This was not my favorite chapter, although it does include many useful items. Many pages (especially in the beginning) read as a lesson to the reader about elements of a novel, rather than teaching us about how to teach the elements to students. That portion of the chapter is not at all beneficial to me, as I am looking more for techniques than content from this book, especially content as basic as that which was written about. One item that I love is that Jago includes a list of literary terms. I absolutely agree that literary devices give students better meaning to a text, as Jago writes. That list of terms covers basically all the main terms I want to teach.
Another item I agree with Jago on is that there should not be a stress on completing busy work, but on understanding the material. While the occasional worksheet may be beneficial, it is absolutely redundant to make students complete worksheets regularly, because there is not much understanding that goes behind them. Class discussion and teacher-led instruction is more beneficial than busy work.
Additionally, I like the chart Jago has on page 74; modeling how to complete this chart and having students copy it and work through it can seriously help them figure out difficult texts.
I also feel like this chapter could have been more about teaching us how to teach students and not merely more information we can do nothing with. Though I liked the thought on page 67 about how important it is to teach classics because of how it makes students think and that they are more likely to remember this than something they can just breeze through as they read.
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