Three Reading Stances: Responsive, Responsible, and Compassionate Beers and Probst (2017) suggest that for every text we read, we assume three stances: the responsive reader, the responsible reader, and the compassionate reader. • Responsive When the text matters to us, when it influences our world somehow, we are on our way to becoming responsive readers. But the text won’t matter to us unless it touches us emotionally and intellectually. We readers must be aware not only of the text, but also of the effects that the text has upon us. When we pay attention in this way we are acting as responsive readers. • Responsible In a book study, we necessarily pay close attention to the text. But the responsibility we show when attending to the text implies and requires a responsibility to ourselves as well. That responsibility consists not only of a willingness to acknowledge and defend our own thoughts and values, but also to change our thinking when evidence or reason dictates. • Compassionate Developing more compassionate citizens is a desirable goal in general. But we also think that compassion is a necessary characteristic of readers. The more compassionate our students are, the more likely they will be able to read well. Why? Compassion sharpens the reader’s ability to see other points of view and other perspectives, and to imagine the feelings of those who hold them. It should enable readers to take, if only momentarily, the standpoint of someone else and thus better understand his or her motivations and thinking. But for that to happen, we must be willing to enter the text with an open heart and mind, even if we suspect that it contains ideas we’re predisposed to reject. And by entering into a dialogue with the text, we learn how to enter into conversations with those who confirm our thinking, offer us another perspective, or present us with an idea we may be reluctant to hear, but may change us in some way.
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VOLUME, STAMINA, AND AVID, INDEPENDENT READING
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