Honoring the Experience of Literature: Secondary English Students Describe Experiences of and Respond to Literature

• In Event: Teacher as Researchers: Practitioner Inquiry

Abstract

Student descriptions of their literary experiences and their responses to literary texts are examined through a perspective of aesthetic and literary theory that views the reader as having an active role in making meaning with the text. Because of the structure of school, students are asked to account for their experiences and so I also examine interpretation and criticism. The data collected, presented in case studies of five students, shows the varying ways that these students aesthetically experience and respond to literary texts. These experiences are examined for the purpose of valuing and developing students’ own “inherent power” with literary texts instead of relying on traditional power dynamics within the classroom.

Author

• Whitney Sorensen, Weber School District