Tackling Readicide: Five tips to get started

Guilty confession: For the first eight years of my teaching career, I was clueless about teaching literature. By the way... I'm an English teacher.

In college I took several literature courses ABOUT literature, but we never had instruction on how to TEACH literature. My experience in college went something like this: we would read a book each week, then sit around in a circle discussing it... usually from a Freudian perspective. Then write an essay. That's it.

When I started teaching, I tried the same technique. The problem was, my students didn't care about the symbolism of the ducks in The Catcher in the Rye or the green light in The Great Gatsby. I quickly realized that I was merely a human Cliff's Notes, delivering the plot and basically having a discussion with the handful of students who actually read the book. 

I tried quizzes. I gave tests. I assigned projects. I showed movies.

My students simply weren't reading the books I was assigning.

Then, my teaching world was rocked. Two years ago, I read two books about teaching reading: Readicide by Kelly Gallagher and The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller.

After reading these books, I slowly began to implement the strategies from the books. This blog post will be the first in a series about how I set-up and run our outside reading assignment. It is a work in progress, but I am confident it is much more effective than the "Human Cliff's Notes" way of teaching reading.

Five rules to get started:

1. Allow students to choose what they read

This is a huge paradigm shift for many teachers. I will admit that I am a control freak in many ways. I believed that I was the paid professional, so I should control what students read and write. However, I have discovered that it is much more powerful when students get to choose and have ownership over the books they are reading.

When I look across the room at the books my students are reading, I see a wide variety of books. Some students are reading The Hunger Games series. Some are reading graphic novels. I even have students reading classics such as A Tale of Two Cities and Pride and Prejudice. Whoda thunk?!

The kicker? They are actually reading! Does it really matter that all students read the same book at the same time? I would argue no. As long as they are reading, that is what matters the most. Allowing students to have choice in their reading selections is far more powerful than force feeding "classics" like Jane Eyre down the throat of a 16-year-old sophomore.

2. Give up control

Repeat after me: "This is not about you."

We have already established that I am a control freak. Giving up control is scary, and this kind of shift forces the teacher to give up a great deal of control in the classroom. It is scary... and that is kind of cool.

I am not proposing that you let this turn into total chaos. There needs to be guidelines in place (which I will discuss in another blog post), but the teacher must be willing to turn control over to the students: selection of books, pacing, "abandoning books" when the student isn't digging it, etc...

This should be very individualized for each student. I set a goal for my students to read 20 books in one year. However, through individual conferences if a student tells me she read one book last year, and has read eight books this year, how can that be anything but a win for everyone? 

Giving up that control that EVERY student has to read the same books at the same time is scary, but also exhilarating.

3. Give students time to read

If you are going to make a commitment to reading, students need time to actually READ in class. I used to think of "reading" time as filler or a time-waster, but I have found huge value in providing SSR (Silent Sustained Reading) time to my students. The ONLY way students can become better readers is to actually READ.

We start each hour with 10 minutes of SSR. Once everyone has settled down (usually within the first 30 seconds after the bell), I start a timer and the students know they have 10 minutes to read. This does not change. It is the procedure for how we start the class each day.

I also ask my students to read 20 minutes five days a week outside of class. That time could be in another class during the school day, on the bus on the way home, or in bed before they fall asleep. I don't care, as long as they get in another 20 minutes during the day. This builds stamina. Just like a runner needs to invest time in running, readers need to invest time in reading. 

My classes meet four times a week. If you do the math, students should read 40 minutes a week in class, plus 100 minutes outside of class. That is 140 minutes of reading a week. If they can read one page a minute, they should be able to read a 300-page book in approximately two weeks. 

4. Model reading for students

Kelly Gallagher asserts in Write Like This that the teacher is the best writer in the room; therefore students need to see the teacher writing in front of them. The same logic applies to reading. 

Students need to visually see their teacher reading books along with them. 

During those 10 minutes of SSR time, I sit at my desk and read a book. I have been trying to read books that my students are reading (I am currently reading The Maze Runner, for example), but I also have been working through my own personal reading list. 

I would venture to guess that many students do not regularly see an adult reading books. You may be the only adult in their life that they can see actually reading books. That is a powerful responsibility. If they can see you as the teacher taking part in the same reading experience as them, it makes it a shared experience that you can discuss and talk about with your students, not an "assignment" where the teacher doesn't take an active role. 

5. Do not be a fun-sucker

Let me be clear: If you are not careful, you are going to suck all of the fun out of this:

• Do not get bogged down in how you are going to grade it.
• Do not worry about how you are going to keep track of everything.
• Do not stress about students who are not keeping up with the pace.
• Do not get upset with the students who are "gaming" you on the number of books they have read.
• Do not force students to read things they don't want to read.

This should be an enjoyable experience for everyone. If you implement too many rules and guidelines, you are going to make it a dreadful experience. Some students will "game" you. There is no good way to grade this. Things will fall through the cracks.

Keep some guidelines in place, but the focus should be on reading enjoyable books. 

These are some simple guidelines I started out with when we started outside reading in my sophomore English class. What are some tips you have for getting started with outside reading?

Packaging Plays: Draw + Y-Stick

Offensive football continues to evolve every year. Since I started coaching over a decade ago, the way plays are called has changed dramatically.

First, coaches called the play to a huddle that was locked in, no exceptions. Then, a "check with me" system was implemented where the QB would turn to the sideline to get a new play call. Next, plays were called so quickly that it didn't really matter what the play call was, speed was the main factor.

Today, the play call often doesn't occur until AFTER the ball is snapped. This is done through combining two-three plays into one, giving the QB an option on what play to run based on what happens with the defense POST-SNAP. Often the coach doesn't even know where the ball is going to go, putting the decision-making process into the hand and mind of the Quarterback to make a snap-second decision.

Teams have been doing this for years in the run game, particularly with option football. The new wrinkle is that option football has now moved to the passing game.

I've written about our double-screen concept that has been very good for us the last couple of years.

Chris Brown from Smartfootball.com has also written about this concept in greater depth.

This year, we combined one of our best passing concepts, Y-Stick, with a running back draw play. We averaged almost 9 yards a play on this concept, mostly because the defense really can't be right.

This is how we block the scheme vs. a 3-2 Front. Basically, we are reading the playside inside linebacker. If he sits, we throw the Stick. If he widens, we handoff on the draw. The  QB just stares down the linebacker and reads his drop. It is very simple.

We have had so much success throwing the Stick, we almost should have handed off every single time. 

Here are some cut-ups powered by Hudl:

Check out some other great cut-ups utilizing the QB draw, something we may toy with next year.

What other plays are you combining together to take advantage of what the defense does post-snap?

Intro to Rhetorical Analysis: Common Core-Style

In today's era of the Common Core State Standards, teachers all across the country are having to rethink how we deliver instruction to our students. The CCSS asks students to dig deeper into texts through close reading, written analysis and discussion. 

Our sophomore Pre-AP English team has worked to meet the expectations of the Common Core, while preparing our students for AP Language & Composition their junior year. Previously, I outlined how we introduce students to close reading and aligned our Julius Caesar unit with the CCSS.

We have developed a three day introduction to rhetoric that asks students to closely analyze a TV commercial:

Day #1:

When it came time to introduce rhetorical analysis in our Pre-AP Sophomore English class, we began by introducing the basics of rhetoric: the rhetorical triangle, appeals and fallacies. Check it out:



Day #2: 

We handed out the following graphic organizer that we adapted from Kelly Gallagher's fantastic new book Write Like This.  (If you have not purchased his book yet, go immediately to that link and buy it. It is a must-read for all Language Arts teachers serious about writing instruction.)

We performed a multimedia rhetorical analysis of this Chevrolet "My Truck" advertisement:



The first time students watched it to get a general sense of the commercial. After the initial viewing, each time we asked students to focus on specific aspects of the commercial:

1. Imagery
2. Printed Words
3. Spoken Words
4. Music

In other words, on the second viewing students only focused on the images on the screen. On the third viewing, they only focused on the printed words, and so on. By the end, they had closely read this "text" FIVE times. This forced the students to dig below the surface and develop a clear understanding of what the author was doing in the advertisement.

Note: As a modification, you can also turn off the sound for the first two viewings, so students are not distracted by the music or spoken words. For the last two viewings, turn off the video so students only focus on what they are hearing.

After each viewing, we asked the students to fill out each row, starting with the middle "Notes" column. We applied the close reading strategies that we employ when reading a written text, outlined in this blog post. 

In the left-hand margin, students summarized what the author was SAYING through the images, printed words, spoken words and music. In their own words, they summarized what each element was trying to accomplish.

In the right-hand margin, students analyzed what the author was DOING for each element. This is where we applied the appeals and fallacies from the notes over rhetoric. Students had to really dig in to get a full understanding of what the author was doing - how they were appealing to and manipulating their audience.

Day #3: 

Students analyzed the Chevy Truck ad using a rhetorical precis writing template.

I know what you may be thinking: template writing is rudimentary; nothing more than "Mad Libs" for English class.

While it may appear to be simplistic, these template are actually quite challenging to complete. We use these template often, especially when introducing new types of analysis to our sophomores. As the year progresses, we begin to take the templates away, but it is an essential part of our writing instruction at the beginning of a unit.

Student Example:
Click here to see a completed sample of the graphic organizer and rhetorical precis from a student.

Follow-Up Lesson:

As a follow up to this lesson, we asked students to analyze a political advertisement. However, this political ad had a twist: it was a biting satire of President Obama. At first glance, it appears to be a pro-Obama ad. Only close observers will begin to pick up on the fact that it is very critical of his presidency. The images and words say very different things. This sparked a great conversation about how the authors of this ad used images, printed words, music and spoken words to create a very specific message for their intended audience.


Final thoughts:

This three-day introduction to rhetoric served as a fantastic gateway to the rigorous analysis that students will be asked to do in AP Language & Composition, while integrating many of the Common Core State Standards for reading, writing and speaking. Students were asked to closely read the "text" multiple times, think about how the author used rhetorical appeals and fallacies, and analyze the text using specific evidence.

Please leave suggestions for how you introduce your students to rhetorical analysis now that we are in the era of Common Core.

Need to move the chains? Call Y-Stick.

"3rd & Short? How about Y-Stick?"

What is your go-to play call in 3rd and short situations?

What play do you dial-up when your offense has gone stagnant and you need to build confidence in your players?

In both of these instances, we turn to one of the most basic plays in our arsenal: Y-Stick.

While this is not a huge TD-generating play for us, it is a play we can rely on when we need to move the chains. It is our old-reliable play; one that our players can execute even in their sleep. Over the past two seasons, we have completed Y-Stick 70% of the time, while averaging 10-yards per completion.

QB Reads: Our QB must count numbers to both sides and make a decision pre-snap which way he is going to work: either the hitch to the single receiver, or the Stick/Flat/Vertical concept to the trips side.

The QB will first look to the single receiver side. If he sees 1-on-1 coverage, then we tell him to take the easy money on the hitch with the single receiver. He must throw the receiver open away from the defense, usually to the sideline. This is simply our "Settle & Noose" drill in action.

If the QB sees 3-on-2 to to trips side, he knows that we have the defense outnumbered to the trips side. It then becomes a simple read of the overhang player. If he jumps the stick, throw the flat. If he runs with the flat, throw to the stick. Very simple.

The QB must also be alert for Cover 2. If the corner squats on the flat route, then the QB should be ready to throw over to top into the "hole" of Cover 2.

Throw me open!

Stick Route: We constantly preach to our players that our offense is simply playing basketball on grass. The stick route is a perfect example of that concept. Our Y-receiver will push vertical for five yards, and turn inside looking for the ball. He will the "post-up" like a center in basketball. The QB should look to throw him open, also just like our "Settle & Noose" drill. 

Here is a cut-up demonstrating each of the throws in our Y-Stick concept:

Five close reading strategies to support the Common Core

I walked in to my first college class, Political Science 101, eager to learn. For my inaugural college assignment, my professor asked the class to read the first three chapters of the textbook for the next class period. 

That night, I returned to my dorm room, determined to learn everything I could in those three chapters. I pulled out my textbook and highlighter. Growing up, that is what I always saw the “older kids” using when they read a textbook. In my naïve 18-year-old mind, I believed that highlighters must have some magical power that transports the words on the page directly to your brain. I assumed that if I just figured out the right words to highlight, then it would be easy for me to remember what I read.

However, when I opened my textbook it was unlike anything I had read in high school.  Where were the pictures? Where were the definitions for words in the margins? Where was the chapter summary at the end of each chapter? All of the things I relied on in high school to get me through a text were missing.

I shrugged, pulled out my highlighter and started highlighting. That is what college kids did to study… right? But, what was I supposed to highlight? The bold words? The headings? “Important” information? I wasn’t sure. I started highlighting everything that looked important on the page. Before long, the page looked something like this:

I quickly realized that I had no real game plan for reading this complicated textbook. I didn’t know what to highlight or how to find the important information to study. The text simply overwhelmed me.

Flash forward to my first few years of teaching. I taught senior English, and I was determined to provide my students help when it came to annotating texts. We practiced annotations throughout the year, and my instructions went something like: “Mark it up! Underline important information! Write in the margins!”

While this method may have been slightly more effective than what I used that first day of college, it was still too vague and ambiguous for my students. They had no direction for reading, especially when it was a complicated text they did not understand.

Last fall, I attended an AVID workshop about critical reading strategies. To be honest, it completely changed the way I teach reading. I learned many simple strategies to help my students attack a text. After the conference, our department began adapting the strategies to all of the types of texts that we teach. Here are five simple strategies to help teach students how to critically read complex texts. The best part? Highlighters are not required.

1. Number the paragraphs

The Common Core asks students to be able to cite and refer to the text. One simple way to do this is by numbering each paragraph, section or stanza in the left hand margin. When students refer to the text, I require them to state which paragraph they are referring to. The rest of the class will be able to quickly find the line being referred to. 

2. Chunk the text.

When faced with a full page of text, reading it can quickly become overwhelming for students. Breaking up the text into smaller sections (or chunks) makes the page much more manageable for students. Students do this by drawing a horizontal line between paragraphs to divide the page into smaller sections.

At the beginning of the year, I group the paragraphs into chunks before I hand out the assignment. In the directions I will say, “Chunk paragraphs 1-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12.” I look at the paragraphs to see where natural chunks occur. Paragraphs 1-3 may be the hook and thesis statement, while 6-8 may be the paragraphs where the author addresses the opposition. It is important to understand that there is no right or wrong way to chunk the text, as long as you can justify why you grouped certain paragraphs together.

By the end of the year, I begin to let go of that responsibility and ask my students to chunk the text on their own. They number the paragraphs then must make decisions about what paragraphs will be grouped together. Usually, most of the class is very similar in the way they chunked the text.

3. Underline and circle… with a purpose.

Telling students to simply underline “the important stuff” is too vague. “Stuff” is not a concrete thing that students can identify. Instead, direct students to underline and circle very specific things. Think about what information you want students to take from the text, and ask them to look for those elements. What you have students circle and underline may change depending on the text type.

For example, when studying an argument, ask students to underline “claims”. We identify claims as belief statements that the author is making. Students will quickly discover that the author makes multiple claims throughout the argument.

When studying poetry, students could underline the imagery they find throughout the poem.

Circling specific items is also an effective close reading strategy. I often have my students circle “Key terms” in the text. I define key terms as words that: 1. Are defined. 2. Are repeated throughout the text. 3. If you only circled five key terms in the entire text, you would have a pretty good idea about what the entire text is about.

I have also asked students to circle the names of sources, power verbs, or figurative language.

Providing students with a specific thing you want them to underline or circle will focus their attention on that area much better than “underlining important information”.

4. Left margin: What is the author SAYING?

It isn’t enough to ask students to “write in the margins”. We must be very specific and give students a game plan for what they will write. This is where the chunking comes into play.

In the left margin, I ask my students to summarize each chunk. I demonstrate how to write summaries in 10-words or less. The chunking allows the students to look at the text in smaller segments, and summarize what the author is saying in just that small, specific chunk.

5. Right margin: Dig deeper into the text  

In the right-hand margin, I again direct my students to complete a specific task for each chunk. This may include:

·     Use a power verb to describe what the author is DOING. (For example: Describing, illustrating, arguing, etc..) Note: It isn’t enough for students to write “Comparing” and be done. What is the author comparing? A better answer might be: “Comparing the character of Montag to Captain Beatty”.

·     Represent the information with a picture. This is a good way for students to be creative to visually represent the chunk with a drawing.

·     Ask questions. I have found this to be a struggle for many students, as they often say they don’t have any questions to ask. When modeled, students can begin to learn how to ask questions that dig deeper into the text. I often use these questions as the conversation driver in Socratic Seminar.

There are many other things students can write in the margins. However, we must model and teach these strategies so that students will have an idea of what to write when they are on their own.

Here is what a completed Article of the Week might look like after a student has performed a close read of it:

To ensure our students are college and career ready, we must teach them critical reading strategies in order for them to independently attack a text. They must learn how to own a text, rather than letting the text own them. After following these steps, students have read the text at least five times and they are actively interacting with the text. This is a much different experience than skimming through a text one time with a highlighter in hand.

What strategies do you teach students in order for them to critically read complex texts? Please leave your ideas in the comments below!

Missouri's 4-Verts Concept

The University of Missouri's Offensive Coordinator David Yost recently spoke at a coaching clinic about their 4-Vertical concept. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the clinic, but our head coach got a copy of his presentation.

There is some good stuff below, especially some creative ways to run 4-Verts out of Empty sets (Essentially FIVE-Verts).

2x2 4-Verts:

3x1 4-Verts

2x2 "Swap":

3x1 "Cross":

Empty 5-Verts:

OU "Drive" Concept

Our staff attended the football coaching clinic at the University of Oklahoma this weekend. Thursday night, Coach Jay Norvell spoke about their crossing concepts. He talked through their Mesh and Shallow concepts, and showed a ton of cut-ups.

One new (for me at least) play that he showed was the "Drive" concept out of Trips. It is basically Trips Right H-Shallow - but with one difference: The RB checks his pass pro to the left, then goes through the OL and meshes with H.

The QB reads it: 1. H - Drive (Coach called this route "Drive"), 2. Y-Dig, 3. RB "Burst" (essentially Mesh). This is just a triangle read for the QB - they do not have him look deep.

It looks very close to Franklin's "Pyramid" concept where two receivers mesh, and there is a Dig over the top of it.

This really becomes a nice blend of Mesh, Shallow and Pyramid. They also ran it out of Bunch.

We noticed that this must be a big 1st down call for them - the RB never had to stay in and help protect.

We have our Y and X mesh when we run normal Mesh. Would this concept work if Y and the RB meshed, and H ran the dig behind it?

Does anyone run something similar to this concept?