Rereadings and Literacy: How Students' Second Readings Might Open Third Spaces

A secondary English teacher tells how he and his students confronted the question, How do we reclaim the joy of reading? After admitting that they didn't read very much for his assignments, the students were invited to help figure out where the joy of reading goes as students grow older. As the teacher and students discussed their experiences as readers, they studied essays edited by Anne Fadiman in her book, Rereadings. In these essays, writers reflected on their pasts and current lives as readers by rereading a book from years ago. The essays are part literary criticism, part memoir, and part author biography—and they offer much insight about students and their literary lives. The author recreates dialogue from classroom discussions, unpacks examples of student work, provides practical insights for other educators, and offers a theoretical framework within which one might consider Rereading essays in one's own classroom.

Lynch, T. (2008, December). Rereadings and Literacy: How Students' Second Readings Might Open Third Spaces. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(4), 334–341. doi: 10.1598/JAAL.52.4.6