Response to A Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature

I really liked this article because it talked about some ideas we have discussed in class about the banking concept of teaching. The article touches on the idea that exists in literature where teachers have an end goal in mind for their students, and they guide their thoughts and reponses in a direction that leads them to the conlusion the teacher had in mind. The author does not agree with this form of literature teaching because it leaves little room for students to expand their horizons and think differently about the literature. Through the article, the author focuses her attention on the idea of horizon literature where students explore the possiblities of the literature. The readers are focused on going beyond the information and looking at the different characters, setting, and conflict, and how these things interact to create the story. Also, they take those same elements and apply them to the reader's everyday life. This form of "horizon of possiblilties," allows students to move beyond the surface level of the literature and the "ideal" interpretation of the story.  

When the author addressed how literature is generally taught in the classroom, I think she made some excellent points. Teachers generally go into a lesson about literature with an end goal in mind for their students, and they buil their lesson plans around that end goal. Therefore, when the lesson doesn't go according to plan, the teachers sort of panic because the class has strayed farther away and the teachers see it as digressing instead of engaging in good instruction. I think at the heart of the article, the author is trying to prove that digression from a lesson plan should be a good thing because it means the students are moving toward a horizon of the literature and not simply reiterating what the teacher hoped they would. I think that good literature teaching should promote digression and students applying the story to their lives because that is when some real literary gains will have been made. I think as a future ELA teacher, I have a great opportunity to show children all the possiblities literature can hold, and that there doesn't have to be a set end goal for them to reach. Unfortunetly though, like the article mentioned, it can be easy for teachers to have an end goal in mind which determines how the literature is taught. I hope that when I become a teacher of literature, I can foster an enviornment where students help guide themselves to the end goal of the literature because when a classroom is guided by student thinking, that is when I as the teacher can take a step back and allow the students to be self-guided learners.