In the Age of Analytic Reading: Understanding Readers’ Engagement with Text by Colleen Pennell

SEAN

Jacob’s wrong because I saw a Ninja Turtles movie. And there was a guy, and he was scared. And he was shaking and he had a gun and he was trying to shoot him, but he was brave.

Interestingly, a few minutes later Jacob began to shift in his thinking as he drew from his own life experience when asked whether he had ever been brave and scared at the same time.

JACOB

Like when I got a shot. I was scared. But then when I got a shot it really didn't hurt at all in my arm.

MICHAEL

So you were scared and brave.

These episodes, though seemingly digressing from the text, actually served to strengthen their growing interpretation of how Frog and Toad behaved as illustrated below:

JACOB

Yeah, but they [Frog and Toad] were brave anyways because they went there.

MICHAEL

And they ran past the avalanche and they ran past the snake. They ran past the Hawk and stuff.

SEAN

So that's brave. When you run all the way like that.

Consistently, students relied upon relevant experiential knowledge in order to construct arguments and synthesize their thinking. By design, philosophical inquiry embraces knowledge outside of the text as a legitimate form of academic currency. Although the text is an important mediator for understanding, it is not the sole authority. Scholars (Moll, Amanti, Neff & Gutierrez, 1992) have long suggested that learning environments capitalize on the familial and cultural “funds of knowledge” (p.133) students possess as these can bridge understandings.

In this study, the boys relied upon a shared knowledge of video games and television shows as well as their familial and social experiences. Notably, these were cited to build arguments and complement interpretations. By and large, students’ academic and experiential knowledge intersected and flowed beyond the four corners of the text to provide transformative interpretations.