Tovani stimulates thoughts on Hull and Rose's reading or have I been merely distracted?

Tovani's down to earth and direct manner seems to have drawn in the students successfully. The reading strategies she introduces to the class are organic and easy to apply. Reading these four chapters, and hearing the responses from both Tovani and the students, made me think about my own reading experience. I can relate to all the feelings and reading difficulties the students mention, but I have also come to the reading strategies discussed in the book on my own naturally, however late, but not too late  Therefore, I'm all for intervention-- sooner is always better than later. Why were Tovanni's students not  helped in grade school?

Tovani's approach and teaching strategies also stimulated some thoughts on Rose's discussion with his Asian student Robert.  I never fully understood why Rose was seeking insight into Robert's conclusions of the poem. I know by listening to how Rob arrived at his conclusions, Rose was getting a better understanding of its source, and thus of Robert, but was it for its own sake? Or was it for the sake of exposing and creating an entree, for Robert, into the traditional scholarly interpretations of literature? (Or perhaps it was both.) Not that this would be misleading; we all know that that's what academia does best-to pass down information and knowledge of other scholars. I mean, who today has time to foster original thinking. However, although I understand that teacher's have limited time and a great deal of material to teach, I believe that one should not lose sight of one of the most important goals of education, to lead the student to the capability of thinking for himself.

To get an answer, I had to glance over "The Wooden Shack." I went to the conclusion section and read the last paragraph-- I think this explains it: "Robert's interpretation, though, will cause his teacher to modify his reading, and the teacher's interpretation will help Robert acquire an additional approach to the poem."

By "modify his reading," I understand that Rose will not automatically assume or expect the students to have conventional interpretations of the readings; nonetheless, the knowledge Rose imparts will juxtapose Robert's own social and cultural interpretations of the poem's lines. This doesn't mean Rose intends to give up having expectations altogether:  Since there are right on or "off the mark" answers, according to Professor Rose, it seems Robert will be left to struggle on his own with these side by side interpretations, with the expectations that he will eventually arrive at the conventional conclusions presented by Rose, which is what I suppose the author intended, because Rose's reading seems to be much more reasoned and on the mark.

More importantly, the presence of expectations are inspiring when they are imbued with high expectations of a student's ability and intelligence to comprehend and perform well,  even when not performed at the conventionally expected pace.

 Approach all and everything with a wary eye, which is the scientific approach.


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