Today in class for our freewrite we responded in a short 3-paragraph essay to Writing about Literature Chapter 1: "The Role of Good Reading." Tomorrow we will look at "Writing about Stories" (57). Preview this section.
Students were also supposed to read the section on the Writing Process.
For the freewrite answer the following question:
How is the role of good reading connected to good writing? Define terms like "active reading" and "annotation." Discuss how this assists one in his or her understanding and interpretation of texts.
Use 1 (one) citation per paragraph: 1 free paraphrase. 1 shorter citation. 1 block or long quote. Don't forget the works cited section of the essay. Each paragraph is 5 sentences long except the one with the block quote. 4 of the 5 sentences is original, the 4th etc. is a citation. Do not forget to introduce your quotes with appropriate signal phrases.
We will read Chapter 4 tomorrow.
On Thursdays we will meet in A-232 not in A-211. If you have a laptop bring to class.
Homework is to read the preface and the first story: The Dance Boots. Decide which 3 jobs descriptions you can live with per Literature Circle handout.
We will spend half an hour in Lit Circles. Many students come late. Latecomers will be their own Lit Circle. You are late if you miss my calling roll.
Some students were lost per: homework because they missed the explanation. Emergencies happen, but if a student is always late then this will be a problem.
Students who do not have their books yet, can make up this freewrite.
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10 comments:
Allen Lee
Professor Sabir
English 1B
30 January 2012
In the chapter, The Role of Good Reading, it caught my attention how much of the brain functions subconsciously. "Much of the reading we do in everyday life is passive and not critical" (P. 3). Most people read passages once and never really go into depth and interpret the information. The chapter uses the word, "active reading" for a way of mixing rereading and interpreting the passage though note taking skills.
When actively reading the passages, the condensed information may not sink into the mind of the reader. The beginning chapters converse about the way note taking is a part of the system of annotation:
If the first suggestion for active reading are slow down and to know that a second (or even third) reading is in order, the next suggestion is to read with a pen or pencil in hand in order to annotate your text and take notes (P. 4)
With a writing utensil in hand it links the visual reading material and interpretation into hand writing on the margins and paper. When actively reading, the message go through your head and the brains makes sense of the printed words. The interpretation by the brain is then relayed onto paper in short key words. By writing codes down on paper, it is stored into later use where it can be decoded and used as a learning material.
Annotation stores data, that comes from the brain, onto paper. But what can we learn from other people writing? Writing is a way of expressing the messages within the mind. Expression itself occurs from things around the person. We are influenced by history, culture, and lifestyle (P.12). One specific thing that influence many is literature. By reading and annotation, it leads to more knowledge and influence, which affects our expression which we can express by writing.
Vanessa Dilworth
Professor Sabir
English 1B
30 January 2012
Cyber-Assignment Good Reading
In the book, Writing about Literature, it explained the correlation between good reading and good writing. Good reading is taking your time with the text and really reading. It involves listening to what the writer is trying to convey and not just hearing. To explain further about good reading, the text spoke of active reading, which is reflecting on what is being stated and possibly even asking questions to understand it more (2). When readers ask questions of their articles it shows a deeper attentiveness to their subject matter and a heighten sense of awareness of the text. This leads them to explore deeper into not only into their manuscripts, but also their own self by drawing connections between the two.
Another aspect of good reading that was explored was annotation. The book states this helps you “stick to those points in the text that really stand out (4).” This helps you jot down notes that can be looked upon in the future for reference. This also gives the reader the ability to come back to their notes when it is time to become the writer. With key points highlighted and questions raised the writer is now able to formulate theses, body paragraphs, and help their reader analyze critically by introducing things to be questioned.
Active reading and annotating all tie into becoming a good writer.
As you work more with the text, discussing it with your instructor and classmates, writing about it, and reading other related stories, poems, and plays, you will begin to respond to the most important of the issues you’ve raised. And even if you never form a satisfactory answer to some questions, they will have served their purpose if they have made you think.
This is the nature of good reading and good writing, to make you think and make connections.
Ryan James Gozinsky-Irwin
Ryan Gozinsky-Irwin
Professor Sabir
English 1B
Period 8-8:50
30 January 2012
The chapter, The Role of Good Reading, in Writing about Literature was an interesting introduction to the book about the purpose of reading and how to effectively read. How, this is than tied into good writing because without clearly and concessive translation of individuals ideas or concepts than we wouldn't be able to communicate as effectively.
I thought that the passage about annotating was magnificently brilliant. Annotation and Active Reading are directed correlated with one another because in order to become an active reader an individual must first question and record comments about the text in their book. What was interesting to consider was the statement about how instead of scribbles all over a readers page(annotations) being considered an insult to an author they are alternatly flattery for being active or involved in the reading.
If you look inside a literature textbook belonging to your instructor or to an advanced literature student, chances are you'll see something of a mess-words and passages circled or underlined, comments and questions scrawled in the margins(technically called marginalia) or even between lines (called interlinear notes), and unexplained punctuation marks or other symbols decorating the pages. You should not interpret this as disrespect for the text or author or an a sign of a disordered mind. Indeed, it is quite the opposite of both these been engaged in active reading(page 4, First Paragraph).
I disagree or would question Ms. Gardner's option on The Value of Rereading. We shouldn't have to reread to feel comfortably writing about it. She says that all of the best readers will reread literally a dozen times and take their time before the understand and are comfortable(page 2, Second Paragraph). I don't think this is true because like she later states, we are a constantly evolving society. And our values change and circumstances change. The writing culture I live in is texting. My generation is consumed with instant information and we make it a point to get as much information to someone in as little text while making as much sense as we can. Therefore, When our future looks back and says "What was going on in history at the time a piece of literature was written"(page 12, third paragraph) and see "Wusp" they will see that and individual was trying to say "Hey, Whats up? Hows it going? What are you up to? in only four letters that they don't have to reread over a dozen times to understand and text back about.
Giao Bui
Professor Sabir
English 1B
January 31, 2012
Doing a good job reading requires slowing down in order to pay attention. Reading at a steady pace allows one to spot things like words or statements of importance. Reading well is not only about finding what is significant in the text. It is also about asking questions to understand a deeper meaning the author is trying to convey. This is the first step to actively reading, or reading to answer profound questions by interacting with the text.
Annotating the text is the next step to actively reading which involves marking words, passages, or sentences that stand out and taking notes. Janet E. Gardner does not teach a specific way to annotate stating that “there is no single, widely used system of annotation” but instead gives tips on how to develop a system (4). Some of the advices are to always make a note in the margin as to why you are marking a point, look for strange language, and ask lots of questions. There are many advantages to annotating. Annotating allows the reader to go back and fins what was important.
There are many different types of questions to be asked about a work of literature. Gardner defines the different types:
Questions about literature fall into one of four categories—those about the text, the author, the reader, and the cultural contexts of the work. Queries regarding the text can sometimes, though not always, be answered with a deeper explanation of the story, poem, or play. (10)
There may be questions that may stump the reader, but knowing background about the author or the time in which the work was published can give greater insight and maybe even an answer. Reading carefully, annotating, and asking questions makes one an active reader. The steps in active reading become extremely advantageous in the writing process. A person who reads actively well will also write well because they would have understood the text, know where to find evidence for their claims, and have had pondered deeply about the meaning of the text.
Works Cited
Gardner, Janet E. Writing About Literature: A Portable Guide. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin
Maribel Arrizon
Professor Sabir
English 1B
31 January 2012
What is good writing? Is the question that was proposed to me last semester and again this semester. The book “Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide” by Janet E. Gardner doesn’t exactly define what good writing is but it is composed in order to give students helpful advice and guidelines on writing a good paper using strategies like annotating. It starts up by giving the most simple and easy advice, like taking your time while reading and making sure that there isn’t much to distract you (3). By following these simple suggestions, it’s a guarantee that the reader will absorb the content of the text more than if he or she were trying to rush through it like most students. Just by doing that understanding what you’ve read is much easier.
Being an active reader will always generate a good writer, one cannot be a good writer without taking reading as a serious learning source, which means that you take your time absorbing everything the book says. Books for many people are a way to learn and experience things that they haven’t yet and might not ever. Books are a way for the writer to connect with the public and to express what they believe in and their thoughts on the pressing issues of their life. Because of these intentions, it’s severely suggested to take notes, also called annotations, either on the pages of the book, though messy and illegible for others, or on a separate piece of paper because “you might wonder about the meanings of…(9)” phrases or why does the author continue mention objects or certain words in their descriptions and the like. Making a note of those things will be a huge advantage when writing an essay on the book because you won’t have to go back and look for them.
Preparing to understand what is written in a book takes time and much note taking. One of the suggestions that this book gave and that surprised me because I hadn’t ever thought of it was keeping a journal. This thought never occurred to me but it makes perfect sense to jot down the feelings and thoughts, guesses that you make as you read a passage in the book. A reading journal:
Can at times contain reflections on any connections you make between a piece of literature and your own life and ideas […] Even if your instructor doesn’t require a journal for your class, many students find it a useful tool for getting more out of their reading, not to mention a wealth of material to draw from when they write a paper (7).
The best part that can come from keeping this journal is that while reading you take notes of key ideas and points that later you realize you want to use in your essay and you realize that you’ve already analyzed these points in your journals. The book “Writing about Literature: a portable guide” suggests that you pay more attention to text and take notes so that the process of actually writing an essay is much easier to do because the concepts are understood.
Demetria Owens
Professor Sabir
Eng1B
January 3o, 2012
In the chapter, The Role Of Good Reading was very informative.
the chapter realy broke it down to lamines terms on reading and writing literatue ,and how the two verbs to hand in hand.
The book Writing About Literature, written by author Janet. E. Gardner not only tells you how to read effectively but also give tips on how to write paper.
When we read and write a person must understand, pay close attention and follow the statement or story line closely to get the full meanning and understanding of the words written.
Marie Heide
Professor Sabir
English 1B
01 February 2012
The role of good reading is essential to good writing. Being able to read well allows you to fully comprehend what the author is trying to tell you, and thus, be able to interpret what is being conveyed on paper. To be able to write a paper about something that has been read takes a great deal of skill. One way to be able to write well would be to implement a technique called "active reading." Active reading is "... to read with a pen or pencil in hand in order to annotate your text and take notes" (p.4). By doing so, important details and events will stand out in your mind.
When we read, we must learn to read critically. We must read and question what we are reading to see "...more deeply into the meaning of what we read" (p.3). Words are just words on paper, it is up to the reader to determine exactly what the author wants us to interpret those words to be. This may be difficult since most of the reading that takes place is called "passive" reading. Which means that we are not looking for any deep translations from the previous days' sports scores.
We must also keep in mind the author. When reading a particular story, poem, passage etc., it is good practice to know the author's background. For example, what year was the work written? or What was going on during history at that time? Being able to answer these questions, we will be able to better understand the message the author is trying to convey. We should keep in mind, while reading, the time setting in which the work was written and for whom the intended audience was originally for. Knowing these two pieces of information will be less stressful in trying to figure out what the author's true intentions are. "If we are to read a work critically, we must keep both past and present audiences in mind" (p. 14).
Pauline Ng
Prof. Sabir
Eng 1B
2/8/12
In the book, Writing about Literature, help inform the reader the importance of good reading and good writing and how to achieve it. Good reading is connected to good writing in many ways. Understanding what is being read can help them to express what they want onto paper. Good reading is not the ability of being able to read fast, but it is the ability to read slowly and to understand what the author is trying to express in their writing. The text state that reading well is all about paying attention, and you can’t pay attention if you’re racing to get through an assignment and move to “more important” things (p.2).
Active reading is reading whiling analyzing the text; it allows the reader to have a deeper understand and not just glancing through it. Active reading and annotation are important to achieve good reading. Reading slowly is one way of active reading, but it is hard to remember everything that is being read and understood. Whiling reading, annotation is necessary to help keep the thought process and to help remember important details about the text. Some example the text gave about annotating is to; underline, circle, or highlight passages that strike you as particularly important, taking notes in the margins to remind yourself what you were thinking when highlighting (p.4).
Perhaps the most important aspect of active reading is the practice of asking critical questions of the text (p.4). Asking question can benefit the reader, it motivates the reader to find the answer so they will not be reading with confusion. The reader can ask different type of questions; things about the style, language or text, the author, and the cultural context.
Billy Russell
Professor Sabir
English1B
8 February (Finally Got my book!)
Good reading and good writing go hand in hand. If one is writing about another piece of literature, it is incredibly important that the writer fully understand what they are writing about. One cannot analyze a work of literature without understanding it. Any essay that is based on a piece of literature the writer merely skimmed through will be poor. Good reading involves "active reading" which is not "racing through an assignment to move onto more, 'important' things" (p.2). Active reading involves slowing down, re-reading, underlining important passages, looking up words that are confusing, and writing comments in the margins.
Annotating is extremely important when reading. Annotations are simply notes that are written in the margin of a book. Annotating is important because, although the meaning of something can be clear to you when it is read for the first time, it can easily be forgotten when you are writing your essay days later (p.4). Not only do these notes help you understand the reading, they are also great for quoting later. One does not need to spend time looking through the book for an interesting quote, because they have already made note of it.
I was interested when I found out that one of the most common mistakes students make is when the look for a "hidden meaning" (p.3). In truth, there is not single hidden message in writing:
The meanings in literary texts are not hidden,
and your job as a reader is not to root
around for them. Rather, if a text is not
immediately accessible to you, it is
because you need to read more actively, and
meaning will then emerge in a
collaborative effort as you work with the text
to create a consistent interpretation. (p.3)
It is good to know that there is no point where a reader can become so good at reading that he or she can simply read something once and know exactly what the message of the writing is. Understanding a work of literature is something that takes hard work, not a magical skill only available to professors. This also means that to be a good writer, one doesn't need to hide some sort of hidden message in their writing.
Works Cited
Gardner, Janet E. Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004. Print.
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