Reading from a resistant perspective

 One that challenges the biases, prejudices or set of assumptions shared by the writer
and the society in which she/he writes.
 Resistant readings reject dominant tendencies and interpretations. Readers
reposition themselves in relation to the text by taking on an unrepresented position or
voice.
 What?
 During resistant reading, students analyze the dominant reading of a text and
“resist” it by engaging in alternative readings.
 Resistant readings study/scan the beliefs and attitudes that typically go
unexamined in a text, drawing attention to the gaps, silences and
contradictions.
 When?
 During rereading and after reading
 Why?
 A “reading” refers to what we believe the text means; textual meaning is
always dependent on context.
 A reader situated in a cultural context other than the one in which the text was
written may find meaning the writer did not intend.
 By resisting the push to read through this dominant view, students learn to
push back against these assumptions. This strategy adds the experiences of
less represented individuals and groups into the textual discourse.
 Resistant Reading combines analysis, synthesis, evaluation and creation. It
also develops and assesses comprehension, as students must understand
the text to successfully engage in an alternative reading.
 How?
 1. Choose a Perspectives text. Read the text aloud while students follow
along.
 2. Assess students’ understanding of the text. Shared Reading and Challenge
the Text provide strong comprehension strategies to lead up to Resistant
Reading. Those strategies might include asking students to:
 Answer questions about who, what, where, when, why and how
 Retell the story with details
 Determine the text's main topic or central message
 Describe characters, the setting and major events
 Identify who is telling the story
 Explain how the illustrations provide information about what is
happening in the text
 Familiarize students with two way of interpreting resistant texts.