Wilhelm Chapter 2

In chapter 2, Wilhelm raises some interesting questions about the nature of reading. I found it interesting that he does in fact value the concept of valid reading, and he recognizes the fact that even though it is very important to simply get the kids reading, the most important thing is that at some point they're actually reading for meaning. Wilhelm has started to present some of the interesting things he discovered through the conversations he had with his students. It's hard for me to believe that even in a large class there were even three kids that were so open and ready to talk about the reading experiences they had, reading experiences that they actually enjoyed! Of course it's no surprise that the biggest complaint the students have is that the reading they do at school isn't anything at all and isn't nearly as enjoyable as the reading they do by themselves at home. Wilhelm then goes on to cover the same ground that most other literature teachers are covering these days, mainly the fact that students need to have access to a very wide selection of reading material so that there is a lot of things for them to choose from and there for there's a higher chance that all of the students will find something interesting. Because after all, simply getting them to read is always step one.