Say you're an eleventh grade teacher..?

Question

And you have the crazy task of teaching a highly difficult text, (with lots of name dropping and college-level references) such as Howard Zinn's People's History. How do you do it? Telling them to go home and read it and then come back and discuss it is not an option: they get about a 16 on the ACT if they're lucky.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Ask yourself what you want them to get out of it. You can't expect beginners (and 11th graders really are beginners) to get EVERYTHING out of a text, so pick a theme or series of ideas to narrow your teaching focus.

You might start each chapter by asking them what they've learned in other classes about the subject; they can all take down a "crib sheet" of common knowledge that Zinn will question and overturn in their reading that night. You'll all be on the same page about what the references are and what they mean.

If you're not confident that they could do this on their own or if you don't have time during class, take the time to make the students your own crib sheet. Explain the common knowledge that the author expects them to know (but that they won't know). Be sure to explain to them that they're not dumb for not knowing this! With the crib sheet, they can read the text and understand it the first time through; you can then devote class time to helping them understand why the name-dropping is there or how he's recasting history rather than acting as a walking, talking dictionary of references.

Above all, though, remember not to bog them down--otherwise they'll hate the text!

Good luck!

Answer 2

Instead of sending them home to read it, send them home with some guidelines. Give them some hints of what to look for as they are reading. Ask about the tone of the text, give them several lines to interpret, ask them to take certain lines and rephrase them--yet have them mean the same thing.

Give vocabulary words and ask them to define the word by how it is used in the reading assignment.

Have them outline the reading assignment. They could also write questions (to share with the class) over the reading assignment.

Answer 3

I think it's inappropriate for a teacher to voice his/her own views. My sister is a civics teacher, and teaches facts, not her own opinions. It cannot be denied that the NEA shows bias in pushing members toward the Democratic party, but that should be kept out of the classroom.

Answer 4

relate it to them, read a paragraph, relate it, background knowlegde allows one to understand anothers perspective, for homework, have them read smaller doese then you do in class and try to make a connection.