Choice Reading Response 4- The Saga of Larten Crepsley

The Saga of Larten Crepsley: Birth of a Killer is, what I assume to be, the first book in Darren Shan's prequel series to his Cirque du Freak series. Before he was ever a vampire, Larten Crepsley (Darren's vampire master in Cirque du Freak) was just another child factory worker in the 1800's in just another dirt-poor family with too many mouths to feed. But after the factory supervisor flies off the handle and kills Larten's cousin, Larten retaliates in kind, flees for his life, and meets Seba--a vampire General. From there, Larten's life spirals onto a new path as a fellow child of the night.

Darren Shan is one of my favorite authors because of his ability to suck me into the reading flow. To memory, he's only written one book which seemed to drag on for me; otherwise, all of his books have been very quick reads with rare interruptions. At first I intended on reading a couple of chapters, but soon hours few by, and I was half-way through the novel. My reading strategy for Shan's books tends to be visualization, and in this case, I also made several textual connections between this prequel and his earlier Cirque du Freak series. I had a couple of practical questions at the start of the book that I thought I could search and answer or answer right there, so I tried rereading certain spots, but the answers didn't seem to be concrete. Then again, this copy I'm reading is an ARC, so maybe that's why. Then again again, maybe not; Shan tends to have vague descriptions for certain plot-irrelevant elements.



Shan, D. (2010). The saga of Larten Crepsley: Birth of a killer. New York, NY: Little, Brown Company.

Reading Response 8- Gallagher, Chapter 4

Gallagher's article is all about finding the middle ground between overteaching and underteaching the material/curriculum in the classroom. For English teachers, this problem arises when we constantly analyze everything in the given text, causing students to halt their "reading flow" to assess their own reading strategies and the author's intents. We underteach when we give our students a text and expect them to do their own independent thinking. "Finding the Sweet Spot" is about incorporating elements from both of these extremes to provide the most effective instruction.
I asked a lot of questions of this text and made a couple of personal connections for my own classroom. Some of my questions included the following: How does Gallagher hold his students accountable for reading the assigned/selected recreational book? Would such accountability even matter? Didn't Tovani disagree with rereading because assigning a rereading would mean we didn't give an instructional purpose for the first read-through? Why couldn't Gallagher first tell students to look out for opposites in the Jekyll and Hyde text rather than have them struggle through it the first time?

Regarding personal connections, I had considered using a reading strategies unit for the first unit of the year, but after reading this article, I wondered what texts I would use for this unit. I wouldn't be able to use a classic, because during this particular unit we wouldn't bother discussing the book nearly as much as we'd discuss the strategies we used to tackle it. I wouldn't be able to use anything recreational since that might encourage readicide. Instead, I'm thinking Gallagher was right to use a couple of minutes in class time to build reading strategies. That way, required content is linked to lifelong strategies.

Gallagher, K. (2009). Readicide: How schools are killing reading and what you can do about it. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Choice Reading Response 3- Marriable

Aside from reading a variety of handbooks, devotionals, self-help books--or whatever people want to call them--for the past couple of CRRs, I've decided to respond to one more because of the reading techniques I used in it.

First, however, is the summary. Marriable was written by a Christian married couple who met on an online dating site. Meant to take the single man or woman from desperate to marriable, the book is crammed with information on gender roles, gender mentalities, and gender advice about the opposite sex. Blunt, honest, and hilarious, Marriable explores the two sides to relationships: the man's and the woman's. On a quest to find permanent security with a compatible life partner (because marriage, they insist, is forever; friendships, club buddies, and cohabitations are not), this couple's frankness whips readers into shaping themselves into people who are marriage material and committed to the fullest.

Being single my entire life (which, to be fair, my life has been rather short), I have often wondered what was so wrong with me that no guy (other than the occasional creeper--two, max, in my life, which I'm sure most girls would envy, but it made me wonder if I wasn't even attractive enough for them) has ever been interested enough in me to even ask me out on a date (forget the emotional "trauma" of never having a boyfriend). Because of this, I have often wondered if I am supposed to be married at all; since those doubts, I have tried to hide my real feelings behind walls of "I'm intentionally single just like Paul the apostle," "I don't need a man," and "Dating is just too much effort."

After a friend recommended the book to a mutual friend, I decided I could skim through it too out of morbid curiosity.

I read this book a lot differently than I usually read books. I think it was Tovani who mentioned that English teachers tend to read books from start to finish; this is my default, unquestionable way of reading. For this book, however, because of its layout with blurbs, side notes, and chapter divisions, I begin skipping around in the book. If I noticed a side note that caught my eye, I read the section it was explaining; if a certain blurb stood out, I read that; on a couple of occasions I read backwards, starting on one paragraph, then reading the one before it to build my background knowledge so I could make connections; if I saw a cool picture or interesting graph, I read it, followed by the paragraphs around it so I had an understanding of what the visual actually meant. Overall, I think I was still able to come away with just as much knowledge doing this than if I'd labored through the ADD style of the book from start to finish.



DiMarco, Hayley et al. (2005). Marriable: How to take the desperate out of dating. Ada, MI: Revel Books.

Reading Response 7- Gallagher, Chapter 1

Answer these 2 questions:

Is our quest for higher test scores harming our students' long-term reading prospects?

Why is it that the higher the grade level, the higher the chances that students are turned off to reading?

I think these two questions have answers which are tied together. Gallagher's research shows that if we as teachers teach our students to read and write well, the students will perform well on standardized tests; if we focus too much on the test scores, however, then the students will have very little ability to do well on these tests. Why is this? Because learning to read and write well develops transferable knowledge that students can use not only on tests but in other relevant areas of their lives as well.

Because we focus so heavily on improving scores, we drain the creativity and originality out of reading. Reading at the very earliest school level becomes tedious and mundane--sectioned into repetitive drills that cover width but not depth, knowledge but not evaluation (if we want to use Bloom's terminology).

Literature, then, is seen as no longer alive with any prospect of being explored; it has been scanned for gold over and over and over and has become dead and useless to the typical bystander. (because someone else has already taken the valuables, so what point is there in repeating the success without the successful results?) We as teachers are to blame for this; instead of encouraging depth, encouraging exploration, encouraging students to get down and dirty and PAN for gold rather than cast a naked eye around the flowing river, we have told them everything they need to know for the test. We have taught them the material but not how to think critically about such material.

Gallagher, K. (2009). Readicide: How schools are killing reading and what you can do about it. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Choice Reading Response 2- Bad Girls of the Bible

Bad Girls of the Bible is a book devoted to ten women in the Bible. The chapter I read last night focused on the nameless Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well. Each chapter begins with a vignette which modernizes the particular Bible story; this particular chapter depicts the Samaritan woman as Crystal, a bartender with five divorces and a live-in-lover named Mick, who meets a mysterious stranger in her bar. After the story, the chapter breaks down each verse of the woman's story and includes social commentary and applicable advice for readers to follow today.

I had heard about this book (and its sequels) several years ago, but I'd never pursued reading it until I went to Book Jungle a couple of days ago. (Instead of paying $16 for it at a Christian bookstore, I only had to pay $3 from this quaint used bookstore.) Once I purchased it, I decided I would start using it as my nightly devotional book. So far my discipline in reading its detailed chapters has only led me through Eve's and Lot's wife's chapters.

Making connections and tapping into my prior knowledge for the biblical study portion of the chapter, I had already known the Samaritan woman's story from Sunday School. More recently, I'd heard her story through an online biblically based addiction-breaking program. I visualized the vignette as Crystal moved through the bar and argued with the stranger. I reread certain verse portions of the text so I could experience more context (because the author tends to break up certain phrases within verses to provide commentary).


Higgs, L. (1999). Bad girls of the bible: And what we can learn from them. Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbook Press.

Reading Response 6- Adler, Chapter 1

Asking Questions:

Does their idea of reading include reading Internet text, or must the reading be physically present in book or newspaper article form?

How can you be an expert without knowing a majority of the content in your field of expertise?

How can understanding/comprehension/application transcend knowledge if knowledge is what is being applied and understood?

Am I reading this article passively or actively?

Is baseball the only thing these authors could find to accurately compare writing/reading?

How is that simple? (p.7, first paragraph)

So how are their two definitions different? Just because the second person has to work for understanding while the first one achieved understanding effortlessly?

What does that even mean, literally speaking, anyways? "Pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps"? How would a person even physically do that?

Are the authors purposely making this text seem more difficult so that their readers can "increase their understanding"?

How can they talk in absolutes like this: "not every book read for entertainment can be read for understanding"? How would they know? Have they read every book published for entertainment and understanding?

When they talk about "learning by discovery" and "learning by instruction," are they referring to Vygotsky's theory of scaffolding?

Which stance are they taking- learning without help ("reading nature") or learning with help ("reading discourse")?


Adler, M. & Van Doren, C. (1940). How to read a book: The classic guide to intelligent reading. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Professor Crawford's Comments

Thanks for sending me your link. For some reason blogster will not allow me to comment even though I am signed in and following your blog??

Here are my comments:

Great strategy to try...reading aloud to be able to discuss. Talk is a great way to clarify your own thinking AND a great way to prevent yourself from becoming anti-social! Ha! It is ironic to be commenting about social media on social media. Thanks for pointing out that connection. I think you are right that the author was talking about antisocial outside of the internet. Is it even possible to be "social" solely in front of a computer screen?

You really have a great tone in your writing! No wonder you are pursuing English. You will be able to model writing for your students so well!

Great job targeting your own strategies throughout the reading. You are right quality over quantity. Continue to think about how this applies to English...how are you going to be "choosy" about what texts you teach to avoid overload??

Questioning is a great strategy to use and I am glad you were not only aware of the questions you asked, but also the answers you found in the text. Continue to ponder about your "blind spots" we all have them, but I guess that is why they are hard to identify...the aren't called "visible spots" for a reason...right?

It's important to make the connection between overwhelming students and overwhelming yourself. That is a good barometer for gauging when your students are overwhelmed. If you feel you cannot keep up with what you are teaching, they most likely cannot keep up with the learning. That's a great connection about the silent day. Your conversation voice is alive and well!

Wonderful job! To receive your grade for this first section I need to see your AOW responses. Where can I find them?

Thank you!

Mrs. Crawford

Choice Reading Response 1- How NOT to Write a Novel

No response necessary; Group B log/blog collection

Reading Response 5- Tovani Text Chapter 6

No response necessary; Group B log/blog collection

Reading Response 4- Tovani Text Chapter 5

Chapter 5 introduce two ideas for reading in the classroom: the first idea was for teachers; the second idea focused on students. For teachers, as we reread our content area information, we become experts in that information and become overwhelmed by the amount of material we should cover in our classes. To counteract this, Tovani suggested an instructional purposes worksheet which demands we decide what is essential for students to learn. For students, we need to help them distinguish purposes for reading and which internal voices they need to activate to encourage active reading.

Tovani comments on essential learning for overwhelmed teachers answered some general questions I had about my future teaching years. I feel I will be able to apply her worksheet to my curriculum so that I know what my students absolutely need to learn without overwhelming them or myself.

I connected with Tovani's explanation of internal reading voices; I have read about such a thing before, but my internal voice doesn't seem to be entirely vocal; instead I tend to see certain words (instead of hearing myself read) or experience emotions (such as confusion instead of internally asking questions). I do, however, think to myself with a conversational internal voice; once for my Exceptional Student class, we were assigned live a day of silence-- one day where we were not allowed to speak--but because my thoughts were so loud, I'd accidentally spoken to someone because I'd thought I'd been speaking to myself for so long.

Tovani, C. (2004). Do I really have to teach reading?: Content comprehension, grades 6-12. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Reading Response 3- Tovani Text Chapter 3&4

This week's reading assignment from Tovani's text includes a couple more details on modeling reading and comprehension, such as slowing down while reading, asking questions about the reading aloud, and jumping to various places in the text. The main point of chapter three expresses the multiple literacies different content areas have (such as reading blueprints, reading schematics, reading equations, and even reading page layouts to understand what the publisher considered important enough to notice in a text). Chapter four discusses the necessity of alternative texts for students to read aside from the textbook or aside from readings that may prove too difficult or too simple for a particular student.

I'm amazed at how quickly I can read through these chapters and how disappointed I become when the chapter ends. I think the things that impacted me the most from this week's reading include the expert blind spot so many teachers have about their own content area literacies in chapter three and the texts sets idea in chapter four.

The expert blind spot was especially noticeable when Tovani was teaching in a math class, and a couple students admitted that they considered the textbook graphic, which appeared whenever a new math property was introduced, to be the necessary mathematical equation to solve their math homework. The math teacher naturally ignored it as a graphic, and he assumed all of his students--and Tovani--would do the same thing. This example made me wonder what blind spots I may have when I teach English; ironically, I can't yet name anything I would consider a blind spot.

The text set idea had me asking questions about what exactly Tovani was talking about. Luckily for me, as soon as I developed a myriad of questions, the text gave examples of text sets while continuing to explain their characteristics. I think this idea is fairly obvious for an English classroom, but at least now I know what other texts I can include in my text sets aside from novels.

Tovani, C. (2004). Do I really have to teach reading?: Content comprehension, grades 6-12. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.