Jam on Bread

Back to Rosenblatt ...

One of the brilliant things Rosenblatt discovered about teaching reading is something she calls the Jam on Bread approach. Back in the early 80s, she postulated that, for decades, educators had been primarily teaching kids to read efferently (that is, carry something away from the reading event), largely ignoring the aesthetic aspect of reading (the event that is experienced when an author, reader, and text come together). In her view, aesthetic reading had been understood as a nice goal to maybe someday attain, one that teachers could slap onto reading, if they had the time or inclination, once kids had mastered efferent reading.

She calls this Jam on Bread. In effect, bread equals efferent reading, and jam equals aesthetic reading. (Clearly, jam isn't necessary -- it's sweet, pretty, and yummy, but gosh darn it, it's not bread.)

When I read her views on this, my heart sped up.  Truly.  I was so excited that I started to read too fast, and then I had to go back ... a whole bunch of times.

Here's why.

I think that kids -- itty, bitty, teeny, tiny kids -- read aesthetically naturally. An aesthetic reading experience is what we live the first time someone shares a great story with us.  We bring our memories, our senses, and our wide open minds to reading.  We gaze at the pictures, we listen to the narrative, we stare at the words and wonder what they heck they are. We have an entirely aesthetic experience. And we immediately clamor, "Again!"

It is winsome and pure.  It is full of hope and delight and pleasure.  It is entirely aesthetic.

And then, as children progress through various grade levels, they move from a lot of aesthetic reading in early grades to almost no aesthetic reading by high school.  Upper grade teachers, for many reasons, focus on teaching kids to read efferently.  I'm not placing any blame or pointing any fingers. We've got to get our kids ready for all sorts of high stakes assessments and the next phases of their lives. In every scenario I can imagine for my students for their lives after shaking our principal's hand and smiling for the photographer, efferent reading is essential.

But this exclusive focus on efferent reading is why, I believe, when I open a picture book and read to my students, magic happens.  Magic! Because I am returning my students (or introducing them) to experiential reading.  Their brilliant, lovely minds open and engage. They laugh, they sigh, they get very still, they smile, they cry, and they clamor, "Again!"

And then ... well, anything can happen.