I thoroughly enjoyed the first chapter in Deeper Reading by Kelly Gallagher. I did not find a singular topic
that stood out to me; however the metaphor with baseball really caught my
attention. As a baseball fan, Gallagher presented stereotypically dry writing
found in most textbooks in a way that engaged my mind, and in turn, allowed me
to remember the material easier. This caused me to reflect on this particular
device and how I could implement it in my future career.
In order to present material in a
way that will actually be retained, we must capture the reader’s attention and
hold on to it for as long as possible. Gallagher succeeded in this with me. He
took his personal experiences with his grandfather and his daughters and
illustrated the importance of reading critically. More and more students are
not using this device, which in turn, hinders the student’s ability to progress
through the course at a steady pace. This chapter allowed me to see a link
between reading and baseball: most people I know despise watching baseball. At
the same time, those same people do not enjoy reading. I find that both of
these pastimes require a level of patience that is decreasing each day. If
people are bored, they will not hold their attention to that subject.
I also found that reading relates to movies like baseball relates to
other sports: reading and baseball, as mentioned previously, require patience
and scrutiny in order to be fully appreciated. On the other hand, movies are in
your face, and pack in a lot more action into the two hours of viewing than the
multiple hours required to finish a novel. Hockey and football have this same
effect on most people; the action is non-stop. This leads me to believe that
most people require more mental stimulation than they used to. Things have to
keep going at a quickened pace in order to hold attention.
There is one part that I do not agree with 100%. Gallagher stated that
students must re-read literature in order to view it critically. I rarely
“re-read” an article or chapter. However, I read much slower than most people.
This is not due to a lack of ability, but I make sure that I understand the topic
and meaning behind the words before I move on. I do understand his argument –
students must ensure they understand what they are reading and critically view
the implications and history of the literature. I do not think that there is a
single recipe that will ensure this will happen. Each person must be able to
find a way to do this themselves. Re-reading is a good starting point, though.
It’s interesting how society today can be observed as being action-packed and quick. I really enjoyed how you took Gallagher’s baseball metaphor further by incorporating different types of sports. To push that metaphor even further I will add that in my experience as an athlete, baseball to me was a sport that has the audience focus on the success and failure of one person who is put on the spot to be viewed. I played “A” level softball as a girl and hated the pressure of batting, but can appreciate the complexity of the sport. I then directed my athleticism into basketball and fell in love with this seemingly faster paced sport because it felt more like team work and one had many opportunities to succeed or fail. Perhaps this is a stretch but we can look at this relation to reading. Like baseball, reading deeper challenges you on the spot to stand out and critically think about the text, you may feel you are vulnerable to try to understand and fail, but you may also understanding a complex reading and succeed. With that being said I think that is plenty enough talk about sports now from me, as not everyone will enjoy examples exclusively through sports.
ReplyDeleteAsh,
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the baseball metaphor. Being a sports fan is something I can definitely relate to; the opening narrative captured my attention immediately. I find that the use of a metaphor that relates to my experience makes the text much more accessible. This conforms to the idea that Dewey pioneered in constructivist pedagogy that learning must relate to the student's experience to be effective.
As we discussed in class today, this can cut both ways. There will never be a novel or a deep reading text that every student can relate to. We discussed this briefly after class; not all of us were taken with the baseball metaphor. Similarly, I found it difficult as a high school student to draw themes of racism and injustice from a novel like To Kill a Mockingbird. I understood that what Harper Lee was presenting was unjust, but it did not relate directly to the racism and injustice that I saw as an adolescent growing up in an inner city neighbourhood.
I think the best practice to draw from this would be to ensure that the novels and short stories used in courses are modern and local when possible. It will never be possible to find a novel that every student will feel a deep connection to, but I think moving beyond the same novels our parents studied could be productive.
Keep the Shakespeare though.