Chapter 2 Seeking Understanding in Our Minds, in Our Lives

In chapter 2, Keene is plagued with the question posed by her husband during her teaching days. She came home so excited by the conversations in her students' book clubs where they delved deep into understanding text by making connections, posing questions, etc. In response to her excitement, her husband asked, "Why don't they do that every day?" And this became Keene's quest...to make this deeper learning be the norm rather than the "happy accident". She lists her reasons why the students don't engage every day but felt that most importantly, her students didn't do it every day because she didn't expect them to. I do wonder about her conclusion...it is probably true some of the time for most of us. However, in working with struggling readers, I strongly feel that my expectations could be as high as a kite at times, but if a child is struggling with divorce issues, law enforcement issues, and a myriad of other things in their lives weighing them down, their desire to think deeply about literacy issues becomes very low on their priority list. I think the child's personality is a key factor in all of this. Some of them can have such sad and distressing lives but are still able to think "big picture". And there are others who have major upsets and meltdowns by minor things. But what I took away from this reading is that it is important to have high expectations for my students while maintaining a compassionate attitude concerning whatever may be troubling them.
Keene also poses models that she has created in order to bridge the gap between research and reality in the classroom. These models are: Dimensions and Outcomes of Understanding; What's Essntial for Literacy Learning; Literacy Studio. These are all take-offs from the readers and writers workshops that we are familiar with. These models include explanations for what happens in our minds and lives when we comprehend what we read and are able to retain and reapply what we've understood.
She addresses the idea of all the benefits gained from reflecting on our intellectual experiences which I read with great interest. I've always wondered about the added task of reflecting on what we do with our students. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, I see the importance of completing this activity and how much we grow and develop as teachers when we do this. However, I see so many teachers who really don't want to take the time to do this...they are so overwhelmed with what they already do that they just don't bother. So in those cases, is it better to give them what they want which is something that is already prepared and they just need to make copies and hand it out? At least, the students would be getting some benefits rather than missing the boat entirely when it comes to thinking on a deeper level. I'm not sure...any thoughts?
She also made an interesting comment when she said "...I found that if I defined and modeled what happens when a reader does question-when I showed the children what they can expect to experience when they understand deeply (such as the desire to dwell in an idea for a long time (dimension) or the feeling of empathy for a character (outcome)-they tended to ask more relevant and penetrating questions..." I had a thought. I think we need to be very careful as teachers, (since we are known for loving to hear ourselves talk!!...don't hit me!!) that we avoid droning on and on with our own "modeling" and thereby putting kids to sleep because they are so sick of listening to us. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?