Wilhelm Chap. 6

'I think though, that we need to ask what our purposes are as (English language arts) teachers: to teach texts, or to develop readers who can and will want to engage with and know texts in peronally powerful ways throughout their lives' (p. 145)? For me, the answer to this question is obvious. We as teachers of English need to develop readers and begin to have students reevaluate their commonly held beliefs about reading and its benifits. The easiest way to being to do so is to provide students access to a wide-varitey of literature.

Surely, "the classics" have certain political, social, and cultural significance, and I feel that they should be implemented based on an indivdual class' needs, but in a rapidly changing technological era in which information is readily available, students need to be given changes to explore several literary genres. Young adult novels, newspapers, magazines, comic books and other peices of literature need to be options for students. Students will never learn to appreciate literature if it is constantly being 'forced down their throats,' so why not allow them to pursue works that interest them? Furthermore, this issue of access coincides with the idea of acknowledging students' interest and providing them with as many choices as possible; thus we can, at the very least, begin to erase the stigma attached to reading. Consequently, when students bring a positive attitude when they are about to engage with a text, their is a better chance that they will take on an active role.

After reading Wilhelm's book, like any, there are still some questions that plague me. 1) How do we get students to evaluate literature with a critical eye, meaning investigating author purpose, credibility and bias?; 2) Which 'classics' are worth teaching, and is it plausible to choose certain classics based on an individual classes interests / needs?; and 3) How can we move past the constraints of curricula that ask us as teachers to adhere to the canonical perspective? I will be searching for the answers throughout this semester and long into my teaching career. Any suggestions are welcomed...