The Baseball Game of Reading

            I started doing the readings in “Deeper Reading Comprehending Challenging Texts 4-12" after my first day in school and it struck me how the author explained that you have to teach people to see the deeper meaning in things. After four years in university I have become so accustomed to reading and rereading novels and plays that I don’t even think about analyzing them anymore. Like Gallagher who now watches a baseball game and sees the behind-the-scenes play action, I too read a story and search for deeper meanings. 

            During my first day as a teacher candidate I sat in on a grade nine English class where they were reading the short story “The Most Dangerous Game”. Having read the story when I was in high school, I knew the basic plot and remembered hazily some details of the characters. Before starting the readings, the teacher had them pull out highlighters and told them to highlight  passages that suggest danger or dread as well as to look for clues to General Zaroff’s character. I, knowing the story, was easily able to pick out these passages as well as many passages that suggested the brilliance and mental instability of General Zaroff. The students however, caught only a few of passages that forebode dread, and only one made a comment on how the General is a villain who seems nice.

            As I was reading Gallagher’s book “Deeper Reading Comprehending Challenging Texts 4-12" I realized I had just witnessed the baseball game in an English classroom. She was guiding the students through the beginning steps of deeper reading.  While the students are beginning to learn to read deeper into texts, they have not reached the point where they can automatically pick up on subtle clues left by the author. They have not learned to read the words and see what presumptions the author has, or what alternative perspectives are possible. It is possible that in the future, these students may master this skill and be in my place helping students understand deeper readings, but for now they are only beginning to scratch below the surface of the game to look for those clues.

            While I can see why reading “The Most Dangerous Game” is a useful tool, the story uses lots of foreshadowing and detailing to help students learning to delve deeper into the messages; I do question the relevance of choosing that story. As I said, I read this book. Eight years ago this story was used being used, and likely has been used since it’s publication in the 1920’s. Several descriptions used were outdated which made it difficult for students to sometimes pick out terms. In a few cases, students had to stop the teacher and ask for definitions for words that they did not recognize. While there are some good examples in this story I wonder what is available for more contemporary texts that the students can relate to?