Critical Encounters Ch. 6

This chapter was somewhat shocking for me to read. I always thought deconstruction was just taking apart and analyzing a text, or literary work. This is always the term my teachers have used, especially in our poetry units when we are supposed to pick apart what the author is saying, and what the true meaning is behind a work. I was never introduced to this form of deconstruction, until just now, so it is very interesting to read about. i liked this chapter and all it had to offer. However i agree with Appleman that getting students to understand the definition is probably the hardest part, since i am still a little confused as to what deconstruction really is. Also, i think it is a very good idea to put the definition on the hand out, and give a few different ones to students. I believe that it might even be easier to explain what deconstruction is not, than what is actually is. I will be wary to use this theory in my classroom though, just because of the negative effects it can have on students. Since it is such a high intellectual challenge for students, it can prove to spark feelings foreign to students that they might not be fully comfortable with. I also think this can be a good thing for students to struggle with though because it does teach them to be skeptical about what they read and to question things in their lives, and text without relying on their own personal reader response. They can take the text, and have examples, and back up to help defend their stance on issues.