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| Page from Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves |
The three children profiled throughout this chapter also appear in this section when they are quoted regarding their take on why students ought to read literature. Ron asserts that it is because school is supposed to help you live better. Cora maintains that reading is like "a microscope and a telescope...helps you see things that are invisible -- because they're too small or too far away... It makes you think so much more than a video or TV." Joanne states two things: one, "a story helps you to think. It involves you totally in thinking about things you could never think about except in a story." and two, "I feel like reading a good book makes someone new." I would concur with each of these three students. Reading has always been something that I've used as an easy escape from the world. Unfortunately, the vast majority of literature we were required to read in middle school and high school did not interest me, worse than that, the teachers were also essentially incapable of enticing me into reading any of the pieces. One of my goals as a teacher is to strive to engage my students in reading as it is something that will benefit them. One method I'd like to use, I picked up from Wilhelm's book; it is explained below.As far as teaching ideas go, I liked the Symbolic Story Representation (SRI) idea presented in Chapter Three: The Dimensions of the Reader's Response. Wilhelm details this technique:
This seems like a fantastic lesson idea. Having the students preform a hands-on activity such as this forces them to make connections within the text that results in them having a better/more complete understanding of what they have read. This activity can be applied to essentially any individual lesson in the English classroom as it can be adapted to focus on any of the aforementioned parts (characters, objects, scenes, motifs, & etc.). After the students create said cutouts they can/will use them as they read further into the novel, "The reader moved the cutouts around to dramatize the story and to show the changing relationships of various characters or forces, and used the reader cutout to show where he was in relation to story events, explaining how and from what perspective he/she was experiencing the story." This lesson quickly morphs into the student becoming more critically aware of both what is happening in the piece of literature and of their individual reading strategy. This is definitely a lesson strategy that I plan to incorporate in my classroom."In this technique, students create cutouts or find objects to dramatize what they have read and how they have read it. During or after their reading, the students, using an adaptation of the SRI, created cutouts symbolizing characters, character qualities, groups, or forces from the book; objects, scenes, or settings of importance; motifs, themes, or ideas that played a role in the story; and a cutout symbolizing oneself as a reader."
I agree with you. I even mentioned in my blog that I want to remember the SRI technique for my future use. Do you like the technique because you are a visual learning or just because you find it extremely useful? And what kind of learner are you?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, your title is witty and I love it. On that note, I would like to say that what you wrote about makes a lot of sense. Reading is not a strict discipline, you pick up a book, read, fall in love, repeat. However, teachers want you to read, analyze, test, take a further meaning, compare, move on. Why do we insist on all of these steps when the goal is for students to read and create an emotion. These cut outs, I think are a great way to assess or stir up some connection with a student. I think it is important to gather thought from a story so a representation is an accurate portrayal of what a student knows and how well they are keeping up with their reading. I think your blog really breaks down the chapters and you have seemed to gether a lot from it!
ReplyDeleteIt surprises me to see how excited everyone is about the SRI/cutout activity. I feel like it seems a bit childish (for lack of a better word) for a secondary classroom. Wilhelm seems to have been successful with it, but I believe it worked for him because he implemented it in a 7th grade classroom. Do you think that 8th graders and up could engage the same enthusiasm for this activity?
ReplyDelete[Or is Wilhelm stretching what I value as a viable response to literature again, I wonder?]
I really like the title of your blog! I love all your pictures as well. When I was reading chapter 2, I thought that when the three students were talking about books. I was relating so much with younger students because when reading, don't we all feel the same way when were really into a story and we enjoy it? I really liked that at the beginning of your blong you talked about the benefits of reading! They all are completely true!
ReplyDeleteI liked how Wilhelm looked to his students to see what they found beneficial about reading. Sometimes we need to look at reading from the perspective of students instead of looking at it from a professional perspective. It would be interesting to ask someone who was not so into reading what they thought they could benefit from when it comes to reading. I feel like when the answers are pried that they will see how beneficial reading really is. The SRI activity does seem like one that would engage students. Engaging the students is the first step to getting them to learn to love reading.
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