Begining with Clear Goals

    When reflecting on what I was going to write my very first blog about I finally decided to start at the beginning. I am just beginning the first few chapters of our readings from Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Text, 4-12 and Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents. I am finding that I am satisfied with the texts because I am excited about the goals that the authors aim to reach.

      Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents emphasises that teaching and understanding literary theory is significant because it “provides readers with the tools to uncover the often invisible workings of the text” (Appleman, 2009, pg. 3). I find this a very significant goal, and it goes on to explain that, “by teaching literature along with theory, we help students learn to decipher the world inscribed within the texts they study as well as help them learn to read the world around them” (Appleman, 2009, pg 10). The complimentary text, Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Text, 4-12, is clear in is goal as well. Gallagher states that it is an attempt to answer the question; “what can we do, as teachers, to prepare our students to read challenging text at the deepest levels possible” (2004, pg. 8). I liked that these texts had clear goals which are encouraging to teachers, because they strive to help teachers create lessons that support critical thinking and reading for students.

    This brings me to my own question to reflect on; when did I become a critical reader who could read in a deep and meaningful way? I feel that is has happened over period of time in where I cannot pin point a certain location of change in my student career. However, I do feel like there was, and still is, a significant growing change in my abilities to read and understand text. When I reflect on my development as a reader I remember a past were I did not enjoy reading and I felt that I was a slow reader in class. I have always felt that I was a slow reader, who often had to, and still do, look up words in the text. Does this make me less educated, as I often felt, or does it reflect careful reading, or both? Today I enjoy a love for reading. Although I do not wish to forget and undermine my high school teachers here, I do wish to note that I believe I owe my noticeable improvement in my own reading skills to my classes and professors at university. For example I believe I developed my primary source reading skills in my history 229 class, Europe in the 20^th Century, and I believe I owe much of my new critical thinking skills to my sociology classes. With that being said the English classes that I was able to take enriched my love for reading and gave me rich texts to challenge and grow from. Also critiquing and summarising many articles throughout my education has strengthened my ability to read, question and understand scholarly articles. Reflecting on my own progress as a student really allows me to value the goals of these texts, to create critical well rounded readers, because I know that it created a thirst for knowledge and appreciation of literature. I look forward to developing my skills further and I hope that I will be able to teach students tools that will help them become critical successful readers themselves.

References

Appleman, Deborah.  (2009) Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents. New York: teachers College Press.

Gallagher, Kelly. (2004). Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Text, 4-12. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.