After reading through several Visible Knowledge Project posters, I’m interested in exploring further the definitions of critical reading given by Sherry Linkon. I’d like to consider how I could better implement the qualities of critical reading as Linkon defines them (inquiry, connectivity, recursivity, self-awareness, and synthesis) in my classroom.
In terms of inquiry, I liked Professor Sample’s suggestion from class last week: instead of highlighting, write a comment or ask a question. When I saw my students on Thursday, I encouraged them to use this technique on their next detective short story. I know from my own experience that highlighting is not nearly as effective as marking questions or summarizing in the margins; when I return to a text, I often forget the reason for my initial highlights. In addition, while highlighting consists of a rather passive interaction with the text, being forced to summarize, question, or comment on the text creates a much more engaged relationship between reader and text.
Since my first student teaching experience, I have been convinced of the effectiveness of connectivity, primarily in sparking interest in a text. Usually, I consider the varying connections that could be made to a certain text, and then consider my current class. Depending on their varying interests and ability levels, I try to find a few connections to focus on; because we do so much reading and writing in English class, I seek out activities that reach what many educational theorists refer to as the “whole student”: music, art, physical activity, etc. For instance, before teaching a novel, I may choose a relatively accessible poem with a similar theme. I read the poem aloud to students several times; while I read, the students use markers or colored pencils to draw their responses. Even though many students do not consider themselves “artistic,” the images they create most often lend themselves to thoughtful discussion.
As I posted in a comment to Francois’ blog, so far I’ve found the difficulty paper to be an excellent tool for creating self-awareness in student reading. It also seems to be a valuable method of recursivity, encouraging students to reread portions of the text. I’d be interested to know if any of you have additional suggestions for student reflection or recursivity that could be adapted to a variety of texts.
To be completely honest, I’m afraid I’m not requiring or encouraging my students to do much in the way of synthesis, at least in terms of combining reading and research. The research we do in my class is somewhat of an island, distinctly separated from the rest of the curriculum. We do one MLA research paper per year, and it doesn’t really connect to the literature we’re studying. I’d like to spend some time this semester developing a plan for making the research process more relevant to my content; perhaps I can use this goal as a starting point for my teaching presentation in this course.
K: I appreciate your comment about having students make notes as they read rather than highlight portions of text. I’m a huge note maker myself — always have been — and teach note making explictly my students.
Early in the term, I bring in a huge stack of my own books to class for my students to review. I put them in small groups and give each group two or three of my books. I ask them to look at the comments I make in the margins (the pages are covered with them) and to try to figure out what KINDS of comments I make in my books and WHY I might be making them. We then discuss their findings.
Through this exercise, I’m hoping to model active reading for my students, to show them an example of one reader who reads with a pen in hand. This is very effective. The sheer volume of my books and my margin notes demonstrates active reading much better than simply telling students about it ever could. The clincher: I tell my students that active reading is one of the skills that makes me successful both as a student and in my career. That always impresses them.
The next step is that I have students read a one-page handout in class. I ask them to make margin notes and then submit the page to me for review. I comment on their margin notes and return the paper to them in the next class.
I find that students need encouragement, modeling, feedback, reinforcement, and practice in order to learn to read with a pen in hand and to feel free to interact with the text. Notemaking is new to many of them and it doesn’t come to all of them right away. With practice and guidance, though, they usually get better at it.
Karen,
I really wouldnt worry about not assigning your students too many research papers. Research papers or hard exams may discourage a student from gaining interest in Literature or Writing. Research papers are great, but for novice writers they can actually discourage a student connecting to the text. Rather than trying to find meaning in a text to relate to themselves and their experiences, they begin to distance themselves from the text.