Discusses the conflict over deconstruction, explaining its usefulness in reading, writing, and responding to poetry. After defining deconstruction, presents five approaches to deconstructive reading (self-referentiality, reading from different positions, binary oppositions, figurative/literal language, and intertextuality) and concludes that…

Although, by the time of her death, Louise Rosenblatt was highly respected in the fields of composition and reading theory, she did not enjoy the same status among literary theorists. In this article, the author argues that Rosenblatt should be taken seriously as a literary theorist. The author shares her views on Rosenblatt's "Literature as…

The advent of postmodern criticism has brought about numerous changes in the way those in the academy read and teach the reading of texts. From Michel Foucault's "What is an Author?" to Roland Barthes'"The Death of the Author" and beyond, critics and theorists have sought to decrease the author-ity of the material that is read.…

Reveals that both censors and adolescents interpret "Catcher in the Rye,""Go Ask Alice," and "A Hero Ain't Nothin But a Sandwich." Each group reacts only to certain subtexts (obscenity, sexuality, rebellion) rather than interacting with the books as a whole; thus misinterpretations are bound to continue. (SKC)

Claims that the real value of a response journal is that it enables readers to make meaning as they read, to be actively involved in their own learning process. Includes guidelines for keeping a response journal. (JAD)

Reasons that teachers of literature should have as their focus not what writers do but what readers do in the process of reading literature. Concludes that readers construct literary works based on their own experience, education, and ability to imagine in response to a writer's suggestions. (JAD)

Uses the author's poems to illustrate the interrelationships among a poem's rhythm, lineation, and syntax. (MM)

Examines characteristics of quality children's literature by analyzing both children and adult responses to Ezra Keats' story, "The Snowy Day." Concludes that good literature calls forth a strong narrative voice from readers exploring their own realities as they read. (MM)

Uses stimulated recall to elicit a retrospective account from two alternative school students who choreographed a dance to depict their understanding of the relationship between the two central characters in a short story. Suggests that these students' account illustrates the way in which reader, text, and context participate in a complex…

Presents the third part of a six-part series in which the authors respond to a ninth grader's first impressions of "Reel One," a poem by Adrien Stoutenburg. Urges readers to participate by reading the student's impressions and reflecting on the student's interpretations. (MM)

Examines the written responses of Hispanic, African-American and Caucasian elementary students after listening to various African-American stories to see whether engagement with text is related to student's ethnicity. Finds that students were equally capable of engagement in the African-American stories regardless of their ethnicity. (RS)

Investigates readers' perceptions of bias in a Colorado ballot booklet intended to explain a tax cut proposal. Finds that readers were more likely to perceive the ballot booklet to be biased in favor of the proposed tax measure than against it. (SC)

Freire told his audience at a seminar at the University of Massachusetts, "You need to read knee-deep in texts, for deeper than surface meanings, and you need to know the words to be able to do it" (quoted in Cleary, 2003). In a children's literature class, fifteen teachers and I traveled along a path that moved us toward reading…

Assuming that readers' emotional responses can enhance readers' metacognitive experiences and inform literary analysis, this study of 11th-grade poetry readers features instruction that models both cognitive and affective reading processes. The author: (1) Presents a case for more explicit attention to emotion in language arts classrooms; (2)…

The stasis, stock, kinetic, spectator, and dialectic responses to literature all serve to deny the popular misconception that literary analysis invariably deals a death blow to the vitally engaged, spontaneous, and thus authentic response. Stasis is a response in which an intuited imaginative identity between subject and object develops in an…