You Gotta Be the Book-Ch 6

Wilhelm is a great example for the type of teacher i want to be, and the style of teaching i want to partake in. i want to be able to create a highly motivated learning environment and most of all, i want to learn things from my students. This is something that Wilhelm did through his research, but benefited him more than those students probably know. He not only got them to enjoy reading, on some level, he was able to make them into active, interested readers. Teachers have to be willing to refocus their agenda, like Wilhelm did to best reach his students. He went beyond the curriculum and introduced students to other works outside the "canon". Wilhelm makes a good point that we need to ask ourselves if we want to teach the texts, or if we want to reach students on a different level and make them engaged and make personal connections with texts that they can take with them through their lives. I think that this is a struggle teachers have with themselves, but also within their curriculum, school, and school district. I personally believe that as long as the reader can make a personal connection, on some level to the text and using any means possible, such as drama, art, etc. it is still giving them the opportunity to have an experience with that text. A few things i wish Wilhelm did were to not group his students so much when he talked about them. It would have been nice to hear what the engaged readers did with the drama and the visual arts way of approaching the text and if it helped them any father, or if they didn't get anything out it and just thought it was a waste of time.