There was definitely a lot in The Literature Workshop that I identified with and enjoyed.  The transcriptions of the workshops are great models to use in the classroom, even if I realize I will not be getting quite the same level of response/cooperation as Blau’s students.

I agree with Nikki that although I read a lot of educational theory back in college it all seemed alien to me as I did not have any real world context to place it in.  For example, I know that I read Rosenblatt in college, but I do not really remember much of what she said.  Reading the summary of her ideas about efferent and aesthetic reading in Blau’s book (145-147) now, as someone with classroom experience, I am able to relate to it, and agree that it is one of the fundamental problems I run into as an English teacher.

“Why are we reading this?” “What are we supposed to be getting out of this?”  I am inundated with these questions on a daily basis.  The question as always been so hard to answer and annoying to me because to me it seems obvious: we are reading this because it is literature and the experience is supposed to enrich your lives.  I have tried to tell students that reading literature is all about the experience, about appreciating the language, of relating to a piece of art, of connecting to humanity via shared experience, and so on.  Nope.  They are not buying it.  “What are we supposed to get out of it?” really means “What will be on the test?”

Until I read this passage it never dawned on me that English class is really the ONLY place this students are expected to read aesthetically.  They have to read in every other class, but in every other class they are being trained to read efferently.  I am the only in that classroom who primarily reads texts that are meant to be read aesthetically.  It made me realize that I should be more forgiving of my students and their need to know “what they are supposed to be getting out of it.”

However, as Blau points out, testing for aesthetic reading is remarkable difficult.  There are the state mandated tests that are more efferent that aesthetically based.  There is also a push for common curriculum and common assessments in many school districts.  In my experience common assessments lead towards a “correct reading” of a text, and therefore a more efferent reading.  There is also administrative pressure for crunchable data on assessments.

I guess I should focus on what I can change, as the I do not see the educational system moving away from collective testing anytime soon.  What I need to do in my classroom is incorporate as much of Blau’s ideas about enriching a literary experience for students while also making sure that my students are prepared for the types of assessments that are mandated for secondary students these days.