John Miedema

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“Performance happens when students look closely at a piece of text and use their voices and bodies to explore the subtleties of the author’s words” (Lindblom, 2005, 116).

The heritage of VSR comes mainly from Religion, Philosophy and Literary Studies, and not without the occasional elitism of those disciplines, if only in perception. The influence of the Slow Movement has helped to shake off the stuffy airs of VSR. Another shake-up comes from teachers who have employed a diverse range of slow reading techniques with children in the classroom. The results have been positive, even according to the children. While a classroom setting is not entirely voluntary, the findings showed a increased pleasure in reading that continues beyond the classroom.

Metzger (1998) was concerned that her high-school students were not learning how to comprehend difficult text. After researching and experimenting with a number of techniques, Metzger found was she was looking for. She modified a pedagogy known as the Socratic Seminar, a focused discussion on the possible interpretations of a short piece of writing. Her modification entailed an outer circle that observes how an inner circle comprehends the text. “In other words, students focus on how they are reading as well as what they are reading.” She admitted that while the technique cannot make all students love reading, it does give them the skills to comprehend difficult text.

In an earlier version of Metzger’s technique, she led the discussion in the inner circle. She agreed with student feedback that it worked better when students led the discussion. Duke (1982) focuses explicitly on this theme, urging teachers to “encourage students to discover the meaning of a text for themselves, using the language of the text and without unnecessary intervention of the teacher.” Examples include journal entries and oral reading. This view suggests that not only can slow reading be voluntary, but also should be voluntary for the best quality of reading experience. It was discussed earlier how VSR involves an internalization or personalization of the reading material. Applying a highly prescribed technique or forcing the reading in some way is contrary to the essence of slow reading; to some extent, it must be voluntary for it to be slow reading.

In contrast to the more open approaches, Elder and Paul (2004) proposed five levels of close reading, with each level detailing more sophisticated expectations for the student to respond to. Their article lists point-by-point assessment requirements. This imposed structure seems to take slow reading out of the voluntary realm. However, their target group is college students where more refined techniques might be required to teach higher levels of analysis. At younger ages, a less prescribed approach can be adopted. Gillet & Temple (1994) suggested that elements of Mature Reading could be introduced as early as the second grade.

Rereading is a common technique used in close reading. Galef (1998) investigated rereading of narrative texts, including children’s literature. He examined how perspectives change after the first reading, and the distortions that emerge through repetition. In examining the gains and losses that go with re-reading, he observed that “Rereading has many joys but suspense is not one of them. Anticipation has replaced it.” Faust & Glenzer (2000) used re-reading in the classroom. The title of their article came from the testimony of their children: I could read those parts over and over. The students readily grasped that rereading literature is like watching movies and listening to music more than once.

Finally, another innovative approach is performance reading. Instead of having students read at their desks or have teachers read Hamlet’s soliloquy, Lindblom (2005) used performance methods in English classes. “Performance happens when students look closely at a piece of text and use their voices and bodies to explore the subtleties of the author’s words” (116). Lindblom called it “close reading on your feet” and the students loved it. Performance reading requires the performer to process the script in a deeper way, such as imagining how the character feels. It can be said that anything that extends the processing of a text is a type of VSR, and performance reading can be enjoyable at any age.

References

Duke, Charles R. (1982). Literature and the Making of Meaning. Murray, Kentucky: Department of English, Murray State University.

Elder, Linda & Paul, Richard (2004). Critical Thinking…and the Art of Close Reading, Part IV. Journal of Developmental Education, 28(2), pp. 36-37.

Faust, Mark A. & Glenzer, Nancy (2000). “I could read those parts over and over”: Eighth graders rereading to enhance enjoyment and learning with literature. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 44(3), pp. 234-239 .

Galef, David (1998). Second thoughts: A focus on Rereading. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

Gillet, J.W. & Temple, C. (1994). Understanding reading problems (4th ed.). NY: HarperCollins.

Lindblom, Kenneth (2005). Close reading on your feet: Performance in the English language arts classroom. English Journal, 95(1), 116-119.

Metzger, Margaret (1998). Teaching reading. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(3), 240-246.