Week 7 - Appleman Ch. 6

Chapter Six - Deconstruction: Postmodern Theory and the Postmodern High School Student

"Deconstruction is a strategy for revealing the under layers of meaning in a text that were suppressed or assumed in order for it to take its actual form...Texts are never simply unitary but include resources that run counter to their assertions and/or their authors intentions. (Appleman 101)"

I was somewhat confused by the beginning of the chapter. I suppose it helps to clarify what deconstruction is, but there were so many separate quotes and ideas on what it is, that I just ended up confused on what the real definition was. Appleman addresses this on page 106."Perhaps...the most difficult part of teaching deconstruction to adolescents is the attempt to define it."

I really liked the section on student reflection on Deconstruction. Along with it the list of Books and Poems to use for deconstruction was helpful. I was surprised to find out that I have already read many of the books and poems listed. I think I may try to go back and apply deconstruction to some of them to see if I can enhance my understanding.