Customer Reviews

Deeper Reading

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This supposedly was the much-hyped book of the 2004 NCTE conference and I can understand why: if you're looking for something more usable in your classroom than Tovani or Probst or Wilhelm, Gallagher will give you a lot of ideas. He also, as seems to be the case with all high school English teachers who write these types of books, gets drunk on the personal anecdote; they could have scaled this book down by about 50 pages--easily--and been no worse off (do we really need another "reading is like driving a car" analogy?). Still, the author has some inspiring stuff, and he's not just offering the usual "use a kwl chart before reading" crap; his ideas are directed, relevant, valuable to comprehension--they're what English teachers in 2005 should be doing. I would particularly recommend this book to educators of 9th and 10th graders: Gallagher teaches freshman, and since his activities stem from that teaching, the lower grades are most inclined towards his ideas.

While other authors such as Harvey & Goudvis, Keene & Zimmerman, and Tovani offer stronger strategy instruction, this book provides many practical, classroom activities to support strategic reading. Gallagher brings the perspective of a practicing teacher to the text, which makes his insights and activities realistic and useful. I recommend this text to teachers who are looking for support with content area reading in their classrooms.

I teach 8th grade Reading and 6th grade Language Arts. This book is amazing! It has great lesson ideas and really opened my eyes to perspectives I had not thought of before. I cannot wait to use these ideas in my classroom--I am a better reading teacher for having read this book! Ger his other book too of Motivational Mini-Lessons. It is great for reluctant readers to realize the importance of literacy! I cannot wait to see more from him!

I'm a 5th grade teacher who loves to teach reading and writing to my students. Over 12 years ago, I attended the Literature Project and the Writing Project in San Diego and learned many strategies for teaching my students to engage in reading and use writing in powerful ways. This book, written by Kelly Gallagher, a teacher leader in both those projects, moves everything I learned one step further. It emphasizes critical thinking when students read anything: from the symbolism and metaphors used in classical literature, to the bias used in journalism, and even to the propaganda techniques used in advertisements. It also emphasizes collaboration and truly thoughtful reflection, like asking oneself "What is left unsaid?" I believe we need more critical thinkers in our world and, if you open the pages of this book, you will find numerous practical ways to turn your students into people who think for themselves.

I read this book last summer and then implemented the strategies when school started. The real challenge came when I started my sophomore classes on the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles. We started reading it right after Thanksgiving and finished the book and literary analysis papers by the end of school in May. At first, my students thought the book was written in a foreign language because it sounded so strange to them. They hated the book and wanted nothing to do with it. By using all the techniques in Deeper Reading, the students came to really enjoy the book. When we finished reading the book in April, each student wrote a literary analysis on the book. I can honestly say that my students did not find it very difficult to write these papers because we had read, re-read, and thoroughly discussed the book for months. When they discussed the book with me or their peers, they sounded more like college students than economically disadvantaged 10th grade students with immigrant backgrounds. The part that was the hardest for me was slowing down to allow students time for mastery of the book, but just as the students adjusted to the book, I adjusted to the idea that we would only read one novel at a very deep level during the school year. By the last 5 chapters, the students could read the book independently, but we always had our class discussions before and after reading. By the last third of the novel, their understanding of the book was incredible. Many students confided that they had never really read a class novel before. All of the students were very proud of their achievement. This is an excellent book for any secondary teacher that wants to teach books beyond what the students could read by themselves.

Deeper Reading is one of my favorite language arts resources. As an 8th grade teacher, I am constantly looking for ways to improve reading and reading comprehension in my students. Whether you are dealing with low ability, reluctant, or gifted students, the lessons Kelly Gallagher presents lead students to "deeper reading" in fiction and nonfiction text. (My classes are especially fond of his lesson on creating metaphors when analyzing characters during reading.) Our middle school bought copies of this book for the staff and created after school book discussion groups to encourage implementation of the strategies in this valuable resource.

This resource is fabulous. I am using this resource to rewrite the anthology portion of a core reading program. The district is utilizing this framework of multiple read/work to deepen student understanding. Our goal is to use this resource to guide us in adding the critical thinking components necessary to develop critical readers.

I was so surprised at the number of ideas in this book that could be adapted to the lower grades! Gallagher is such a gifted writer--this would be an enlightening read for anyone involved in teaching and motivating young readers. I loved the idea of second-draft reading! Students have the idea that once is enough and this is far from beneficial if we want readers to extract deeper meaning. He includes student samples along with many lesson ideas. There are even some activities for the reader to do to get an actual feel what you will be asking your students will do. He shows the difference between assigning and teaching. Well done!

Kelly Gallagher rocks! His practical and easy to prepare ideas are priceless. I've also read his book Readicide and would give this book A+ as well.

I strongly recommend this book for English/LA teachers both new and experienced. It offers a fresh perspective on teaching and approaching reading. I provide copies to this book to all of my student teachers.