"Rosenblatt's theory may have been developed to assist students to become more active readers and participants in their learning, but the theory does not end with the students. For teachers, reader response continues to run deep. ... It reminds us that...we are agents of change and, to be successful facilitators, we too must create change in our lives."
I was moved by the story of Erik and his response to the novel. It showcases reader response and the powerful effects it can have on readers. I doubt that in the public education classroom we can have such a revelation---if it did happen, it would only happen after a solid year of trust and community building. But other small revelations can occur in responses to literature. Our relationships with the characters can bring us to share with our classmates and it can most defintely aid in our comprehension of the text.
This is reader response. This is what Rosenblatt meant. What we get out of a text is dependent of what we bring to it. Erik's response to the novel was stronger because of the way he related to Eric, the main character. Even with this article, I knew the story and brought that with me. It aided in my comprehension and made the reading of the article richer.
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I was very moved by this article. I have not read the story "Staying fat for Sarah Burns", but I have heard about this story and know the general plot. I wish now that I had read the novel before reading this article.
I do build a deep connection with many of my students. My students stay with me during the four years that they are in high school. I have had many of them share very close and personal information with me. I have not had an atmosphere like this, were students feel comfortable sharing with the whole class. I do believe that novels and text move us. We relate to characters or plots and connect with their struggles.
I also relate with the teacher. I try very hard to make my students aware of stereotypes and being bias. I think that we all have struggled with not stereotyping our students. This article reminds us to keep an open mind.
You'd have to be a sociopath not to have some sort of gut reaction to the story related in the article.
I think that we as teachers develop relationships of some kind with all of our students. Since I see them as 9th graders in their first year of high school it is very interesting to watch them grow throughout the year. Some remind me a lot of myself when I was that age. Many of my students deal with challenges that I did not have growing up and I have learned throughout the years to not assume anything about any particular student. Given the chance many of them will share personal information if they know you care.
I just want to really say, first off, that my students last year hated Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. After teaching the novel, I hated it, too. Just to let you know.
Back to the issue at hand, I was really impressed by Erik's response to the text. It is amazing what our own experiences in relation to words on a page can help us reveal about ourselves. I think that for teenagers this is especially important, because they are at the stage in their lives where they are trying to build their individual identities in a collective way. If we allow students to express the connections that they find between themselves and the text, their knowledge and reading will be that much richer.
I think this year that many of my classes are very lucky to be on the smaller side and the students are so close with one another that they feel that they can talk about anything. The students got very involved in a discussion about stereotypes the other day and were vying for turns to tell the whole class about times that they had been stereotyped or even been guilty of stereotyping others. Now, as we read the novel, the students are quick to point out which characters are guilty of stereotyping others and IT IS WONDERFUL!
If they can bring something of themselves to the table (a la Rosenblatt), they get so much more in return.
This is a statement I really appreciate: "Learning to read is a life-long process." For me this has been an action/activity that has been so much of a part of my life...reading. I read for information, pleasure, relaxation, seeking more knowledge of a subject matter and just for the shear joy of reading "something and possibly discovering something new."
Also, the paragraph...."as they learn more spoken and written language, acquire more knowledge on an ever-expanding variety of topics agree with my beliefs about reading." The more you read, the more you know and the more you are able to effectively communicate with others.
The statement, "Readers easily comprehend text on familiar topics but are less successful at comprehending texts on unfamiliar topics." I have found this is not entirely true. I am always searching for topics that I feel may capture the interest of my students. I have presented text that my students have little, or no, knowledge of, and may be a little higher than their actual comprehension level, but they become interested and want more and more information.
What a powerful and moving story. Erik was able to relate/respond to the novel because of his connection with Eric. Even though I teach most of my students throughout their four years of high school and they share alot of personal struggles and information with me, a whole class discussion would be impossible. Someone would somewhere in the discussion make an inappropriate comment and all would be lost. Most teens would not be comfortable sharing info. such as this within a whole class situation. I have a favorite saying to my classes when my students pass judgement on others for being "different,' than they are. This difference could be realted to clothes/shoes, accent, cultural diversity, etc. My little statement during a time like this is: "We all come from different and unique backgrounds. Some of us were born and raised in different part of the county, state or country. We all have our differences, but our goal is to accept everyone for who they are. I may even add: "This is American and we have freedom to .......!!! I have heard my students repeat those same words!!! Hey, I am really enjoying this!!!
In reading Erik's reaction to Crutcher's I immediately thought of a former student, Dwayne, whose sister,Devon, lost her life to cancer. When I taught Strategies for Reading and Writing each day the class had a SSR session. At the end of the session , the students would respond and share their responses. During one of the sessions, a student was sharing about a character in the book that had cancer. I could sense the hesitation in her voice in sharing---in fact the entire class became mute. I am certain they were wondering how Dwayne was dealing with the story being shared. In fact, the presenter maintain some form of eye contact with Dwayne as if to get his approval to proceed. The student indeed continued and Dwayne responded by sharing his feelings about the death of his sister. That was one of my finest days in the classroom. The students were able to have appropriate dialogue about a very sensitive topic. This was very similar to the tone in Soublis's class. I feel confident that the classroom's norm of no ridicule lead to the incredible experience in Soublis's and my class. I was also wondering how students would respond to the novel reflection of the reader and to how Dwayne expressed himself. It was a text to self connection for Dwayne and a text to world for the class. I, too ,firmly believe that an educator must be willing to change to have opportunities of great learning experiences. Had I not allowed the students to continue with the dialogue (thinking they may not be mature enough to discuss properly)we would missed out on a great learning experience!
My initial reaction to the article involved swimming. All three of my kids tried swimming and the two girls kept it up thru senior year, swimming for the high school and the YMCA. I remembered a time before my oldest Tori could drive but she had to go to 6 a.m. before-school practices at the Y. While she was in the water I was walking in the cemetery, pre-processing my day at the newspaper and getting fit in the process. Unfortunately I didn't keep up the walking after swim season (and my mid-section showed it).
Reading this article about connection and students' sharing feelings brought me to a student this year in English IV who was writing a college admissions-type essay. (I adapted the Furman essay topics that Patrick had 2 years ago when he applied - he adapted an essay he had done in AP English for Earle Griffin.) She wrote about a person of influence in her life - her late fater who died in a house fire. It was a beautiful piece of writing - and I encouraged her to use it if/when the college she is applying to requires an essay. Later she returned to the topic in a letter writing exercise - write a letter nominating someone for the Profiles in Courage Award - when she nominated the people who tried to enter the burning house to save her dad.
This student did not (and wasn't required to) share this essay with the class. In fact she is much too shy to do so, even if required. But it was a moving moment for me when we had our writers conference to tell her what a moving piece of writing her essay was.
It is a moment I'm finding fewer and far-er between working with seniors this year - who seem real antsy to walk the stage and less interested in "opening up."
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