Wednesday, September 26, 2012
A Deeper Realization: If I Only Knew Then, What I Know Now...
As I was reading through the first couple of chapters in the text Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12 by Kelly Gallagher, I stumbled across something that I felt was a key concept in Chapter 2. On page 16, it introduces the topic of "Deepening Comprehension Through Second-Draft Reading" and relates it to William Maxwell's poem "Love".
I was always told that reading things over a second, third, or even fourth time would be beneficial to my understanding of the piece I was reading/writing/proofreading/etc., but I always thought to myself: "Really?! Who seriously, during your University career, when you're right in the middle of a crazy semester of juggling 5 classes that each have midterms, essays, and quizzes coming up, actually have the TIME to RE-read a piece!?". In many ways I do not think i am being too overly exaggerant on that claim either, especially with how quickly the course-loads sneak up on you right after Thanksgiving and February "break".
But after finishing this chapter, going back and (for once) RE-reading "Love", and realizing how many literary uses of imagery and metaphor I actually completely passed by, it really hit me that there is some reason behind this madness!
The first time I read this poem in Chapter 2, I did not really connect with the meaning, and it felt more like something I had to simply "skim read" to finish the required 3 chapter reading for Thursday's class. Then, during one of my teacher candidate field experiences at Walter Murray Collegiate Institute (WMCI), one of the english teachers brought up a quote that I feel rationalizes the intent of re-reading for the benefit of furthering your understanding of the text:
“Recognition is the greatest motivator.” - Gerard C. Eakedale
When we finally become deep comprehensive readers and understand the reality that there are sophisticated sub-texts that hide in layers below the physical text for the reader to uncover, we become motivated and intrigued to delve beyond the written words of the various articles/texts/stories/etc. that we are required to read in all of our classes, and find the authors' underlying intentions.
This is obviously very hard for students in high school classes to accomplish, especially when they have not been "trained" to read deeper into the texts provided. This is why it is solely our jobs, as teachers (and particularly teachers who have had years of experience dissecting the SAME texts over and over again), to instruct, encourage, and to provide students with the skills and knowledge to recognize that every single written text, especially those that they will come across in their lives, will have deeper meanings that need to be considered and investigated. After they successfully achieve this skill, they can invest time into reflecting and relating the material to their own lives, which will hopefully create a meaningful connection to the student, encouraging and motivating them to continue "deepening their comprehension through second-draft readings".
