The introduction of “You Gotta Be The Book” gives a description of the author’s teaching career, describing the change from teaching high school to middle school remedial reading classes and the challenges that doing so presented. With a class full of students who did not enjoy reading, the author could no longer avoid or ignore students who had a great dislike for literacy. The author attempted different strategies to engage the reader, such as newspapers and comic books, but the students did not become engaged in reading. The author felt that students did not know how to find personal meaning in the literacy texts that they were reading. Students told the author that it didn’t matter what they read, because teachers only cared about how they answered questions after the reading. The author tells us that how we teach literacy has to change, that students become engaged readers because they feel a personal connection and meaning to what they are reading.
The first chapter of the book, the author describes the way literacy is taught today. With the bottom-up approach (i.e. teaching phonics and understanding of what words mean) being very prevalent. The New Critical orientation, basically a bottom-up approach, is the common approach to literacy education. In this approach, students are asked questions about what they have read and are expected to answer them the “right way”. Students are taught not to give a personal response, but that there is only one right answer a question about a text. This, the author states, is the reason many students don’t engage in reading. The author feels that a more top down approach is better. Teach students to search for personal meaning in text and they will respond more positively and engaged in their own literacy education.
After reading these chapters, it is clear to me that we spend too much time telling students what the right answers are and not enough time encouraging them to search for their own meaning. A student who is constantly told that their interpretation is incorrect will eventually withdraw from the reading discussion. But by demonstrating to students that different views of the same text are correct, students will begin to think more deeply about a text and what it means to them. Then by discussing their feelings with other students and teachers, they will gain more perspectives and ideas on different subjects.
Teachers also need to be aware that some students will interest outside of what they are reading. To fully engage these students, teachers need to know them better in order to give them texts that appeal to their interests. A student who is a reluctant reader will most likely be open to reading texts about their own interests.
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You presented a clear overview of the chapters and clearly identified the importance of allowing students to search for meaning within the text opposed to finding the one right answer. The key to this is getting to know the students and providing content that is of interest to them. Thanks for your comments.
ReplyDeleteIn elective areas it is sometimes difficult to provide content that is of interest to students. Not everyone likes PE, Art, Music.......The way good teachers draw all students in, is by knowing their students and making connections to real life situations.
ReplyDeleteNate, good summary! How do we make sure that students are still able to derive the information that we want them to while still creating the personal meaning that helps them to establish their own self-identities?
ReplyDeleteAnother great post! Too long have some teachers live in an era of teaching sounds, sight words, and meaning. All those things are great but the question is when does it begin to mean anything on a more personal level to the students? This text open new doors to education. Is it more important to learn sounds and memorize things as it is to allow students to make a deeper connection to the material to become better individuals? Great Work.
ReplyDeleteToo many students cant think for themselves. Like you stated that most will give you that text book answer and if they do anything different are seen as outcasts by other students and alot of teachers as well. Independent thinking is needed more.
ReplyDeleteCritical literacy and literature that interest students will engage them in the thinking and learning process of literacy. Schools like you say spend more time with one-sided questions and answers, and not enough time getting students' response about how they relate, or their experiences, or what they think about the main characters.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we often forget about literacy in the physical education classroom, this is also a classroom that can take advantage of the atmosphere to engage students and peak their interest in reading in this classroom setting. Many students are more likely to read a sports magazine over most academic text so this subject area has the potential to peak the interest in reading of a student who before appeared to be disconcerted or unreachable.
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