffy copy room.

Sorry this is a week later than everyone else’s reflective posts because I was out sick. When I reflected on my posts I noticed that I did respond more to how the texts and readings might affect my classroom. I suppose I cannot help but imagine my classes and how they may or may not respond to new pedagogy and activities. In fact, a lot of my posts mention how I have tried or look forward to trying new methods learned from our readings.

In our class discussion some people mentioned that the posts were narcissistic, but I think mine have to be. Isn’t the point to react to the readings and text? At times I felt I was a bit redundant, but I think it’s because when I’m writing, I’m also trying to talk ideas out on paper and sometimes that involved repetition of the same ideas and thoughts. I tended to focus on a chapter or an idea, rather than the whole work. When I read, sentences or phrases stand out to me and that was evident in my posts.

Though I discussed a lot about how I would use these ideas in my classroom, I noticed I discussed a lot about my department and school that often forces curriculum and texts down our throats. It has always been amazing to me that people who are not in the classroom and are not updated to new ways of learning are the ones dictating what happens in our schools. Again, I digress, but my posts were mostly about my classes and how I relate and teach them.

The second chapter really spoke to me because I do think that the English curriculum that is forced in most schools really serves as an injustice to individual student learning. Scholes has brought about a new way for teachers to teach literature in the classroom. I do believe that textual power is important. Having kids create the ownership and understanding of the works we teach is invaluable. When I watch my students I realize that reading is in fact a skill and when they do not understand the fundamental narrative coding it is difficult for them to understand.

When we were reading In the Time of the Butterflies, I was surprised that they really had a hard time adjusting to the narrative change. One chapter would be written in a narrative they were used to and the next would be set up in a diary-style. It took dissecting the reasons for the diary entries for them to become more comfortable with the novel’s style. As a teacher, it is a challenge for me to help them read and understand the overall concept of the text. It seems with the novels I choose to teach, there are always political and social undertones that make the reading much richer when they are understood. The term textual power is so powerful because to me understanding the connections and links to other works, art, history and politics does make the reading that much more interesting and meaningful.

When Scholes looks at Hemingway’s work, In Our Time, I was really impressed and overwhelmed by the detail in which he looked at the text. As a teacher I don’t think I ever asked such detailed questions about the writer’s style. This might sound odd, but asking those questions was what I loved so much about my college professors. I guess I never felt that way with any of my high school teachers. I think secretly I felt that my high school students wouldn’t be able to interpret to the extent Scholes discusses. I am more encouraged after reading this book, but I also got a little hung-up on the cultural codes that my ESOL students struggle with. At times they cannot “orient” themselves because they are thrown off by the new language and culture. When Scholes suggests looking at words and asking kids to construct a scene and slowly add or imagine text without words really seems like it might work. I suppose it does if he wrote a book about it. In my class we are about to embark on The Odyssey. I feel I can use these methods because Homer does use specific language and often more than once. Asking students to pay special attention to the words and phrases will hopefully enable them to understand the text better. Having students write from the point of view of Odysseus or one of the men on his ship may also help them relate to the text.

When Scholes suggest the group study approach to reading and interpretation it makes me feel good because I run my ESOL classes seminar style. Luckily I only have less than ten students in each class so I can ask deeper questions and we can discuss the hang ups and issues that individuals have with the text. I feel a lot more confident about teaching my students because I do think we need to find new ways to be great teachers because the traditional curriculum and style is dry and I always a proponent for fresh changes in the classroom.

I have been reading Peter Elbow’s work and commentaries since undergrad. I have always appreciated his candid and direct opinions. When reading “The War between Reading and Writing: And How to End it,” I really appreciated when he said, “most schools and colleges emphasize reading and neglect writing” (10). Ever since I started teaching I have always forcefully suggested to my English team that we lighten up on the novels and start really spending some time focused on writing. In the three schools I’ve taught in it’s been the same song and dance. Read a novel, write something. Something can mean a brochure, a paragraph or and forced five paragraph essay. What I find most disturbing about this continuous cycle is the fact that essays or paragraphs went through one quick draft and then we moved on to the next novel. No more growth-one, two drafts if we have time and then it’s on to the next novel. In college I always had amazing writing teachers who incorporated reading and writing nearly everyday-very different from the “write the essay or something at the end of the novel unit.” I wanted to do that same approach with my students, but with PLC (professional learning community) enforced at our school, all the 9^th grade teachers taught in step. That meant that even if my kid’s essays needed more than one draft, Dana and Evan’s classes were ready to go, so we moved on.

This year is the first year I finally put my foot down. As a writer, I am never content with one draft before I produce a final product. It just seems wrong. As my 9^th grade team mapped out the school year in September I took it upon myself to take out two novels. I simply told our team leader I just wasn’t going to teach them. To me, three or four novels, a handful of short stories, some nonfiction essays, and poetry were enough. Five or six novels were just too much. To be honest, I am only teaching two novels and one play this year. But the good news is that my students just spent nearly four weeks revising and editing one essay. Each kid went through at least four drafts and they learned the value of revising. When I had to teach six novels in addition to the other literature, I felt like I rushed through writing and to me, writing is an essential skill that students must have in order to be successful and functional adults. Elbow wrote, “we need to respect writing with similar flexibility-by also having low stakes, supplementary, and experimental writing instead of being so rigid and one dimensional about it” (19). My students weren’t graded on each draft, in fact, we conferenced so much that they were excited about writing more. Once we discussed a new possible angle, or idea, they felt more comfortable ditching their initial topic and moving on. I also gave them an open assignment that related to the novel we were reading. I was so impressed with what my students wrote and how much their thinking had evolved in one month. To this day I haven’t graded the final. In fact, the most valuable lesson I think they learned was when I asked them to attach all their drafts to the final. They were amazed at how much writing they had done. I also don’t feel the need to grade the final because we conferenced on each draft and by the end of the four weeks, I knew each word was well written, all the textual evidence was relevant and the ideas were original and well thought-out.

I am so glad that I let go of a novel for a month. It felt so good to let them know how much I valued writing in the classroom. It took about a week for them to stop saying, “all we’re doing is writing today,” but soon they were like busy little bees finding out ways to expand and explore topics they chose. In the past I was exhausted with reading. It seemed as soon as we finished one novel, we were rushing to start the next so we could meet the “novel quota” for the year. Bringing writing to the same level of importance as reading felt wonderful and I don’t think I can ever go back to an existence where I am cramming novels down their throats and assigning really thoughtless and short writing assignments that are abandoned as soon as the novel is through.

Right now my kids are writing slam poems and they spend and have spent at least an hour of class for the past two weeks just conferencing with me and writing their short poems. I thought it would be boring. I thought the kids would write crappy poems and waste the rest of the hour, but they didn’t. They really impressed me with their willingness to read out loud to the group and request suggestions and constructive criticism. They practice reading the poems out loud and listen to which words or phrases they need to emphasize and it amazes me! If a line doesn’t sound right, they revise and add. I credit their willingness to chuck portions of their writing because that’s what I encouraged them to do with our previous essay. For the first time in my teaching career I feel like a writing teacher-one who also teaches her love of reading.

After reading Sheridan’s Blau’s The Literature Workshop, the very first chapter intrigued me when he stated, “confusion often represents an advanced state of understanding” (21). Soon after, I understood the genius of this principle. To me, confusion forces a person to look closer at the literature. Confusion allows a connection to the literature. In my teaching career I have taught from the highest IB levels to team taught classes and ESOL classes. Reflecting on my experiences, confusion was and hopefully will continue to be a huge part of my literature discussions and lessons.

To me, confusion essentially forces a closer reading of the text. Blau mentioned that he asks his students to read the poem three times and check and see what they notice first and note that. I feel like I do the same thing, especially in my ESOL class this year. We are currently working on poetry and I read it, then I ask them to read it twice and annotate words, phrases or identify questions they may have. Almost always they are confused by a word, phrase or highly confusing footnote. I always start by asking them what they think of the metaphor or what they see is the overall theme of the poem. Even easier, I ask them to summarize what the poem is about. This activity always brings about a lot of questions. These questions always lead to a great discussion. At this point, I offer up more information about the author. I don’t mind if they think it’s stupid, but I ask them to tell me why. I am always surprised at how well they express their feelings, even if they are negative. I love when kids are passionate about their feelings and use legitimate reasoning to express their interpretation of the text. I think this freedom is especially helpful in a high school classroom because students have a lot more personal experiences than I feel some teachers give them credit for. I’ve had students who have had a lot more life experience than me and can give me really interesting perspectives on more emotional or ambiguous poetry.

In my classes I also notice that they are fishing for me to tell them the “correct” interpretation and I’m so glad that Blau believes that each reader will derive his/her own meaning. Based on our discussion in class last week, I do believe people will relate to literature personally. I also found it interesting when Blau wrote that confidence is a major factor in how students communicate and relate to literature. I’ve sat in on classes before where the teacher just shuts down a kid completely. I’m sure I did that too when I was young. As a young teacher I was nervous and didn’t want to be questioned or asked questions outside of the teacher’s manual. After a terrible embarrassment involving Animal Farm when I was 22, I learned that I need to allow myself to be fallible. When I can show my students that I don’t necessarily have an exact answer, they will feel comfortable being confused and unsure. Hopefully they will think deeper and really explore how they learn. I no longer act like I am the end all and be all of answers in my classroom. I’m a firm believer in “you learn something new everyday” and I think that’s really relevant in my English classes because I love it when I students comment on a poem, story or novel in a way I never thought of. I think my job as a teacher is to teach them, not tell them. This book really embodied that sentiment.

 As and avid reader and writer I seek out more information if I do not fully comprehend what I’m reading. I often wish my students would do that as well. I like that these researchers aren’t saying that these methods will create expert readers, but rather each kid will improve. How much they improve to me is irrelevant because there’s growth. I think creating a visual such as the map on the Active and Critical Reading page will allow students to see how they interpret reading and they will grow from that understanding. Often times when readers understand how they read and what’s necessary for the ultimate comprehension, it is easier to target those specific goals. I was particularly interested in the self-awareness part of the map because I never thought to make them aware of their own personal style of reading by specifically asking them to look or at least explore how they read.

The annotation techniques mentioned made me actually feel like I was doing something right by my ESOL classes. As we discussed in class, annotating texts does truly enhance the reader’s comprehension or lack thereof. Annotating a section you don’t understand and attempting to problem solve why it’s confusing is very useful. I always copy entire chapters, poems and plays to allow my students to highlight, question and really read the texts. Though we are not supposed to write in books, I often tell my students to lightly pencil or keep a piece of paper tucked in the text with page numbers and questions if I am not able to make photocopies. I wish I used this method my first couple of years teaching because they actually use annotations to ask questions in class. I now avoid those terrible, generic textbook comprehension questions and turn their questions into meaningful discussions. With my ESOL population or even any population one question is probably the same question for at least another kid in class.

Another example I enjoyed was Arthur Lau’s students that wrote autobiographies to help them better their understanding of reading autobiographies really impressed me. I do think mirroring styles can help students understand important features that differentiate books, poems and stories. Of course I’m not saying there’s one way for any of these, but having an understanding of one or two ways and then having the skill to expand on that knowledge is a powerful tool for any reader or writer. Reading and writing go hand in hand in this respect. Much like Lau, Patricia O’Connor makes her students create web pages that explore the author’s depictions of Appalachian culture and history so that they better understand why the author wrote so accurately about the location. Making these personal connections by having students create their own writing or research author’s methods will allow students to have a better understanding. Literature is multi-faceted as is learning so it makes sense to find a variety of ways for students to connect with the texts they read and understand it as well.

I really enjoyed Sherry Linkon’s Inquiry Project because my colleagues and I often discuss students who just want to know what to do, how to do it, where to look, how many sources and the end result is stale. She said that her students “wanted to know exactly what steps to take in order to find the right answer of the right amount of material,” and that reminded me of our constant struggle to get meaningful research from students. Because research is one of our SOL strands, we often do it because we have to. However, to use research as a matter of literary exploration is a very interesting and exciting concept for me. Linkon said that without requiring it, students were exploring other pieces of literature and research that enhanced the original text they chose.  They not only explored what they didn’t understand, they used that information to enhance their comprehension. I would use this on a smaller scale in my classes. I’m not sure how, but there are great ideas and points she outlined that I know I could use to meet the needs of my students.

I really enjoyed reading Salvatori and Donahue’s book about Difficulty, because I work with an ESOL population that often struggles with literature in my classroom. Ever since I can remember, I was never allowed to question the text as a learner. My teachers in high school would simply pull vocabulary, define the literary aspects and tell me the themes to look for. If I did not understand, they would simply tell me to look at the notes. I agree with Lauren that Francois’s comment that the text is not necessarily the authoritative final voice, because it’s not. Too many times students want me to tell them the meaning, especially if a text is difficult for them to understand. My students lack the cultural and academic language that is inherent in most American literature. I really feel like I have new ways to encourage them to question the text and realize that difficulty in literature doesn’t mean that the literature is incomprehensible.

I’ve been teaching for six years and I realized that when students don’t understand a word or even a section, they just don’t read it. In the past, especially in my ESOL classes, I encourage them to ignore words they don’t know and move on. We just finished reading In the Time of the Butterflies. At the beginning of our unit too many students would get hung up on a word or innuendo they didn’t understand and completely ignore the basic message from each speaker. After much frustration, I finally decided we need to have a discussion page by page for the first chapter. We summed up the overall message or point in the plot after each page. This was a bit tedious, but at the same time it showed them they didn’t need to understand each word to understand the plot. We did have times when we had to go back because some phrases or references were essential for the understanding of where the book was headed, but that was ok. I let them know that the book would be difficult for them. When reading, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School, I really liked when the author acknowledged that, “expert teachers know the structure of their disciplines, and this knowledge provides them with cognitive roadmaps that guide the assignments they give students, the assessments they use to gauge students’ progress, and the questions they ask in the give and take of the classroom life (143). I feel that asking them to note the difficulties and determine how to handle them allows the students to learn better. I’m not saying I’m am expert teacher but when I read this I did think about why I do what I do in the classroom and I suppose I never thought about how much the mind works as an adult to assess a situation and attempt a solution. In my case, I base my lessons on my students. They change every year. I keep the content the same, but I also omit lessons that I know will not benefit my students. I think from now on all my students can benefit from realizing they don’t need to comprehend everything in a work to have a good understanding of the work.

After this activity they felt comfortable reading knowing they could understand the text. To understand any literature word for word would require an entire semester or year of intense study. Even then most of the archaic literature we are asked to teach cannot be verified because most authors aren’t alive to clarify meaning. My students feel comfortable knowing that they do not need to know each phrase to come up with their own understanding of the text. Also, they know that if they explain to me their understanding, I accept their opinions. The bottom line is that they know it’s hard and they do their best to understand it. I think it’s my job as a teacher to facilitate their questions and difficulty with text and I like the idea that they should embrace difficulty and I think they do now.

I would be curious to know who her audience was as well. Lauren clarified a bit, but I couldn’t find Salvatori’s essay, “Difficulty: The Great Educational Divide,” so I’m not sure if the book is directed toward beginning readers, second language learners or people who like to read, but I do think it’s nice that someone is saying that texts are difficult. Too many people ridicule themselves if they cannot understand a word or some ambiguous metaphor so I really liked that this book allows people to be human. This book and the sections of How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School really made me rethink how I teach. After a bit teachers get stale so it’s always good to learn new methods and create new meaning for learners.