Reflection on Ripp and My YA Pedagogy

I have yet to start teaching literature to students, so it's hard for me to fully relate to Ripp's experiences during her first four years of teaching. However, she acknowledges that being a reading role model hadn't crossed her mind until her fourth year of teaching when she came back from maternity leave. She now recognizes the importance of being one because it helps to positively influence your students. Even though I have yet to start teaching young students in a classroom, I am already aware of how important being a reading role model is as an English teacher. Yes, I want my students to be able to go to others when my knowledge of the novels they want to read isn't enough, but I also want them to feel confident in my reading expertise to ask for my opinions. 

Ripp believes that students start to love reading when they develop their own reading identities, and I agree with this, but I also disagree. I think that students must have the background knowledge of how to read to start developing their own reading identities and their love for reading. Yes, I believe that having a reading identity strengthens one's passion or love for reading, but you can't have that passion or love for reading if you don't know how to read. As an English teacher, I want to make sure that all of my students are reading at the level they need to be and understand/know how to read (effectively).

Another aspect of the reading that sticks out to me is the reading conferences. I agree with Ripp that they are essential, and as a future teacher, I want to know about my students' reading. I definitely plan to incorporate this into my future classroom though I'm not exactly sure how yet. I know that the fifteen minutes Ripp gives each of her students will most likely be too much time for me, so I will need to adjust the timing and logistics of prep-work for them before I implement them. I also know that I will always be tweaking the process until I find a way that works for the majority of my class. 

Ripp also discusses the use of audiobooks in her classroom. She claims that allowing her students to use audiobooks has helped engaged students - who haven't liked reading before - in books. I also think that this is a useful tool to get students into reading. Though I do think it'll be useful to all of my future students because even as an avid reader, I still love listening to audiobooks and they help me become more engaged. I also think audiobooks are great tools for those with dyslexia or other reading difficulties.