Appleman, Critical Encounters Chapter 3

Applemans chapter, "The Lens of Reader Response: The Promise and Peril of Response-Based Pedagogy," expresses a need for the teacher to be open minded when it comes to reader response. When we as teachers set off to teach a text or work of poetry we often forget how its practice may have diverted from its intentions. This is a very important point that Appleman discusses because it is all to familar for me when one of my teachers expresses an activity and the activity gets caught up in a direction that wasn't intended and the meaning gets mixed up. The reader-centered approach in my mind connects students to the text in ways that they create and that they develop. This approach allows students to be their own detective in a case that they can solve on their own. When students read a text when this approach is being taught, they are activly searching for meaning as they read which offers many interpretations and ideas that they can apply to their lives. This however can seem too perfect, when you know your students can relate to the story and are personally connected to it, but something is missing. Sure the students can relate to the story, but what about the context of the story and how that relates. This point is often neglected in the classroom, and is the downfall of reader-centered approaches. In my classroom, I hope that my students realize the importance of being personally related to the story, but i also hope that they know the context in which the story is relating to them. That is the key, in teaching reader-centered approaches to students.