Does Highlighting Have An Effect On Learning?

In the essay “How to Mark a Book” by Mortimer J. Adler, the author explains that “marking up a book is not an act of mutilation, but of love” (1). Adler points out that marking books keeps a reader vigilant to what they are actually reading (2). The author continues on to say owning a book is more than having it sit on a shelf; owning a book means for the reader to make it unique for him or herself, doing so will make reading that much more enjoyable for the reader. Adler also claims that writing small notes or comments as you read helps readers to summarize what they’ve just read, even days later. He says that writing in books allows the brain to store that information deeper into the long term memory making it easier to come back to (2).

To be an active reader is to be able to express yourself in the book one reads. Mortimer J. Adler argues in his article, “How to Mark a Book”, that to be an active reader, the reader needs to actually write in their book; but also to fully claim ownership of their book. According to Adler, there are plenty of ways one can mark in a book; underlining, vertical lines at the margin, asterisk, numbers in the margin, circling or highlighting, writing in the margin at the bottom or top, etc. One does not initially understand what they are reading, until they feel like they are having a conversation with the author. Adler emphasizes marking in a book keeps the reader mentally awake, helps their thoughts become more alive, and also remember later what

Nick Otten writes "How and Why to Annotate a Book" for an audience of students, whereas "Beyond the Yellow Highlighter" is written by Carol Porter-O’Donnell as a resource for teachers. Otten addresses “readers,” “students,” and “you” during the introduction thus identifying his audience of students as though he is presenting a verbal speech. In contrast, O’Donnell writes from personal experience to share her methods of teaching with her fellow teachers. For example, she writes “Before teaching annotating, we ask that students . . .” The use of the pronoun “we” shows the connection O’Donnell feels with her audience of other teachers. Ironically, Otten addresses students and writes about teachers in third person while O’Donnell does the opposite- addresses teachers and writes about students in third person. Because each article is written for a different audience, one can gain a better understanding for the subject of annotating through contrasting perspectives.

As a teacher there are many responsibilities. Not only do teachers have to deal with grading papers and making sure that students understand the material, but they also have to make sure that the students are behaving and doing what they should. If students aren’t learning what they should, then it is usually blamed on the teacher. If the teacher isn’t constantly evaluating and making sure that the students understand the work, then the student might not comprehend something that you originally thought that they did. In one typical work period of an elementary school teacher, presenting the lesson and making sure that the students understand is the main concern. When teaching, things should always be tried to make memorable. In color guard

For example, if the word nucleus was used (identified or written), then it would be in the color green. All of the words had a specific color whether it is on the word wall, flip-charts, notes, or drawings. This seems like an extremely effective strategy due to students visually seeing the image/color to gain knowledge. The three learning strategies were utilized during the lesson, which supported the students in learning materials easier. The teacher visually presented the notes, while she verbally explained the information, then the student’s experienced hands-on learning when they were completing graphic organizers in small groups. The students were given guided and full notes during the lecture. The guided notes required the students to fill in the blanks with the missing words. Other students were given guided notes as well as full notes. In that situation students were encouraged to highlight the full notes in front of them and then transfer the information to the guided notes blanks. These notes were given to students who were struggling or had an IEP. It was great to witness a teacher utilizing a variety of strategies to help the students learn together.

“How to Mark A Book” by Mortimer J. Adler emphasizes on the significance of note taking while reading. The thesis for this source was stated directly. For example Adler said “I want to persuade you to "write between the lines." Unless you do, you are not likely to do the most efficient kind of reading.” What distinguish readers from each other are their effort to understand the meaning of each line, paragraph and page. Adler talks about having a book and owning a book. Unless you have the whole book annotated from front to back, you don’t own the book. Adler described 7 ways you could note take while reading. Some of them include underlining words, star or asterisk, write in margins, circle of highlight phrases and numbering the pages. After reading this source I felt really strong about the why you should annotate and read. It is your way of interpreting the text and understanding it. This source reminded me of my high school professor explaining to me why it was important to annotate. Back then I never took it as a big deal and kept reading rapidly without comprehending. On the contrary, Adler’s “How to Mark A Book” inspired me to start taking notes while

It is much easier to concentrate and to be confident about taking a test if I know the material. I have learned that it is very helpful for me to visualize the questions and answers and I can use these mental images to help me recall unexpected test or quiz questions.

In preparation for an exam or in class assignment, studying consists of me to completing a series of math problems over and over and/or reading material multiple times. While completing assignments and test I can often close my eyes and visualize information on a page without it being directly in front of me. Notes are often color coded and or written in colored pen. As a visual learner it will be

Using this strategy allowed me to not get distracted and just focus on the importance of the paragraphs. Using these strategies helped me as a reader overcome the areas of difficulty in the

Strategic readers monitor their thinking and recognize when errors are committed but they also know what strategy to use to correct the error. For example, they may need to reread the text to make sense, use context clues to understand unfamiliar words. No matter what the obstacle is, a fix-up strategy is applied. The K-W-L is a well- known teaching technique to assist in the monitoring strategy. The K-W-L chart provides the teacher and students opportunity to participate in discussions before, during, and after reading. It helps the student to ask and answer questions, identify the main idea and detail, and summarize the text (Santoro, Baker, Fien, Smith, and Chard, 2016 p. 284).

Another common but ineffective form of studying is re-reading or highlighting material. This is one of the most popular forms of study and is used throughout high

Annotating what I struggle with, not what others think is difficult helps me customize my book to my benefit. It’s about helping you understand your reading and helps you out. Being graded on annotating puts extra stress on students who already are having a hard time understanding the book they’re reading. People learn in many different ways, some

In the essay “How to Mark a Book” by Mortimer J. Adler, he explains that “marking up a book is not an act of mutilation, but of love” (1). Adler points out that marking books keeps a reader vigilant to what they are actually reading (2). The author then goes on to say owning a book is more than having it sit on a shelf; owning a book means for the reader to make it personal for him or herself, doing so will make reading that much more enjoyable for the reader. Adler also claims that writing small notes or comments as you read helps readers to summarize what they’ve just read, even days later. He says that writing in books allows the brain to store that information deeper into the long term memory making it easier to come back to (2). However,

The day I checked my classmate’s books it was like seeing my work repeatedly but just with variation to the amount written and color it was written in. I approached the assignment differently than some students because the themes that were identified had analysis with it, rather than just writing down a label and underlining. I also had at least two things on almost every page and certainly did not leave any pages blank. Many of the books I checked were full of blank pages or pages that just contained one word in the margin. Several people also just highlighted certain paragraphs in full without any context.

When looking at the two different views of reading and the role that each view believes syntax plays in reading, there are some likenesses and differences. While each believes that syntax plays a role in reading, the focus on syntax in reading instruction is very different. The learning view has less of a focus on syntax and focuses more of many other aspects of reading, much of the skills needed for early reading development. The acquisition view focuses more intently, but not always explicitly, on syntax and the materials and activities are rich with sentences that will build a student’s syntactic ability. Both views believe the role of syntax in reading is very important and there must be a greater understanding syntax and reading.