You Gotta Be the Teacher (Chapter 1-3)

One of the surprising things that I realized when reading this book is how students view reading.  Throughout his years of being a teacher, the author discovered that students typically see reading as a chore.  Sadly, one of the main reasons why this attitude occurs is due to reinforcement by the education system.  I remember when teachers would start a book unit and I would receive a large packet about the book.  Each page was a list of questions from each chapter that I had to answer for homework.   Like Wilhelm discusses in his book, I was required by my teachers to answer the correct questions.  I could relate to the student who commented that teachers only care about students getting it right. As a future educator, I want to encourage my students to view reading as more than simply answering a bunch of questions correctly.  When the students are about to look deeper into the book, they will have a better understanding of the world around them. 

Another thing I thought was interesting was learning more about the reader response theory.  I first heard of this theory during my Reading in the Content Area class.  Louise Rosenblatt, the creator of the reader response theory, believes that reading is a transaction where readers and text relates to each other.  While reading, the personal background, mood and reading ability greatly impact how the reader sees the material.  As I mentioned before, the information that I learned from this book connected with me on a deeper level because I was able to access prior knowledge from my own experiences and other classes.  I feel that the reader response theory is a great tool to use while teaching.

When I become a teacher, one of the best suggestions I got from Wilhelm is to become a “teacher-researcher.”  By investing time in the reading progress of students, teachers will be able to gain more knowledge about the strengths and needs of students.  According to Wilhelm, the most important research tool is to have a teacher journal.  This journal would serve as a way for teachers to record the developments of the students, share stories from the classroom and to suggest for adaptations in the future.  This is a quick and easier way to jot down some notes from the lesson during recess, lunch or free periods.  Another of the research tools to use literacy letters.  The author and his students exchanged weekly letters where they discussed books read in class and outside of class.  What is great about this tool is that a student is able to explain in his or her own words what he or she felt while reading. 

My Literature Background

     When someone asks me about what activities I enjoy doing, reading books is always the first thing I think about.  I love to read because I love to learn and understand different perspectives.  My mom is a fourth grade teacher and she made sure that my house has always been filled with books.  Most of my Christmas and birthday presents have been books or gift cards to bookstores.

     In elementary school, my favorite genre of reading was historical fiction because I love to examine what life was like for a person in a different time and place.  Most of the historical fiction books that I read were about early American history or European history, especially in England and Ireland.  The books that got me turned on to reading were the Dear America series.  My favorite authors from this time include:  Ann Rinaldi (Girl in Blue, Coffin Quilt), Mary Pope Osborne (Magic Treehouse series), Beverly Clearly (Dear Mr. Henshaw), Karen Cushman (Midwife’s Apprentice, Catherine Called Birdy), and Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House on the Prairie).   I also read a non-fiction series called “Children of the World.”  Each book focused on a different kid in a different country. 

     As I transitioned to middle school, my taste in literature expanded.  I joined the Library Club which went to read to kindergarten students once a week and volunteered twice a week in the school library.  I loved working in the school library so much that I volunteered at the public library until I graduated high school.  When I volunteered at the library, I started to read a wide variety of books.  My favorite genre became fantasy because middle school was tough but escaping into a surreal world was a great for coping.  The first fantasy author that I remember reading was Tamora Pierce (Alanna and First Protector series).  I loved how her protagonists were strong young women who fought for good.  From there, I began to read authors like Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl series), Lemony Snickett (A Series of Unfortunate Events), C. S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia) and J.R.R. Tolkein (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit).  

      As I went into high school, I was able to be in Honors English classes which help me to develop a critical eye when reading books.  As a result, I began to read books with “deeper” messages.  Most of the books that I read involved the transition from youth to maturity such as John Green (Looking for Alaska), S.E. Hinton (The Outsiders), Laura Halse Anderson (Speak), and Donald Miller (Blue like Jazz).  Most of my classes focused on short stories but we read the following books:  Animal Farm (9^th), The Giver (9^th), To Kill a Mockingbird (10^th), The Catcher in the Rye (11^th), The Awakening (11^th) and Night (12^th).   On my own, I began to read “classic” literature Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany’s), Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange), George Orwell (1984) and Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle). 

     As I look back on my education, I realize that my desire to read was self-motivated and not really connected with school.  In most of my classes, I remember that every student was required to read the same book during reading class.  Many times, I had already read the book we were reading and I would become bored.  My favorite reading class was 7^th grade when we were allowed to pick any book we wanted as long as it was at least 150 pages and developmentally appropriate .  When I become a teacher, I would like to inspire my students to value reading by allowing them to explore the different types of genres that they would be interested in.  I want my students to provide my students with lots of opportunities to read material that they would enjoy, even if I do not like that specific topic.  For example, I have not found a graphic novel that I have enjoyed.  However, I understand that my students might enjoy reading that so I will buy it for my class library provided that it is developmentally appropriate for my students.