Appleman-Chapter 8

After reading Appleman's chapter on Critical Encounters: Reading the World, I find that critical encounters and theory go quite well together. Specifically, I agree with Appleman where she states on page 138, "Critical encounters with theory help students and teachers re-evaluate what counts as knowing in the literature classroom. Contemporary literary theory helps students reshape their knowledge of texts, of themselves, and of the worlds in which both reside." Critical encounters and theory mesh well together in a sense that it enables not just students, but teachers as well understand literature. These two combined also allow people, especially students, to see things in society in a different light and from different perspectives. Since critical encounters and theory allow such things, students and teachers will have an adventurous and knowledgeable experience with literature and with each other.
Additionally, I really like the journal entries on multiple perspectives from various students. The entry I found to be most meaningful is the very first entry on page 142: "Every person sees things a little differently, through different eyes, and while it is not unusual for different people to look at the same thing differently, sometimes the same person can also look from different perspectives. The latter is aided by the use of critical lenses which help a reader to focus on different issues in the same book." This student's response, to me, defines perfectly what multiple perspectives entails. This student appears to have a thorough understanding of perspective which obviously came from great teachings from his/her instructor. I hope I can accomplish and teach to my students about theory and perspective that these students have learned and achieved understanding from as well.