Review the course readings we’ve marked up and annotated and consider the many journals we’ve had responding to our readings. Drawing from language used in class together with your selected evidence, for your framing statement, write about your approach to active, critical reading (about 250-500 words). Explain your reading practices in the chosen evidence, making sure to engage the language used in class to describe active, critical reading and the third learning outcome. What are your annotating and informal responding approaches? How did you decide what to mark or discuss? What might this tell you about your ability to draw relationships, to ask questions, to challenge or extend an idea in a text.
Annotation can be a horribly underutilized tool when reading anything. Not only can it help gather and highlight information, but I’ve also found it can help you keep focus on the reading and remember certain passages. This is especially useful when thinking back to potential pieces of evidence during future essays. Deciding exactly what to annotate, however, is a challenge. On first readings, I usually underline and note details that interest me, remind me of another reading, or give me some kind of realization. During the times I look through it afterwards is usually when we’ve been given some assignment or outline of what information is expected and a vague idea of what to be on the lookout for. Optimistically, this method of drawing relationships between texts and/or my own ideas indicates that I’m well practiced in “the art of annotating,” but there’s more to it than just outside texts. As with most of the learning objectives, even this individual activity can be applied back to the peer review process. In both the assigned texts and with peers’ papers, I have difficulty in critique. Unless there is an opinion I strongly disagree with, I simply do not see or consider things that could be benefited with a look from a different perspective. Maybe this is part of the reason I have such trouble with global revisions; challenging others’ ideas is something I have to work on in the future.
