Employ techniques of active reading, critical reading, and informal reading response for inquiry, learning, and thinking.
Project 1:
Here I have linked my first annotations of the semester. After looking back at them I realized that they were not helpful or thoughtful in the long run. They are not the best representation of my reading and thinking. The more I took the time to do my annotations the stronger they became and I think it honestly made my writing stronger. I was able to keep track of all of my thoughts and make connections before I even started writing a paper.
Project 2:
When annotating Devon Price I drew a lot of relationships within his writing. I had never taken the time to think about empathy and how I or others may experience it. Compassion is the action and empathy is a feeling. I write more about this feeling in my post. I think annotating helps us whether our thoughts and think more deeply about someone’s writings. If we were to just highlight and move on we aren’t really able to fully digest the writing. Me making this connection allows me to think about other people and how they might struggle with empathy as well. I can then start to draw connections to how empathy may not be the answer to everything.
While reading this article I found myself either making challenging or expanding comments on the writing. I agreed with most of what Cipriano was saying but I also felt like it was missing something. She talks a great amount about how children are a clean slate and that it is our job to make sure they do not develop harmful biases. But she doesn’t really go into depth on how as adults we can solve or help our own implicit biases and we too can learn to change. I kept this idea in my paper and I think that if I had;t made the original note about it I probably would have forgotten the value it could have had in my writing.
Even though annotating allows us to be more active readers I think I find myself to be more of a critical thinker when I take the time to reflect on what I just read and write about it. A Change of Heart is probably one of my better reflections. While I was writing my reflection I began to think about the forgiveness aspect of the article and how that relates back to empathy. I was able to use these ideas in my larger project and see where I could make connections.
Project 3:
In this annotation, I made a connection to my own life. In my reflection, I expanded on this more, as well. As a future educator and someone who is passionate about the special education system, I am a huge advocate for inclusion. I was able to draw that relationship from the text and then eventually expand on how exposure can help us connect and see all sides of people and issues.
I think that it has been instilled in me to be a critical reader and really digest and dissect what I am reading. In high school, I took a variety of AP courses that required me to read and be able to converse and interact with the writing. I am a slow reader and I think that’s because I need time to stop and think about the author’s thoughts and what they are trying to convey. When reading opinion pieces it is easier to converse with the author’s thoughts by adding my own or how a new perspective was made aware to me. What is the point of reading something if you are not engaging with the text and thinking deeply about it? All of the knowledge would just disappear. The more you practice the ability I think the stronger it gets and the easier it becomes to do without even consciously doing it. We would all be stronger readers if we knew how to engage deeply with writing and our own thoughts.
