"You Gotta BE the Book": Teaching Engaged and Reflective Reading with Adolescents

Language and Literacy

by Jeffrey D. Wilhelm

Over a decade ago, Jeffrey Wilhelm s groundbreaking book showed educators how to think of reading as a personally meaningful, pleasurable, and productive pursuit. In the 13 years since its publication, the author has experimented with and further developed all of the techniques he first explored in You Gotta BE the Book, including visual techniques, drama and action strategies, think-aloud protocols, and symbolic story representation/reading manipulatives. In this expanded edition, Wilhelm adds a new commentary to each chapter in which he reflects on the research and insights he introduced in his now classic text.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Professional Development, School, Nonfiction, Read For School

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Lakyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars because of the appendix full of possible ideas for my kids who love doing skits

[Whitney Sorensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the teaching books I've read, this is one of the top ones that has helped the most with teaching reading. All of the theory that Wilhelm examines really helped me see my own teaching in a new light . . .What traditions have I fell into as a new teacher that came from older, more traditional teachers?

I found the research based practices that Wilhelm advocates- visualizing and drama-- will be so helpful in making my reading instruction better. Very excited to implement them!

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars because in 1997 when it was published it offered new and valuable insight to the struggle of resistant and struggling readers. Reading it now was strangely both disappointing and affirming. Disappointing because as I was reading I felt like I learned little that was new, except for Wilhelm's motivation and research methods. Affirming because I already use the thinking, strategies, and processes outlined in this book. I am so glad to realize that the change in pedagogy that Wilhelm introduced has been fully incorporated in education. This book also seems to serve as the foundation or spring board for West Ed's Reading Apprenticeship Program. If you liked this book and want more effective and engaging reading pedagogy and strategies, check out Reading For Understanding (West Ed) or Janet Allen's Yellow Brick Roads (2000).

[Dr. Hrubik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me awhile to get through. There is a ton of information and so much research built in supporting Wilhelm's main points about reading and how kids read. I learned a lot and will use this book in my own teaching.

[Suzanne Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

He uses drama, art, and reflections on reading to help his students develop reading skills, but the book is very repetitive.

[Liam Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some pretty helpful pedagogical theory in here aiming at engaging young readers in the classroom. I look forward to employing the visual and tactile techniques into my classroom this Fall!

[Benjamin Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think this book was what I wanted. It was okay though.

[Alyssa Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

For teachers or parents out there who are struggling to get their kid to read - get this book! Wilhelm has spent years researching the best methods for engaging struggling readers with books, and for helping engaged readers find even more meaningful ways of connecting with stories, novels, and other texts. "You Gotta BE the Book" gives a fairly good overview of why struggling readers don't like reading, what's preventing them from enjoying books, and how to fix it. It also presents some simple activities that are incredibly effective at helping kids enjoy and make meaning from what they read.

As teachers, it is our responsibility to help struggling students over obstacles. This book isn't just for English teachers, though it definitely has more relevance to them than to any other subject; however, if you teach reading at all in your classroom, Wilhelm's ideas about reading activities and the struggle of low-level readers are definitely worth checking out. I found this book accessible, enjoyable, and incredibly useful in understanding the problems that many students go through and the ways we can help them overcome those problems.

Some of the ideas seem very simple or common-sense, but it's nice to be reminded of what may help students. I especially liked Wilhelm's ideas of using drama and art to respond to a text, instead of the more common question-and-answer or essay approach. I think that all of the activities he presents are practical and easy to implement in the classroom. Read this one! It's worth it.

[Mikey T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to start by saying that I read Wilhelm’s book after reading Gallagher’s Readicide and Deeper Reading, and I found the writing to be comparatively dryer than Gallagher’s. Not to say this book is bad; it was just harder to get into at first. Once you get to the 4th chapter, the book begins to provide great insights and ideas to incorporate drama and visual art into the classroom readings.
What this book says in its first chapters is also important, as well. He lays out the idea that as teachers, we need to notice our students reading habits- where, what, how, how frequent. Wilhelm stresses the importance of knowing the quirks of each student. Some students need to find alternative ways to understand. Knowing the particular quirks of a particular student could be useful when approaching future lessons. He continually states that it is important for students to be able to make a personal connection to the text in order to comprehend the text. He also states that it can be a trail and error process, but provides many examples that can be used or made variations of.
Engaging the unengaged readers can be a challenge for any teacher. Wilhelm lays out some great ideas to stimulate interest by using visual imagery and drama.
This book is good for future and present teachers. It makes one consider how the teaching of reading should be approached. Many of the exercises and ideas provided can prove to be helpful for the classroom.

[Just.a.little.haiku · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a pre-service teacher or a teacher with struggling readers in your class, I'd recommend this book to you. The writing was a little (just a little) dry at times, but the ideas are immensely valuable.

I am a pre-service English teacher and I read this book as part of my research on engaging adolescents in reading. The way that Wilhelm conceptualizes the issue - drawing upon what his expert readers do to attempt to get reluctant or struggling readers to that level - was extremely helpful for me in thinking about moves to make in my future classrooms. I photocopied Appendix A - a list of ten dimensions of reader response, the moves that fall under these dimensions, questions to ask students to evoke these dimensions, and potential teaching activities to help students glean a fuller understanding of these dimensions - for future reference. Wilhelm's work with dramatic and artistic representations in the classroom is also innovative and I love that it draws upon multiple intelligences (one of my personal favorite pedagogical theories). Finally, Wilhelm's care about students as readers and individuals, as opposed to their test scores, is even more radical now than it was when he first wrote this book.

[Silver Swan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book that gives insight into what engaged readers do as they read...and how their inner strategies may be applied in outward activities for unmotivated readers. Although the focus of the book is middle school, it really is a valuable read for anyone who is going into education...or just someone who wants to help others find enjoyment in reading.

The book is well written, but at times it did seem to get a little repetitious. For me, the most interesting parts to read were the student comments and information on some of the drama techniques used by Wilhelm in the classroom.

[Lynette · Rating 2 out of 5]

You had to read over half of the book before Wilhelm actually started discussing his "effective strategies." And once you got there, it was nothing spectacular! Strategies that we all use often. The first three chapters were really just discussing how AWESOME he is as a reading teacher (which he's not even teaching anymore). The book was published in 1979, so the suggestions were probably ground-breaking at the time. As of now, there are some good games and activities you can use in your lessons, but nothing truly new and innovative. Overall, it was a really dense read and hard to get through.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always a good read, especially for Wilhelm's thoughts on using dramatic and artistic activities with secondary readers. It's been interesting re-reading this alongside Kelly Gallagher's work; the two have a lot of common ground, along with others like Kylene Beers and Chris Tovani. In this updated edition, Wilhelm provides a little commentary in each chapter, describing his thoughts and experiences with those topics, since the publication of the first edition. I would always recommend this book to any teacher or teacher educator, who is interested in getting students to read more.

[Rena Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is about the 3rd or 4th book of Wilhelm's I've read. They are full of good advice on teaching reading, as well as honest experiences of things he's tried as a teacher and had success or failure with. He's very honest and helpful with his stories, anecdotes and suggestions. Just enough narrative with numbered or bulleted sections to keep it organized and me interested.
He's a must read for educators.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good discussion of teacher research and some strategies to help readers enter the story world. It is pretty scholarly reading and mostly describes the research that Jeffrey Wilhelm was doing in his classes. I was hoping there would be more suggestions of how to use drama and art strategies in the classroom. I am looking forward to finding more of Wilhelm's books and hopefully finding those lesson ideas and strategies to implement.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was prepared for another here's-what-you-should-be-doing book without a comprehensive how. I was very pleasantly surprised that that was not the case. Wilhelm renewed my enthusiasm for helping reluctant readers by showing how things worked in his classroom. But, he ups the value of the book by including some lessons and ideas in appendixes. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to read and work with the book and look forward to reading others by the author. And meeting him!!

[jacky]

Again, one I hear of all the time but haven't checked out. And again, this one might be a good one for this summer since I will be getting more struggling and unmotivated students in my mix next year. Also, I sometimes feel my class gets a little stale, so some new ideas to engage and liven class would be very helpful.

[Jonathan Brammer · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some interesting strategies here, especially SRI (symbolic reader response). Wilhelm focuses on visualization strategies including art and drama, but does not address problems with decoding. I have already implemented a couple of these ideas in my classroom with some degree of success.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am completely loving this one--Wilhelm strikes the ideal balance between a theorist and a practitioner. His data is drawn from work he did in his own classroom, with his own students, but he's so thoughtful and well-read that he really illuminates his practical points with theory and his theoretical points with practice. Love it.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilhelm did an excellent job describing the struggles readers encounter. I enjoyed how he not only included the thought processes of good readers, but also of those that struggled. He described activities that could be done with students to get them more engaged with reading and got feedback from those students that participated.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is for educators looking for ways to gather formative assessments into the reading lives of their students to guide instruction and improve motivation and engagement. It would also be good for those educators looking to create an action research project using the students in their classroom.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had some interesting ideas concerning teaching strategies for increasing students' interest and comprehension of reading. Has a few too many anecdotes for my tastes, but if you can push through all the stories about Ron and Marvin and whoever there are some insights to be gleaned from the spaces in between the stories.

[Anne-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilhelm encourages teachers to have students respond to literature in dramatic and artistic ways. He believes that this experiential learning gives students a sense of ownership, empowerment, and critical thinking skills. Whole chapter devoted to reader response questions to ask students.

[Rigatoni Baloney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offers insight into how to help students enjoy reading, including many many activities to help struggling readers and even unenthuiastic readers (non-readers) learn to get more out of their reading efforts.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I felt so akin to Wilhelm in this book. For a detailed review of this book go to my blog: http://readingradically.blogspot.com.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilhelm manages to make teacher research interesting...I return to this book to remind me how real teachers asking questions can make a huge difference in kids' lives.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like, Dude, you gotta BE the book. Dig?

[Bug]

Highly recommended to me by very experienced teachers--So I feel confident recommending it without reading. Have not yet had time to read.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contained interesting and useful advice, but I thought "When Kids Can't Read What Teachers Can Do" by Kylene Beers was more useful, and better written.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good ideas about making literature engaging and accessible to reluctant/struggling readers. Also an interesting mixture of theory/practice.