I have always been a huge fan of Peter Elbow. Since I started teaching, his name has come up in nearly every seminar or workshop I’ve ever attended. As I was reading his section in When Writing Teachers Teach Literature, I couldn’t help but wonder how he shot to such popularity among English teachers. Then it came to me. Peter Elbow is so popular among teachers because he truly thinks outside of the traditional teaching scope and does a lot to ensure that his students aren’t only reading texts, but understanding it. While reading, “Breathing Life into the Text,” I found myself, yet again, loving Peter Elbow. He basically suggests four methods we should use to help students engage in text as they do in writing. I particularly liked two of his points: having students write before reading, and having student’s text-render.

As usual when I read and respond I almost always discuss either what I’m doing with my class, or how I can improve what I’m doing with my class. I was really pleased to know that I seem to be doing ok. Elbow wrote, “Before I ask students to read the text, I like to ask them to write on the theme or issue that is central to the text” (194). Just before my class started reading The Odyssey, that’s exactly what I asked them to do. The beauty of literature is that most often the central theme is so simple that it can be applied to anyone. Personally, I think if the theme isn’t relatable then perhaps we wouldn’t have so many avid readers. I digress. Before we started reading, I asked my students about their struggle to get to the United States-and even if it wasn’t a struggle, I wanted them to discuss how they got here and people they met along the way who either helped or hindered them. They gave such amazing stories of a real life struggle to get here; I guess a real struggle to get to their new home. Most of my regular (native English speakers) students have attempted this in the past, but my ESOL students by far wrote the most descriptive pieces I have ever read. Naturally they shared out loud and I think that brought them closer together as a class. Whether from Nigeria, South Korea or Ecuador, each student knew and experienced a struggle to get to the United States. After this activity, they were a lot more empathetic toward Odysseus. In the past, my students saw him as arrogant and wily, which he is, but they neglected to see him as a human who did inevitably want to get home for a better life with his wife and son. Now as we continue to read, my students are much more involved in his journey and are paying closer attention to what he takes or loses from each encounter on his way home.

Elbow’s concept to get them writing before reading really did help my students understand and empathize with Odysseus and his journey home. I just started The Odyssey about two weeks ago and I’m pleased to read that allowing my students to experience the text will also enhance their meaning. I feel that I already have them look at the words and phrases and discuss preconceived notions and embedded reactions, but I don’t think I allow them to act or render the scenes enough. We do pop corn readings to discuss language, but I didn’t start change the tone of our reading or changing character roles until this year. After our 610 class reading and reading Elbow’s suggestions, I started doing character voices when reading in my classes. They totally love it. I almost feel like I’m reading a story to my friend’s three-year-old, but it keeps my students engaged. When we split the parts and read in voices, I notice that they add a silly or serious tone to their parts. I do think this allows them to be closer to the reading. I took Elbow’s suggestion and I asked them to act out nonverbally the scene where Hermes is sent to tell Calypso she must let Odysseus go. It was totally hilarious. There was a lot of finger waving and sass from Hermes that they would have otherwise not implied if we just did a reading. The Calypso passage was also a perfect opportunity for them to do an imaginative writing after the reading. Because the description of Calypso’s paradise is so exact and full of imagery, I asked my students to write of their ideal hideaway. Again I was impressed by their demonstration of strong images and active adverbs and adjectives. They were clearly paying close attention to Homer’s style and trying to imitate it.

I find that it is much easier for my classes to appreciate reading when they approach it as a process, but not something that is already completed. It is important for them to understand that just as a writer has drafts, a reader does to. Every time a person re-reads a passage, they are essentially adding or taking out previous readings. I really enjoyed reading this book because I think there are a lot of good ideas that can be used in the classroom. I notice that some of my colleagues are stale and love the Xerox room so it’s refreshing to be reminded how good teaching doesn’t require a ten minute wait in line in a stuffy copy room.