Exploding the Reading

Book excerpt: One 200-year-old folk tale, 30 teachers, and 1,000 students. Ride along with literacy guru David Booth as he takes the same story to a wide variety of classrooms, from kindergarten all the way through grade 12, and be amazed by the learning generated. David argues that "it takes two to read a book". He reasons that sharing responses and bouncing ideas off others guides students to deeper thinking, and challenges them to reconsider their views and increase their understanding. This intriguing book also shows teachers how to help students discover the world outside the text: the origins, connections, place, values, and the different perceptions that readers have. It illustrates ways to transpose that original text into other forms that let students look at the text with different eyes, to ponder what might have been, to challenge what they read, and to add their new learning to the construct of the world. Throughout the book, authentic student samples and actual transcripts present students experiencing the featured story in a multitude of ways -- from poems and retellings, to visuals and arts, to conversation and blogs -- that will "explode" your definitions of comprehension, response, and engagement, and have you looking at classroom literacy in a whole new way!