I must first apologize- I have been totally absent from this blogger thing. I don't really have a very good excuse, though. Part of it is that I have been on baby watch 2008, and that was hectic. Another part of it is that this very class got me hooked on the TWILIGHT series, which I read and reread... because I am a nerd, and clearly I have no life. And I have been a little disappointed with some of the readings from Wilhelm...
It has been a little bit of a letdown for me, and I think that is also part of the reason that I have been neglecting these journal entries- I just didn't want to talk about it. Or write about it. In the beginning of the semester I was so excited about Wilhelm, and totally on board with what he was saying about reading. I suppose that I kept waiting for a moment that never came- like a EUREKA moment when it all comes together in a coherent fashion.... instead, though, it seemed to me as if Wilhelm was basically saying the same things over and over again. It is for this reason that I think this will be my last entry concerning Wilhelm... he has provided me with some interesting food for thought, but alas, I leave the company of Wilhelm not entirely content with the menu.
I did stumble upon some gems while reading Wilhelm. On page 52 Wilhelm describes Ron as a ludic reader, or someone who enters a trancelike state when reading. (Who knew there was a name for how I read???) I even sympathized with Ron when he stated that sometimes his fixation on a certain book truly interfered with his school work... but while this was all very intriguing, I couldn't help but wonder how this coould help me in my future classroom... not every child is going to be a ludic reader... certainly if they were I would be much less troubled about reaching out with literature because I would have voracious readers.
Also, I thought it was interesting that Wilhelm draws a distinction between the ways in which girls and boys read. I am sure that he is not the first or the last to make such a distinction, but I just found it interesting. Wilhelm states that boys read with a landscape of action, and girls read with a landscape of consciousness. When I read that, I was like, "WOW, how profound!" But then I was hugely disappointed because I don't feel that Wilhelm did an adequate job of expanding upon this difference in terms of teaching strategies... It's like Wilhelm wets your appetite, but then leaves you hungry.
I will say that reading Wilhelm has not been a complete loss, because if nothing else it has forced me to think about some strategies that I need to think about for my future classroom, and has also inspired me to learn more about certain topics.
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