Journal Entry 2: Because school is supposed to help you live better, right?

My sentiments precisely, Ron. While reading this book (which I think is slowly becoming my new Bible of teaching) I have been highlighting and writing in my own comments, which is my usual habit. However, I am finding that my pen and highlighter work in overdrive when scouring the pages of You Gotta BE the Book. Everything that Wilhelm asserts about teaching adolescents is typically accompanied by a few strokes my trusty highlighter along with a few hastily scrawled exclamation points from my pen. I know that these journal entries are supposed to be objective, and while I am attempting to focus on the text, my attempt may look much more like gushing approval than anything remotely resembling objective... but I will try.

I love so much of what Wilhelm says about the importance of teaching adolescents the importance of reading, but also the importance of reading for pleasure. So though I admit that what follows may indeed sound like 'gushing,' I do realize that theory alone is not enough... I think it is a good jumping off point and a good way for me to being thinking about how I will handle this situation in my future classroom, but I also recognize the importance of thinking about real life applications of theory. A theory with great internal validity means absolutely nothing to me if there is little or no external validity. Perhaps practice is nothing without theory and theory is nothing with practice... just a theory, of course...

The first phrase that is highlighted in a lovely shade of neon green can be found on page 33. It reads, "We must remember that the ways in which we mediate literature with students will have a profound effect on the kinds of readers they will become." This can only be too true. While working the other day (at Feeder's) I listened as one of my coworkers (a high school student in Jefferson County) whined about doing her portfolio requirement. When I asked her why she was having so much difficulty, she blamed the teacher. Now, most teens, when asked about a problem (particularly in the academic realm), will tend to blame someone else. But this is a girl who allowed me to read her papers last year, a girl who wrote beautifully and effectively, and who typically enjoyed the process. So how did an activity, that she is usually intrinsically motivated to perform, become such a chip on her shoulder? I delved a little deeper into the situation and discovered that the teacher insists on practices which include, but are not limited to: endless grammar work sheets, round robin reading (GASP!), and an array of other mind numbing exercises which are doing absolutely nil to help the students grow into good readers and writers.

Which leads me to my next point, which is actually an utterance from the lips of Ron, a student whom Wilhelm has identified as an engaged reader. (A small side note: I like the fact that the term engaged reader is used as opposed to gifted reader. I think sometimes students who are struggling with reading and self-esteem can be intimidated and turned off by the term gifted. When we value the level of engagement instead of how gifted the reader is, the obstacle or burden of reading can seem much less.... again, just some food for thought...) Ron states that the purpose of school is to help students live better lives, in and out of the classroom. So if I, as an educator, am supposed to help my students live fulfilled and enriched lives, literature seems to me the most appropriate tool to do this. Literature has the unique ability to allow us to leave our own lives, if only for awhile, and walk around in someone else's skin. My prospective students (high school age) will be using formal operational thinking, and hypothetical deductive reasoning. If I can encourage and foster this line of thinking through the use of literature, not only am I exercising my student intellectual capacities, but I am valuing the human experience as well. Literature can allow us to see the world from a different perspective, and to learn about past and present events. Wilhelm identifies this quality in engaged readers as, "imaginative rehearsal for living."

Perhaps, and it is my greatest hope that I can help my students see this, Wilhelm best expresses the power of literature on page 38: "Storying defines humanity, makes us human, empowers us in being who we are, and makes it possible for us to conceive of being more than we are."