Judith Langer's Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature

I've always wanted to teach literature because stories are like living creatures which help us grow in ways we may never have expected.  Stories engage and entertain us, they teach us, they provoke us and challenge us to see the world and our lives differently.  So teaching literature in the old-school way, complete with vocabulary quizzes and multiple choice tests on characters and theme, just doesn’t feel right to me. 

 

I can remember a high school English teacher explaining the themes and the meaning hidden behind character’s names and what the characters themselves represented.  I left that class still loving the book, but heartily dissatisfied with the lack of exploration.  On test day I filled in the response the teacher desired and I’m sure she went home feeling good about her day.      

 

It was wonderful to read Judith Langer’s “A Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature”, and see the process of teaching literature unfold in such an exciting way.  Teaching literature as the vibrant thing that it is and allowing the students a way to find their own way to interpret it brings life into the subject. 

 

I appreciated Langer providing guidelines to accomplish the goals of this way of teaching.  I liked that she mentioned at least twice that the teacher should encourage “wonderings and hunches even more than absolutes”.  This is what tells us the students are truly thinking through the material and finding ways to integrate and, hopefully, retain the information.  Allowing the students ideas and interpretations to be the guide in the discussions was also very exciting. 

 

This way of teaching Literature will help the students engage with what they are learning.  The discussions will help students learn open yet respectful discourse and will help them develop new ways of looking at Literature, as well as learning material of all kinds.  It will also develop their critical thinking skills and help them to see different perspectives, which may serve them well in countless ways throughout their lives.