Comments on Reassigned Time: Close Reading (By Request)

Thanks a lot - I'm trying the explication-in-group...

2007-03-18T21:54:00.000-04:00

Thanks a lot - I'm trying the explication-in-groups in class tomorrow. We've done something similar, but not with such explicit and helpful questions!

A followup: I used a couple of those ideas in one ...

2007-03-18T19:36:00.000-04:00

A followup: I used a couple of those ideas in one of my physics classes on Friday, with positive results. I think part of it is getting them to actually read each word in the process of putting it in their own words. Their HS training seems to emphasize skimming for one word that is needed to pass the state competency exams.

My observation is that there is more common ground than you might expect between what you are teaching and what future scientists and engineers need to be able to do. Whether it is instructions for a lab or the details in a story problem, the skills you teach are relevant to their future. Perhaps knowing that will help you motivate students to work on this skill in your freshman classes.

I love your round-robin idea, and I'm totally goin...

2007-03-16T14:29:00.000-04:00

I love your round-robin idea, and I'm totally going to borrow it.

Also, I was going to make a similar comment to Gwinne's. I think it's actually quite helpful, after the explication exercise, to say, "What we just did is close reading. This is what I'll be asking you to do for your next assignment, and we'll be practicing it more between now and then."

(delurking to say:) This is incredibly helpful me,...

2007-03-16T12:55:00.000-04:00

(delurking to say:) This is incredibly helpful me, especially since I struggle to balance and transition between the "teaching to write" mission of a writing course with the "teaching to read" mission.

I have tried something similar to the round robin exercise though. After the first go around, I ask the "stop" students to respond to the passage AND to the argument made by the previous students. After a second go around, we discuss the passages and arguments as a class. I think this version worked pretty well to get the students to see each other as critical thinkers (separate from their classroom embodiment/ authority), and it asks them to begin to evaluate the assumptions and bases of their peers' arguments.

(apologies for the longish comment)
-not that Clare

Very helpful. Thanks for the reminder that I need...

2007-03-16T11:11:00.000-04:00

Very helpful. Thanks for the reminder that I need to do some more carefully calculated close reading exercises in class pronto!

I do wonder why you prefer *not* to take the step of saying "this is modeling close reading" to your students. I find that my students need to hear explictly why we're doing what we're doing and, frankly, it translates to evaluations of the course (whether or not I feel my students learn, they sometimes need to be told what they're learning).

Dr. C., do you find the issue of context to be the...

2007-03-16T10:26:00.000-04:00

Dr. C., do you find the issue of context to be the most difficult to get them to see or grasp? I mean, we're used to doing this, and we have our context(s) pretty much worked out, so we can spot a passage that reflects the context(s) we're interested in a mile away. They don't, or they don't know it yet. That's why I tell them that in the pinch, if all else fails, they can never go wrong with r,c, or g. Anything and everything they read can usually be read in relation to one or several of the big three.

Hmm ... I guess I'm a big proponent of a kind of crude Aritotelian model of learning via imitation. Oh well.

Don't apologize, SL! I'd forgotten about doing wh...

2007-03-16T09:17:00.000-04:00

Don't apologize, SL! I'd forgotten about doing what you describe - usually that comes up in the very early part of the semester for me and then it's gone after that. So I'm glad you went on and on because that means I don't have to, and I think people will appreciate the idea :)

I like all of your strategies, and use variations ...

2007-03-16T08:58:00.000-04:00

I like all of your strategies, and use variations of them in my classes. I try to model a lot of close reading and furtehr make sure they know I'm modeling it for them -- so there's a high degree of meta-commentary when I'm doing this.

There's one thing I do, though, that you didn't mention: I point out to them that they in fact already know how to do close reading, and that they do it on a regular basis in their daily lives. It's a cheesey example, I realize, but it starts the ball rolling. "What are you doing when you meet a new person at a party, " I ask, "or begin a new part-time job and are being trained by either a co-worker or a manager?" The answer I propose is that they are closely "reading" both the individual and the situation. And I point out that at the individual level, they are likely listening closely to the words being spoken as well as watching various forms of extra-linguistic communication -- body language, gesture, etc. In both cases, they are looking for tells, to use the language of poker, indicators that will provide them with some guidance or insight (or both) about the individual, the circumstance, and whatever else they may be curious about.

The trick, obviously, is figuring out what it is that the students are curious about -- usually it has to do with issues of trust, or 'is this a fun person', or 'are they cool, someone I want to hang out with, get to know, or not'.

Something interesting happens right around this point: a gender difference shows itself. The girls start to nod their heads and are clearly getting it. I think the reasons are obvious. It takes a little longer for the guys -- and I usually try to make a joke of it and say 'that's right guys, you are being scrutinized that closely.

From here I point out that they can and should apply the same tactics to a text. The difference is they have to now revise or shift their contexts of reading. And thus begins the race, class, gender discussion, and off we go.

Woops ... this is a long post, sorry. Dr. C.

Thanks for the insight!

2007-03-16T08:40:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the insight!

Oh my god, thanks so much for this. *Just this wee...

2007-03-16T00:35:00.000-04:00

Oh my god, thanks so much for this. *Just this week*, I was thinking, hmmm...how can I model some close reading for students?...This is so helpful!!

Thanks! I can't believe you wrote that entire ess...

2007-03-15T23:08:00.000-04:00

Thanks! I can't believe you wrote that entire essay in the short time (an hour?) after I sent you that e-mail.

Your response is what I wanted to see. Although what you do has nothing to do with what I actually do, I see how I can apply your methods in my class. I mainly do your item 3 (model it) with good results, but the active learning approaches you outline have given me several ideas. "Come up with three questions" actually does apply to how one solves a physics problem!

Back when a great HS teacher got me to read books that way, I was not paying attention to how he did it. Your comments reminded me of some of the things we did, which is a big help. (BTW, he had high expectations as well. From each according to his ability ...)

Dear Dr. C,I love this post and concur 100%. As a ...

2007-03-15T22:56:00.000-04:00

Dear Dr. C,
I love this post and concur 100%. As a writing prof, I have students who write poems of their own without knowing how to read anyone else's. If they can't read published poems, how will they learn to workshop other people's poems? So we spend the first third of the semester going line by line through difficult poems. The best part is, especially for poetry, is that the collective mind always finds more in the text than the individual does and my students make associations and connections that I would miss. Yeah for close reading!

I'm printing this off, for my own reference. My cl...

2007-03-15T22:55:00.000-04:00

I'm printing this off, for my own reference. My close-reading skills are not up to snuff, or at least my skill of translating my close reading to paper isn't very good.

Can I say how much I love Hallucinating Foucault? ...

2007-03-15T22:17:00.000-04:00

Can I say how much I love Hallucinating Foucault? That's one of the rare novels I'll read over and over.

Also, you might want to take a look at Graff and Birkenstein's I Say, They Say. They make some of the same points you do about context and language and such. I use it in my argumentation course.