Chapter 4: Reader Response

This chapter culminates all of the 3 previous chapters into the reader’s response to a text. This chapter also brings back into the light that not all responses are the same to a text and that each reader will take something different away from the text. There is no one correct response to a book and if children understand that then they will be more inclined to make their assertions known about a text. I have had a few teachers that have read a book one way and their reading of it was right and the things that other people took from the book were wrong. That is not the way to teach a novel because it stifles original thought and creativity. As long as a child or young adult can justify their responses to a novel then their interpretation should be seen as valid and correct in the eyes of the teacher. Taking their hypothetical responses and their preferences into consideration it is up to us as teachers to choose books that will resonate with them as well as expand their reading repertoire.

As teachers we have to encourage their deeper and higher level understanding of books as well as understand what they take away from it and validate it. If we constantly tell them that their interpretation is wrong why would they ever want to read another novel again? They wouldn’t and we want our students to read for fun and for school. By encouraging talking in groups and presenting to the class about the things they found out in novels encourages social interaction but also gives new ideas to other students that they might not have considered and thus broadens their horizons. This broadening of horizons further develops their ability to think critically which, is a function of higher level thinking.

When choosing novels for our classrooms we cannot choose books that are to challenging developmentally for our students but we should also have to have some books that are slightly elevated so that it gives them a challenge. If they rise to the challenge of a harder book they will definitely be prouder of themselves and this will encourage them to read more and tackle harder books as they are able. We do not want to make their reading selections so easy that they do not have to think as they read but we also do not want to make them so hard that they struggle reading the books.

When they have finished a book or story they should be able to have fun presenting their understanding to the class or to the teacher. While group discussions are fantastic some students will not participate fully in them because they are shy. For these students doing something like a journal would be great because then they can write how they felt or saw the book in a very low pressure environment and then the teacher can read it to see where they are in understanding. Another fun thing to do is act out scenes from the book or to re-enact the entire book for class. This allows the teacher to see what kind of miscues the students are receiving from the book so that they can modify their pre-reading vocabulary or pertinent information so that their students better understand the text.