Hi there, my name is Marissa Schweitzer and this podcast is for my English 747 class.

During this podcast I will interviewed by my wonderful husband Eli as he prompts me to reflect upon 3 significant literacy experiences that have helped constitute my personal perspectives on learning and teaching reading in English Language Arts.

Eli: So Marissa tell me about one significant literary event you have experienced in your student life:

M: Well, when I was in final year of university I took a class entitled “Victorian and Edwardian Children’s Fiction”.

-Right away we were introduced to a project that was expected to take the entirety of the semester and it was called the “BYOT” assignment which stands for Bring your own text.

-The concept of the assignment was to find a book within the realm of children’s literature published in the 1800’s. You could find this book in the university’s library or special collections or you could use one that you already had or you could go to used bookstores and buy your own.

-With this book you were asked to research and discover EVERYTHING about it. I mean everything. Aside from reading the book and analyzing the contents in comparison to the 1800’s expectations and genres for children’s lit we also were expected to contrast it with today’s children’s literature.  Then we were asked to research the book’s author, publisher, editor, seller, illustrator and engraver. As well as how the books was physically made, what kind of cover did it have, what colour was the cover, how large was the book. Finally, what did we know or could we discover about the reader or readers of the book. Was there an inscription, or what could we deduce based on the wear and tear or selling statistics.

-At the end of the semester we would then present the assignment in a round-circle type presentation where were he book, your paper and a poster, would you sit at a desk and talk to people as they walked by your table.

Eli: Well that sounds like a huge project.

M: It was! But because it allowed so much freedom for creativity and for the student to choose what interested them it made the project more exciting. By the time I was presenting the project I was entirely committed to the work and my research. The book ended up being exceptionally important to me and my career as a student.

Eli: With such a huge project on the table did your class do other assignments as well or was every class a workshop towards the overall end product for this BYOT assignment.

M: No no, our class did  multiple other assignments and papers along the way. However, now that I look back I can see that all of our other assignments were scaffolding us to succeed in this semester long project. For instance, our professor did multiple lectures on engravers and techniques of engraving for illustrations and we did a mini project where we had to pick and research an engraver of the period. We also did a workshop on bookbinding and how the physicality of a book could more or less determine the book’s worth and readership. However, for mean the best workshop was one focused on research and online databases, in how to access these really old news articles about our chosen books.

I can see how all of these assignments and classes were my professors way of utilizing a gradual release of responsibility to ensure that we were properly prepared and on track with our year-end project. Our professor monitored and anticipated our learning needs for this massive project and was constantly giving us the information we needed to succeed which I believe really helped this project be a positive experience rather than an overwhelming one, as she always allowed us to keep on track amidst other classes and other papers.

Also, on the opposite end, this project reinforced all of the subjects we learnt in class and prepared us for our final exam. It was one of the few university classes I have take that I can still remember little details about to this day.

Eli: This idea of “scaffolding” sounds extremely useful, and from your excitement I can tell that this project meant a lot to you. Do you want to quickly summarize what your specific project was about?

M: It really did and sure I will. I chose a book entitled “ A picture history of England for the Young” which was actually a textbook on the history of England. It was published in 1870 and from the inscription I knew that it was given to a boy as a christmas present from his father. After research and analyzing my book for months I realized that it was really an anomaly among its kind. The book was by an author that was hugely underrated, it was illustrated by an artist that was relatively unknown and yet it was produced by an exceptionally successful publishing company and engraved by very famous engravers. This toss up wouldn’t be so strange if it wasn’t for how unsuccessful the book did. The book had very few editions especially considering its topic as others of its kind were very popular. I determined that the book itself was presented in perhaps a strange way as it was clothed in finer vellum and had golden inscriptions, it seems that perhaps it was not presented in an appropriate way to be affordable as a children's text.

E: Whoa, you really do know a lot about this book.

M: Yes I do, and I am still very intimately attached to the assignment and the book as I believe it was one of my best assignments throughout my English student career. In fact, after the semester had ended I was asked to have my project on display in the English department along with only three other projects from my class. I was flattered and this recognition only made the project mean that much more to me.

E: That is a very impressive feat!  Well done!

M: Thanks!

E: So what is your other significant literary moment you were going to share?

M: Yes! Well, this moment is not so much an assignment as it is an experience. In Grade 9 I was placed into the into the best English class a student could ask for with a teacher who was enthusiastic and passionate about English, class community and reading for the fun of it.

It was in this class that everyday we were given fifteen minutes of silent reading of a book of our choice. I remember burning through tons of young adult novels during our first two months of class, and then suddenly that teacher had to leave as she had received a contract at another high school on the island and our class was moved to a new room with a new teacher. Although this teacher was also enthusiastic and passionate, she did not allot us that 15 minutes of silent reading. Although I did not realize at the time, I really needed that outlet.

E: What do you mean by outlet?

M: Well, for me that fifteen minutes of silent reading gave me a chance to escape from the craziness that was high-school into a fictional place where I could envelop myself in whatever topic or feeling I wanted to. I realize now that in high school  I was becoming more self-aware and socially aware which meant taking on new perspectives and feelings. Do that through a novel in a structured amount of time gave me a safe place to explore where I didn’t need to be self conscious. I hope that makes sense.

E: I think it does!

M: I am glad, actually it was funny because as the semester went on I found that I would do just about anything to get that silent reading time back. I would rush through my in class work so that I could have some time to read while others were finishing up. I would excuse myself to the bathroom and really go read in the hallway for five minutes and when I was really desperate (at a great part in my book) I would just hold the book open under my desk and subtly read while the teacher was lecturing on new topics.

E: The equivalent of kids today trying to text their friends during class.

M: Yes exactly! At the end of the day I see that not having that 15 minute structured escape really hindered my learning as I lost focus in the class and some interest in English. All I wanted was a minute to just read for the fun of it.

E: So from a teachers perspective what do you think the first teacher was thinking compared to the second one? Why did one teacher value silent reading while the other one did not?

M: I think that the first teacher had the right idea, that for students to learn about writing and grow their interest in reading, they need to read just for the fun of it. To read for fun you need to be reading something that interests you and that will lead to students reading from an aesthetic stance rather than an efferent stance.

E: Aesthetic vs. Efferent?

M: Aesthetic reading means that you- the reader- are engaging personally with the text and and drawing on life experiences to relate to it and the characters, whereas efferent reading is more so reading to gain information, like when you read from a textbook, very surface level.

I think that the second teacher deemed it to be important to “learn, learn, learn” English and for us to learn we had to be didactically taught. Whereas the first teacher seemed to take more of an authentic stance that we could learn by ourselves and do so in a deeper way with more autonomy.

E: So now that you are an up and coming teacher, how would you mix these two perspectives, between didactic and authentic?

M: In this program I learnt about this really awesome teaching technique called “Literature circles” where students are placed into groups and all of the students within the group read the same book (althuogh other groups read different ones) and then as they read they discuss the novel (like a mini book club) but with particular leading converstastion. So, each student has a particular assigned role to facilitate conversation within the group.

E: But if I understand this properly, you would still be missing that authentic moment for students to read by themselves and learn, and if the whole group has the same book then where is the freedom of choice?

M: Aah! You see, they would still be allowed silent reading time before the group discussion so they have a chance to enjoy the novel and inwardly reflect. But with the lit circle that silent reading is used towards a learning goal - thus teachers that are all about “learn,learn, learn” see how silent reading can lead towards a structured outcome. As for freedom to choose, from my experience a lot of teenagers are interested in similar books. If you are allowed to team up with your friends (who usually are similar to you) odds are you will all really enjoy the book that you settled on as a group. I know that in that Grade 9 class a group of four of us cycled through all of the same books during our silent reading times, trading the Twilight series like nobodys business.

E: Oh Twilight.

M: I was in Grade 9!

E: So In your eyes, looking forward into teaching how do these two experiences reflect on the curriculum that you will be expected to teach? Do they match up?

M: Yes actually these two experiences match the new curriculum really significantly.

For instance, looking at the Grade 11 “Literary Studies” curriculum, one of the Big Ideas is : that Texts are socially, culturally, geographically, and historically constructed. This completely relates to the BYOT assignment that I discussed earlier. That assignment delved very deeply into the social, cultural, geographical and historical context of the novel. With that the curricular competency states that students must learn to: Think critically, creatively, and reflectively to explore ideas within, between, and beyond texts. I mean come on! “within, between, and beyond texts” that is EXACTLY what we did during this assignment. Looking at content, stucture, physical make and societal implication. This project touched on every part of these expectations.

E: But that was a university assignment and you are comparing it to Grade 11 curriculum.

M: I do realize that, however, I believe that there is not reason why I cannot make a project similar to this one happen in a Grade 11 class. I would have to lower some of the standards and ensure that all of the learning was occurring in an in-class and affordable way. But giving the students the autonomy to choose a book that interests them and allow them to become completely intimate with that book sounds like a good idea to me!

E: Okay that is fair and it does sound like an interesting project!

M: For sure! As for the silent reading, I think that the teacher that allowed it also connected to parts of the new curriculum as it was reinforcing the Big Idea of “ The exploration of text and story deepens our understanding of diverse, complex ideas about identity, others, and the world.” As I mentioned before the silent reading time allowed me to look into and develop my own identity as well as understand the perspectives of others as I related the stories to my own life. The curricular competency states that students should learn to: “Construct meaningful personal connections between self, text, and world” and to just “Read for enjoyment”. I believe that silent reading was the perfect way to enlist these competencies and as an upcoming teacher I am very committed to providing that time in my classroom.

E: So it seems that these literary experiences have really influenced your development of an upcoming English Language Arts teacher.

M: They certainly have, and reflecting on these experiences has really showed my that importance of students having structured freedom in their learning.

E: What do you mean by structured freedom?

M: I mean giving the students autonomy where they get to explore their interests and yet structure to keep them accountable in their learning and assignments. In my experience this little bit of guided independence allowed me to feel like a developing and respected adult, which I think is the perfect medium between having a teacher hold your hand through an assignment, or just give you an outline and expect you to run with it.

E: That sounds pretty ideal to me!

M: I think I just developed my teaching philosophy!

E: Well I am happy to help. Thank you for doing this podcast and reflecting upon your experiences with me.

M: No no, thank you!!

E: This is the Eli and Marissa Schweitzer signing off.