Teaching Literature Rhetorically 1st Edition

This book says what English teachers have needed to hear for a long time. This book made me feel validated and still made me rethink what I could add to my curriculum.

Many teachers are fed up with worksheets, and rightly so. Worksheets, while convenient, are truly just busy work, designed to be generic and terrible for student creativity and self-efficacy.As a middle school Literacy Coach, I've seen teachers reach the point of being tired of using worksheets, but not know what to do next. They realize worksheets aren't doing much for their class or their students, and want to teach in better, more meaningful ways.For ELA teachers, I firmly believe Jennifer Fletcher has filled this collective call teachers are having for reclaiming authentic teaching.Teaching Literature Rhetorically is a powerful tool. It's a guide to move students' thinking from "what is the answer," and into a depth of analysis that makes up the MAGIC of teaching literature in the first place. It is a tool to give students the right to reclaim their thoughts, feelings, and interpretations, and use them in a way that brings life back into reading books critically.In my work with teachers, I've often struggled with giving teachers a collection of tools to dig through in order to start the process of moving beyond basic comprehension tasks and simple question and answer worksheets. In this work, I've finally found a book worthy of this need.For anyone reading this who is nervous about the process of teaching authentically, know that this book is a perfect introduction AND guide to the deeper practices you need. It eases you in, and then consumes you with high quality, research-based, and deep tools for understanding why these practices are worth your time, as well as how to execute them in your lessons.I can't recommend it enough. It's just great teaching. Fletcher has done coaches and teachers a massive favor by putting it all in one book for us to dive into.