Response to _YGBB_

In Jeffrey D. Wilhelm's book, You Gotta Be The Book, he pursued what differentiates the non-reader from the avid reader, and what is derived from the text by each side.  Making it a mission after a seventh grade classroom filled with disabled learners who already held the notion that they "can't read" and "reading is stupid," Wilhelm makes an effort for each student to garner knowledge from the book.  Wilhelm, for one, suggested that students are already disinterested in reading because they went through school all their lives just to read for homework and to give answers to the teacher.  Knowing this, and that ninety percent of classrooms are lecture based from the teacher where little interaction and stimulation occurs between the students with the material, he ventured to find a student-centered classroom that would allow students to appreciate reading and enter the world of its knowledge-divulging capability.  Interestingly, Wilhelm held the conception that many students will relate to what they read and find interest in that.  Therefore, rather than pushing a student towards something that doesn't interest him/her, he allowed for them to express their interest in the subject matter- and as long as they are reading and extracting knowledge from the sources they read, then he succeeded.  Such was the example with the rebellious, "goth chick" (as Wilhelm puts it) who was reading Marilyn Manson; he was able to help her express her interest through Manson's work and ultimately put together a presentation that marked her progress in the reading class.  Moreover, when Wilhelm decided to conduct his teacher-researcher based project, he was focusing on three interested readers, mainly, that could help him in the future how to allow students to make that leap into the world of reading.  His research showed him that many of these students, in order to be fond of reading, must first have a vision or goal when preparing to read a book.  His students always held a stance on what their role was going to be in that novel, thus allowing for another world to be created through the process- whether it was themselves as a character in the novel, an observer, or playing a role of jumping from one person's perspective to the next.  But the ultimate goal remained the same, which is to build upon something that was not there before, and continually find new perspectives and refine the reader's outlook that was not at that stage before the completion of the novel.  Therefore, it was important to constantly be thinking and taking in information that the text supplied that could benefit the reader outside the classroom as well.  To paraphrase what Wilhelm said, he mentioned that: "Literature must speak to life, and life must speak to literature," thereby creating a more developed reader each time by affording him/her the ability to constantly rework the perspectives and ideologies presented in the text.  And if a student was unable to identify him or herself in the story or even make assocations with real-life experiences, then they never could become a part of the book to obtain meaning from it.  And to supplement a "reluctant" reader or one who didn't quite understand the jist of the story, he allowed each student to produce an image (using material from magazines) to convey a particular event in the story, and used that depict what they thought the meaning of a certain scene was, thus allowing for each student to give an idea of their own interpretation of the work, and to learn how others "read" a novel which could assist one of the less-knowledgable readers.  Wilhelm heavily insisted on students more or less allowing them to teach themselves because it was they who would be making associations with the past and formulating new ideas when reading; and to quote Wilhelm, "When students read individually, they can exercise their individual taste and response . . ." (96).  And when a student was stuck, Wilhelm used scaffolding as a way to allow a student to "get it."  By doing so, he allowed for the reader to recognize the problem or inconsistency on their own, either an instance of irony or a gap in the story, and then he would push them into the zone of proximity and allow for them to have the epiphany of an "Ah-ha!" moment.  And lastly, what I summarized is what I found to be the most important concepts to be had from Wilhelm's book thus far in engaging a reader and getting the most use out of a book.

Literacy Profile

Hello, my name is Denny Fisher.  I'm from a small town in western Pennsylvania called Bedford.  My original aim was to pursue a Nutrition degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, but pulled out at the last minute because I was indecisive of what I really wanted to go to school for.  From there I attended a small community college and just declared my major as English because I couldn't decide on one and thought, "Hey, I like to read. I'll go with English."  However, I should mention that I have to be in the mood to read, usually from a subject the novel deals with that I feel like having a better understanding of, and also out of obigation to do so.  Although, I can usually get interested in required reading (teachers just have good taste).  I will say a part of me has always had a knack for reading.  I use to be in book clubs in the elementary grades that would go to competitions.  But then I lost sight of reading until about my senior year in High School, our teacher had _Beowulf_, _Night_, and_Oedipus Rex_ to name a few.  From there I started getting back my appreciation for reading and how powerful of a tool it is for learning.  Topics for leisurely reading I tend to go for usually seem to fall into the realm of that individual that has to overcome adversity either with his personal beliefs or against society at large.  Therefore, I like popular titles such as _1984_, _Siddhartha_, _Frankenstein_, _The House of Mirth_, and _Zastrozzi_ to name a few (and yes, I love the gothic genre of fiction).  And last of all to wrap this up, I want to show students in my own classroom of how powerful of a tool reading can be, whether it's garnering knowledge on a chosen topic or building your rhetoric, and how it serves many functions in helping students think more "outside the box" that allows them to be more creative and knowledgable in a wide array of subjects.