How English Teachers Get Taught

This was an interesting read because not only do I have to create a syllabus for this class, but I'm creating one in real life, too, for a class next semester. It made me reevaluate what I've done so far and make sure that it's connected week to week, has a balance of theory and practice, and gives students a chance to workshop. It meets most of the criteria on paper, but there's still a lot to be said for execution, as these authors note as well.

Reading this book also made me think back to my initial certification route and the classes that got me there. I was in a five-year program that culminated in an M.A.T. (a B.A. in year four [in an area other than teaching; mine is in English]), and like many people only had one methods course. I would say it fell into the heavy on theory/ light on practicality category. I remember lots of debates about things like politically correct language and who gets to decide what is p.c. and where that comes from, etc., but little to no talk about what to actually fracking (BSG rules!) do in a middle or high school English classroom besides the wonderful advice, "They just need to read," which implies school is completely irrelevant (yes, there is some truth to that, but that's another discussion) AND gave me no real starting place.

However, I must also say that I had to take a class in reading methods-because I was an English person-and we had one hour each session devoted to writing workshop. (Our text was In the Middle.) Because of that experience, I entered the classroom was ahead of many people in that I had read about and experienced this approach to writing, which in 1997, still seemed cutting edge. I attribute my learning and understandings and the fact that this course made such an impression on me to the fact that it was a workshop approach and we actually DID what we read about.