Ch. 5

I have always been an avid reader, and when I was in elementary school I was reading books that were way above my grade level. But reading this chapter made me realize that while I enjoyed reading books and I had a good comprehension of them, I never learned to formulate questions from them. I took what was said in books at face value and never stopped to question why a certain character did this or what the significance of a certain event was-- it was just part of the book. And I've realized that I've let this attitude permeate my thinkings of everything else in life such as religion and relationships. All through school I hated when we had to fill out worksheets about questions we had from the text-- I could never think of a single one. I think this is going to be a challenge to me as a teacher, because one of the biggest duties of an English teacher is formulating questions and causing students to think about what they are reading. 

This concept of allowing class and small group discussion requires, like all things, some balance. I am in a class right now (college level, mind you) in which every class period we arrive having read 2 chapters of a boring text and having at least one "well thought out" question about the text. Then we get into small groups and discuss the questions and chapters. Then the class as a whole discusses the most interesting question from each group. This happens every Tuesday and Thursday. I am sick of it. Many students like me have not been taught how to formulate constructive questions or how to ask things of the text. Regardless of that, doing the same activity day after day without fail is monotonous and a poor way to learn. The professors even have the gall to be frustrated with us when we don't participate enough. Sorry for the rant-- the point is that every lesson needs to be well thought out and activities need to balanced in order to maintain the interest of the students. Discussion is interesting and vital to overall development as a learner, but there comes a time when discussion is nothing more than a boring recitation of the day's reading.