Chapters 4-6 Wilhelm

These chapters focused on utilizing various outlets to encourage reading. Drama is one of the key elements that the author talked about and has incorporated in his classes. I believe that drama is a great way to encourage students to read and even to evoke excitement for reading. In my own experiences, I've found that when an exciting activity follows reading, I am more prone to analyze characters more thoroughly by comparing them to people in my life. For example, in high school I was apart of a literary circle group. After we had all read the book, we were supposed to dramatize one of the scenes in the book as a commercial for the rest of the class to read it. I was one of the characters and I really wanted to do my best to invoke the essence of this character so I followed the book closely. The scene turned out to be hilarious yet, gave the audience insight into our book and of course everyone wanted to read it!

Although I had an amazing time channeling the 'inner actor' in me, I never thought of the students who were'nt thrilled by drama, watching it or performing it. Thus, Wilhelm's ideas about drama being one of the most effective ways to reach students as it relates to reading is just that; only ONE of the ways. There are so many students who are not visual learners, so the classroom must be a place where those needs, no matter how different are met. Wilhelm gives great ideas and techniques to use in the classroom (including the activity to tell the truth, one of my personal favorites!) however, as tecahers we must think of even more ways to connect the text to lives of our students.