Come On Let's Focus!

           I could particularly relate to Gallagher’s statement regarding the fact that all readers at some point in time will have trouble focussing.  Because I was home schooled until grade four, I never had to worry about other people, or things distracting me during my work. However, when I entered the school system, I struggled because I found it difficult to always have people around me, and even now I still have trouble reading or focussing on reading when anything is going on around me.   The First Draft Reading method is an excellent way to help students to find their focus when they approach a text. There are always various things going on in students’ minds and it is easy for them to go into auto pilot especially with difficult text.  Students need to be given the strategies to be able to approach a text and have a focus in mind that will allow them to be able to comprehend the text at a deeper level.

            I found the Social Class Theory (Marxist Literary Theory) to be a very interesting approach to texts, but also very difficult to rap my head around at times.  I, even as a University student, have trouble thinking about my social class and how it affects my take on the text just because it is something that is not usually encouraged often, or at all.  To apply the theory in a high school class may be met with some resistance, like we saw in the book, but when done with the correct amount of caution it is a good way to create a sense of community within the classroom. It is great way for students to better understand themselves, but also to connect and understand their classmates better.   In a class I was observing they were doing Hamlet (like the example) and looking at the different social classes in Shakespearean times in addition to the classes of the characters.  Perhaps I will have the opportunity, once they are finished the book, to apply the theory and have the students think about their own social status and how it affects their reading of the text, or even just have an in-depth conversation about it with the teacher.  The Social Slass Theory is yet another interesting way to get students to relate to, and to focus on the text itself.