Jeffrey D. Wilhelm poses a question, in “You Gotta BE the Book,” asking “what if we took on the ‘tomorrow mind’ instead of the ‘yesterday mind’?” (59). Well I am sure it is easier said than done, but should not that be the mindset of a teacher? As a future teacher am I not teaching and guiding tomorrow’s future? And, when dealing with tomorrow I do not think it would be worthwhile to dwell on yesterday. From some of Wilhelm’s experiences with tomorrow’s future, today’s students do not embrace reading; they consider it to be “like…pain” (21), or something that if they like it will “destroy [their] reputation” (29). There has to be something wrong with our current mindset to make students think reading is harmful or embarrassing because as teachers we know it is completely the opposite. So, I think as a future teacher I need to try to think with a “tomorrow mind” and then hopefully tomorrow will have students that look at reading as helpful and they’ll be proud of what they have read (and it looks like Wilhelm has done this for his students so we should high-five him for his “tomorrow mind”).
It is easy to say I want to have a “tomorrow mind,” but I have no idea how I would go about implementing it in my classroom. While reading chapter 3, it was almost overwhelming; I found myself starring things I would like to implement in my classroom and underlining theories backing up the starred items. Now I have these stars and underlines and all these ideas I want to bring to my classroom, but it makes me nervous because what I think it seems like quite the challenge to apply them. It will be easier to teach a text as solely a text (and even refer to it as a text to further ward off any student wanting to read it) and provide the students with worksheets and end of the chapter summaries. Easy is boring, boring for me and boring for students. So I have no idea really how I will go about trying to apply Wilhelm’s ideas, but I will try and find out what works and what doesn’t.
I mentioned in my literacy profile that I like books that I can relate to, and that is why I was so drawn to Wilhelm’s evocative and connective dimensions. There is something about connecting your own life to literature that makes reading easier and simply more fun. These strategies encourage the students to get into and see the setting of the story and actually vision the characters and their actions. Also once the students have entered the story world and met the characters they are encouraged to relate to story to their own life and experiences. These strategies encourage deeper reading and thought- it makes the students more than surface readers (which is awesome). Wilhelm’s concluding findings “that without the bringing of personally lived experience to literature, the reverse operation, bringing literature back to life, did not occur” (93). So although I do not how I will go about bringing Wilhelm’s findings into my classroom, I’m sure through trial and error I will get a good system going where my students are applying the evocative and connective dimensions to their in and out of classroom reading; resulting in students hopefully forgetting yesterday’s dislike for reading and embracing tomorrow’s found enjoyment in books.
Because at the end of the day, when teaching reading and literature we do not want to have a Jonah who thought we just wasted our time trying to teach them reading and literature.
My book is also filled with underlines and stars and notes about different activities and strategies I want to use in my classroom. I also feel a little overwhelmed by it, but although teaching in this way will be challenging, it will also be so much more fun for both the students and for us as teachers.
ReplyDeleteI also agree completely with you on the issue of wanting to have a “tomorrows mind” classroom but not knowing how to implement it. I want this type of classroom as well but I feel like it will be very hard to create, especially as a novice teacher. There are so many different things you can get creative about and use in the classroom that you almost don’t know where to even begin!!
ReplyDeleteWith the idea of connecting to the literature, I also liked how Wilhelm included each of the 3 student’s personal reactions to reading. This allowed me to be able to know more about the students and see a real life example of how students actually think when it comes to reading. It made me feel like I was more a part of the classroom that these students were in instead of just reading about them which was really enjoyable!
I think that as we get more experienced with teaching, we will learn more and more from our colleagues and from ourselves with our own reflections of how lessons and activities go with students. Even though we will all make mistakes in the beginning and throughout our careers, hopefully reflecting will help us be able to create the “tomorrow’s mind” type of classroom that so many of us preach about having one day.
Bethany, I agree with what you said. I think teachers are so stuck on how teaching has been done up to this point that they are scared to make progress. Teachers tend to dwell on old teaching habits instead of introducing new genres such as graphic novels. I also agree that reading is such a personal thing that the reader needs to get lost and explore in. How are readers supposed to do that if they look at a story and cannot find one ounce of interest in it? Books have genres for reasons, to appeal to certain readers. I know when I read for pleasure I read things that appeal to me. I mean sure, I could read a book about physics but I hate physics and I could not possibly learn anything from it unless I felt engaged in it. I think it is important as future teachers to take all this stuff in to consideration, although it does seem to be a lot and stressful. I am also worried about how my classroom will turn out but things can only improve from where we are today
ReplyDeleteI really admire your honesty about not being sure about how to to implement all of these strategies and theories. And I also admire your willingness to accept failure yet use it to become a more effective teacher; that is such an important characteristic for teachers to have - something that I really need to develop!
ReplyDeleteIt was fun seeing Jonah again! Haha :)
I felt the same way reading that chapter! I had no idea how to implement all those strategies into my classroom. And I agree with Sarah about how when you recognize failure it can make you a better teacher! I also liked how you used yesterday and tomorrow in your blog. It made me think about how important they are in teaching.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you put this idea, "...forgetting yesterday’s dislike for reading and embracing tomorrow’s found enjoyment in books." I feel that it is true that teachers need to get creative. Wilhelm showed some of his creativity in these chapters which can be used by teachers to get away from the easy boring techniques and create a useful atmosphere which welcomes all readers.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think you guys pretty much hit the nail on the head with the whole "tomorrow minded" thing - to get creative and continue bettering your teaching style. Also not to get stuck in the ways of the past, like Travis said. I also think being in that mindset means helping your students shake any past inhibitions they may have had in their literary experiences. Tomorrow is a new day, and it is never too late to start reading! If students do well today, they will always be prepared for tomorrow.
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