Appleman, Chapter 3

It makes a lot of sense when Appleman describes how reader response can be taught better by two things. One of these things is "teaching it more explicitly and also by teaching it as one of a variety of theoretical approaches rather than as the only possible approach. These two things are extremely important when regarding the ways to teach literary theory. Looking deeper into the reader-response theory, Appleman points out some good methods. One of which is not to pick out a poem that is very ambiguous but also to not tell the students what the title is. Whenever I read a poem, the title always sticks with me, I can never get it out of my head. This is a great way to get a great response. Reading the responses to the poem "Mushrooms" by Sylvia Plaith was amazing. There were so many great ideas to work with and build off of. Other practices that she demonstrates that I admired were incorporating Rosenblatt's reader response diagram. She then proceeded on to have them to respond to each of the three parts. It was very interesting to see the responses, especially when several of the students negatively identified themselves. I believe that I am a fan of reader response.