"Select a text you loved (or hated) as a youngster but that you haven't reread/viewed in years. Relying on memory, old assignments, any journal entries, lecture notes, or the like that you may have available, summarize the story as you remember it, and write a thorough response statement from the perspective of your initial encounter with the book, including the personal experiences and relationships that helped you relate to the book at the time. Now reread/re-watch the text, and compare your current response. A word of advice: At this point in the semester, many students believe that just because this is a focused free-write, using paragraphs properly becomes some foreign concept. Just because I am asking you to write a thorough response statement detailing a story about you and your experience with a text doesn't mean you should forget the rules of composition."

What does comparing and contrasting your two encounters with the text reveal about the role of subjective factors and interpretive strategies in how readers make meaning? How might you apply what you've learned to improve how literature is taught?