Chpt 3-Gotta BE the Book

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Chapter 3
As I read chapter 3 in You Gotta BE the Book, I really enjoyed reading all the classroom research methods. A few I have heard of before, but it was a great reminder of all the cool things I can do in my classroom one day. In particular, I really liked the idea of having a teacher journal. What I really found fascinating was that the author kept a teacher journal for thirteen years of his teaching. I'm sure that was a great experience to look back to see how he had improved as a teacher, and also some things that have remained the same in his teaching career. One of my favorite research methods is the literary letters. I think this could be a very effective way to get the students involved with their reading and give them a chance to explore other students' reading/understanding as well. It seems to be a great way to get students thinking about thinking, and a great way for each student to work collaboratively with other students. Another thing I found exciting was the idea of "parallel focus" (Wilhelm, 57). After having read what this is all about I was relieved to have finally found the term for how I have felt as a reader for the majority of my life. To have a parallel focus while reading, to me, is proven evidence of a particular reader's engagement and relationship with the text. I have always found myself to be most intrigued by a particular text when I find a connection with a specific character in the book I am reading. When it comes to the classroom, I believe the idea of parallel focus can be persuaded to students and will get them thinking about the types of relationships they have formed with the characters in their books. A really cool activity to respond to parallel focus could be to have the students write a letter to a character in their book communicating their feelings towards them including specific passages from the book to support their feelings. This would allow ownership of each students' writing and reading to express themselves and the meanings they believe lie in the book.