Secondly, Greene and Rose both seem to agree that reading critically and actively is important reading strategy for college student. Greene believes that reading critically which means asking questions about what the author’s arguments are and deciding if students agree or disagree with the author’s arguments is more vital than merely accepting information from the reading. The author seems to believe so because reading actively leads to developing students’ own claims. Some maintain that reading critically is an important reading strategies because “reading entails […] using framing concepts in order to shed light on our own ideas or the ideas of others” (Greene 32). In this quote, framing means asking questions what are author’s arguments and why does he claim the argument when students read. …show more content…
In her writing, Farrell shows that she experienced the place where American culture and Dominican culture are mixed by using Pratt’s concept of “contact zone” (Greene 35-36). In addition, Greene adds that Farrell uses Pratt’s idea of “transculturation” in order to explain the place where Dominican (minority group) adopted American culture (dominant group) by adding the Dominica’s own perspective (36). This example shows that Farrell’s ability of critical reading enables her to explain more about what she observes and develop her own argument that there are no places where American culture has no effect. Based on this example, it could be said that active reading leads to advance student’s own argument about certain topic. Consequently, Greene argues critical reading is infinitely preferable to passive reading which accept all the information on the reading by not
Throughout the American South, of many Negro’s childhood, the system of segregation determined the patterns of life. Blacks attended separate schools from whites, were barred from pools and parks where whites swam and played, from cafes and hotels where whites ate and slept. On sidewalks, they were expected to step aside for whites. It took a brave person to challenge this system, when those that did suffered a white storm of rancour. Affronting this hatred, with assistance from the Federal Government, were nine courageous school children, permitted into the 1957/8 school year at Little Rock Central High. The unofficial leader of this band of students was Ernest Green.
Being able to look at things from a different perspective may help a student have a broader view of what they are reading. Conversation incites thought that goes beyond the text, encouraging a social environment that is educational. As Graff says on page 45, “The moral I draw from this experience is that our ability to read well depends more than we think on our ability to talk well about what we read. “ One thing to keep in mind is that these discussions should also not be led by any sort of literary formula; this would also confine the reader’s
Why do pre-reading strategies that activate prior knowledge and raise interest in the subject prepare students to approach text reading in a critical frame of mind?
Schools often require reading materials containing unfamiliar subjects to students. Recognizing that there is significance for critical understanding of the text itself as well as the act of reading, this explains why many students today struggle with reading material that is not relevant to their lifestyle. Freire portrays that by the statement, "reading the world precedes reading the word, and reading the word implies continually reading the world" (Freire 286). A person should read their world, and then interpret it. They can then use their existential experience of the world to connect to what they are reading in print, and better understand it.
Through Foster’s many rhetorical devices he provides a knowledgeable guide on how to read literature. The numerous examples he applies allows the readers to have a more thorough understanding. Reading this book can make the experience of reading other books more satisfying, enriching and
Christina Haas and Linda Flower both make contributions to writing in their studies about the writing process. They have collaborated on one work, Rhetorical Reading Strategies and the Construction of Meaning, to comment on a growing notion in the writing field about the reading process. They discuss findings on how rhetorical reading strategies work and why teachers should begin to influence their students with them. The main audience are other teachers. Haas and Flower’s primarily argue that the process of shaping students into literal and receptive readers should switch to shaping students into rhetorical readers, using strategies like trying to account four author’s purpose and context, for more in depth construction of meaning. Haas and
“The Flowers” by Alice Walker is a short story written in the 1970’s. The story focuses on Myop, a ten year old African American girl who loves to explore the land in which she lives. Carefree and naïve, Myop decides to travel further away from her ‘Sharecropper cabin’ and travels deep inside the woods to unfamiliar land where she discovers the decomposed body of an African American man. It is then Myop quickly grows up and suddenly becomes aware of the world in which she lives. The story relies on setting and symbolism to convey the theme of departing innocence.
The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to apply some of the critical reading strategies you have evaluated.
The Flowers By Alice Walker Written in the 1970's The Flowers is set in the deep south of America and is about Myop, a small 10-year old African American girl who explores the grounds in which she lives. Walker explores how Myop reacts in different situations. She writes from a third person perspective of Myop's exploration. In the first two paragraph Walker clearly emphasises Myop's purity and young innocence.
Yolen enlightens and inspires responders through the use of structure, language and other techniques. The novel Briar Rose by Jane Yolen is a heart wrenching story of sleeping beauty intertwined with the horrors of the Jewish Holocaust. The structure of the novel is altered in a way to interweave three stories including Gemma's Briar Rose fairy tale, Becca's quest and Josef's story. The use of language techniques explores the idea of the characters as it gives an understanding of their circumstances and the situations they experience. Some of the techniques Yolen uses to enlighten responders is the use of other techniques such as allegory and symbolism which acts as a metaphor in which one story represents another.
Another weakness that I had coming into English 101 was my way of reading. I remember having to read an essay or book 3 or 4 times before I could ever sit down and write about it. I was looking and at the words all wrong. However, my professor introduced a technique of reading critically. “A critical analysis, on the other hand, takes a viewpoint and attempts to its validity;” (Trimble, 95) In Trimble’s quote he is trying say that a critical analysis helps a reader understand what the author is really trying to point out. This was the same approach that was taught to me by my professor. This type of analysis helped me understand better what the author was trying to convey and it also helped me explain it better in my essays.
However, my progress as a reader has significantly improved and changed during this semester. First, I learned to improve my critical reading skills through the in-class reading assignments. My professor provided very useful help in assigning us the first reading response question: “Summarize the main ideas of the reading assignment. What questions do you have?” I think that a combination of being able to understand, summarize what the text says as well as interpret its meanings is a helpful approach one can apply to better his or her critical reading skills. Therefore, I have applied this approach to any reading I had for this class and I am still using it for other classes as well. Secondly, I changed my reading habit after the third essay in which I chose a research topic in my discipline to write about. While doing the research, I noticed that I was also encouraged to become familiar with many different subjects in my discipline. The essay assignment was to pick a topic that I am personally interested in writing about. Coincidently, this was also one of the goals that I listed on the first class writing “read articles and
Something Greene (2012) touched on is the different mindsets we have in youth and as adults; The Original Mind and the Conventional Mind. The Original Mind is as Greene (2012) states "When we attended the circus, a sporting event, or a movie, our eyes and ears took in the spectacle with the utmost intensity. Color seemed more vibrant and alive. We had a powerful desire to turn everything around us into a game, to play with circumstances." (p. 175) I see this as the Childhood spirit but as we grow up our way of thinking changes and becomes clouded. According to Greene (2012) "As the year's pass, this intensity inevitably diminishes. We come to see the world through a screen of words and opinions; our prior experiences, layered over the present, color what we see." (p. 175) Something I took away from this is apart of being a master is to hold onto the childhood spirit and to use the experiences gained over the years alongside it to form original thoughts and new perspectives.
In Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory, setting is essential in understanding the spiritual conquest of the main character. The story takes place in post-revolution Mexico of the nineteen-thirties, where Catholicism has been banned. The government has shut down all of the churches and established anti-Catholic laws, jealous of the rising power of the church, and nervous of the corrupt ways in which the church has been dealing with sin. The main character, a nameless "whiskey priest," hopelessly roams the desolate plains of southern Mexico, on the run from the law, as the only priest left who has not denounced his fatherhood. The surrounding communities in southern Mexico refuse to
In her essay Rose identifies the main features of the school of ideal womanhood. She points out that true womanhood worked if you fit the specifications of the ideal true woman. If you did not, then there was another less popular ideal of a female that was intelligent, independent which sounds a lot like the modern feminist. She contends that both ideals of women, the positive and the negative, are social constructs. Neither ideal actually existed but the purpose of constructing ideals is itself a form, of social control. She writes that this control was promoted by the publication of conduct books. Conduct books were a genre of books that would instruct women on the socially acceptable practices of how to present oneself in society and the