Beyond Ourselves

In Carillo's article “How Students Read: Some Thoughts on Why This Matters", she discusses the challenges that students have to move beyond text-to-self connections with literature. It makes sense because at this critical point in students' lives, the world does seem to revolve around them in how they are dealing with life, what is going on with their friends, and what is happening in their circle. It is essential for teachers that we should help students to become more aware of the world around them and how they can impact it.

Although it is important for students to find connections in text, it does not always have to be about their lives. I know the reason why I became so engrossed with reading at a young age because I enjoyed reading stories from people different from myself. I loved reading about other worlds and observing life through the lends of someone else. My goal as an educator is to have students engage with their world and to be okay to discussing topics that may be uncomfortable or different from their worldview but still be confident about their own values.

A quote that I highlighted in this article was a quote form Robert Scholes when he stated "we are not good, as a culture, at imagining the other" (Carillo 34). Too often we forget empathy and taking the time to understand the other. By "other" I mean anyone or thing that is outside of your comfort zone or knowledge. I noted the Doubting and Believing strategy which forces students to read and re-read text from a person who believes the text completely to another reader who doubts the text. Sometimes it is difficult for students to understand another person's plight or ideas but as educators, especially English teachers, it should be our goals to help students to be more willing to understand the other.

Pape mentions how we are "drowning in [information] What we lack is the human attention needed to make sense of it all" (Pape 77). It is not just students but also as educators we have to learn how to dissect all of the information surrounding us which might be a reason why students are more comfortable with self-to-text strategies when reading. I think it important to switch our view of an English classroom from just a literature class but into more of a communication class that includes all types of literacies from digital, news, etc. But we should not lower our expectations for students but rather set it high even when they are doing online reading. That is why discussion questions for students while they are reading new literacies is essential so they can learn how to sift through the information. Pape gives good examples that he breaks down into categories from Reader's Purpose, Stance/Argument, etc.

Work Cited:

Carillo, Ellen C. “How Students Read: Some Thoughts on Why This Matters.” English Journal, Vol. 106, No. 5, 2017, pp. 34-39.

Pape, Raymond. “Preparing Our Close Readers for the New Literacies.” English Journal, Vol. 105, No. 2, 2015, pp. 75-81.

Seabury, Marcia Bundy. “Soft(a)ware in the English Classroom: Bank on It.” English Journal, Vol. 107, No. 5, 2018, pp. 91.