On savvy reading

This essay uses the metaphor of “savvy travelling” to discuss the limitations and problems associated with three current “best practice” approaches to the reading of literature in upper grade levels, particularly in the United States: close reading, response-based reading, and disciplinary literacy. A “savvy” approach to reading and reading instruction combines close attention to the text, readers’ intuitive responses, and concepts from cognitive science, cultural studies, and literary theory in a narrative approach that identifies and compares the story in the text to the story of the text. Two examples from classroom practice are presented and analyzed to identify elements of savoir faire in each. Identification of these elements leads to a method of savvy reading whose goal is to produce students who will become savvy world travellers of texts on their own: readers who are autonomous, flexible, and able to read carefully and responsibly across a wide range of contexts.