A Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature

As I read this article, I was constantly reminded of just how far the art of teaching has come in only the last few years.  Yes, this article is talking about a change in teaching styles and that is a great example.  But I am speaking more about the education that new teachers are receiving.  The article states that all of the teachers who participated had at least 10 years of teaching experience and that these new ideas were difficult for them to use at first.  Being a future teacher myself, I have come across these teaching styles in multiple ways.  I have been in classes which used the idea of a response-based approach.  Two of them notably come to mind.

The first was a Shakespeare class which I absolutely adored.  This class was conducted some days with the desks in a large circle.  The entire class would engage in discussion of the work we were currently reading.  The teacher only rarely chimed in and those comments were little more than a nudge for the class to keep speaking, encouragement for voicing an interesting idea, or a heartfelt question on whether two ideas presented might connect in some way.  It was true that there were more vocal students and quieter ones, but as a whole the class had a great deal to say on the subject.  I found that these conversations often lead to the catalyst for what I would write my next essay on.

The second class that stands out to me did not in fact begin as a classroom run on the response-based approach.  It was a literature class.  Yet the teacher was convinced that there was a very specific way to interpret each piece that we read.  It was painfully obvious that this classroom was not talkative in any way when called upon.  Speaking from my own perspective, I was afraid to speak.  Not because I dislike speaking in public, but I was certain that whatever I said would not be the correct answer.  This entire class was disheartening and I hated going.  The last week of class, however, a different teacher stepped in to fill our regular teacher's missing shoes.  She placed us, as with the Shakespeare class, into a communication circle.  She would encourage us with comments on the intelligence and/or ingenuity of our answers.  Our previously stifled and awkward class discussions melted away under this new class structure.  Every class member had something to say about the topic.  We had insights and comments on our fellow classmates points of view.  There was hardly a quiet moment.  And I learned more in that one week than I felt that I had for the entire preceding quarter.

These experiences have driven me to believe that in my future classrooms I will create circular communication days.  I've had classes where this structure fell flat, but the majority have more than risen to the occasion.  This is the education that I am currently receiving.  As a student, we are informed on the strict nature that some assessments and certain schools insist upon.  I have been walked through state mandated testing in both general education classrooms and English Language Learner classrooms.  But I have also been taught, and more importantly experienced, the expanded growth possibilities that allowing a response-based approach to literature can provide.  I'm proud that the new batch of teachers in schools right now are learning these new techniques.  I am proud to be one of them.