• Before you read 
• While you're reading 
• After you finish reading 
• Reading boring texts 
• Reading hard texts 
• Reading literature

While we would all like to think that we are all strong readers of literature, the ugly truth is that hardly any of us truly are.  Whether you're reading a poem with varying layers of meaning, or a newspaper article that simply delivers the [so-called] facts, everyone has their own method of reading, meaning making, and overall understanding.  For some it's just a fact of life to have to read over texts numerous times only to get a very general understanding of the plot in a story, or the main point of an argumentative essay.  On the other side of the coin are those who can swiftly and effortlessly maneuver their way through texts with hardly any speed bumps of comprehension.  Here are a couple of examples from our own reading Blogs that demonstrate the very differences that make up our individual thought processes and comprehension.

Brenda:

I have to read "The Ten Thousand" by Michael Curtis Ford for a seventh grader, discussing it in his journal with him. I am not very interested in the subject matter at all. The book is about a Greek army fighting across its country. Flipping open the book to pre-read a paragraph, I find myself reading about a battle highly frosted with details rich in blood and gore, in full and lengthy description. Ugh. Not my kind of book. If a movie was to be made of the battle scenes, it would make the movie "Braveheart" look like child's play. To top it off, this book is daunting with its thickness. It is 400 pages long. So much for an easy assignment.

The Text-to-Text Comparison:

One of the things that Brenda does is draw upon her own previous knowledge of a certain genre, specifically one that she doesn't necessarily like, and create her own opinion early on about the book that she is about to read.  Here, she makes the assumption that she isn't going to particularly like this book; whether or not she feels that way at the end is left to be seen.  Drawing from our experiences with other texts is a helpful tool for understanding, but when we do so we must keep in mind that the two texts are different, and while they may contain similar conventions, they are not necessarily used for the same purposes as Scott mentions in his BLOG here:

Scott:

I'm not consciously looking for themes, but rather I'm mindful of the fact that themes are presented in novels and while I read I subconsciously recognize when the text supports or presents one of the themes. It is also interesting for me to find connections between authors on a thematic level. For example, many authors present gender relations themes in their texts, but the ideas are treated differently due to the fact that the authors differ in gender and class. I guess what I'm saying is that to help "get" what you read it is important to be mindful of the fact that themes are prevalent in the texts you read.

Kelly:

I was paying attention to details in some of my readings, so that I could remember key points. In the other things that I read this week, I just read them to read them and didn't make any effort to pay attention to the details. In the reading that I had to read, I had to take notes just to be able to remember the key points. On the entertainment reading that I did, I had no problem remembering any details. The details in the materials that I wanted to read were extremely easy to remember.

Mid-Text Note Taking:

In reading different types of texts Kelly found easier to remember the details of the book that she wanted to read, and that she had to take notes while she read something that she wasn't very interested in reading but had to anyway.  Note taking can be very helpful, not only when reading a text that you would prefer not to read, but also when reading a text that is difficult to understand.  For example; notes taken early on in a difficult novel, or a text book, can easily be referred to later on to further one's understanding.  Beyond simply the details of a text, it is also very helpful to take notes on the words that aren't familiar to you, creating a virtual word bank.  With that word bank you can look up definitions, and not only will that help with the understanding of the text, but it will definitely broaden your vocabulary.

Steini: 

When I read stories or novels I usually focus on keeping up with the story. What's going on in the story? What are the relationships between the characters? What are the motives behind the characters' actions? In addition to this I also start making predictions, pretty early in the book. What's going to happen next? Who's going to end up being the "bad guy," etc. If I really enjoy the text, I tend to pay more attention to it and I usually analyze it in much more depth. If I don't enjoy the text so much, I skim over a lot of parts, and I don't pay nearly as much attention to the details. As far as thinking about the theme of the work, I usually don't start pondering this until I am over half way through. I usually find that it's too early to recognize a theme in the first half of a book.

Creating Your Own Personal Study Guide:

I'm sure that we can all agree that many times the study guides that text books provide for certain texts are tedious and useless, but having your own set of questions can be very helpful.  Steini asks himself a variety of questions while he reads, varying in difficulty as he progresses through the story. 

Nicole:

While reading, I usually make predictions about the plot or connections between characters. I take note of what is happening and sometimes relate it to my own life or people I know. I sometimes even feel like I am sort of a bystander in the story because I get so into it. However, this is all done sort of subconsciously or second nature. I don't stop and think about the plot or make any notes or mark pages, it just all happens automatically in a continuous process while I read and stays there.

Letting the Text Be:

While Nicole reads she would rather let the text have its own effect on her, and not complicate things with extracurricular thinking.  For her, having patience with the text, and trusting the author's intentions creates a good enough understanding of the text at hand.  This method of reading doesn't hold as well with difficult texts that can have embedded meanings; also, texts with material that is quite foreign are equally difficult.
 

Kevin:

Sometimes my mind wanders away from the text and I realize that I haven't been paying attention to the meaning, even as my eyes read the words. This is like drifting off during a conversation or during class. Haven't we all sometimes realized that although someone was speaking to us, we didn't catch what they said, because we were drifting off into space? In a face to face situation, this seems rude, but when reading, we don't have to worry about being polite to the author. We can drift off anytime we like! So what to do when this happens? If we drift off during a conversation, we can admit that we haven't been paying attention, and ask the speaker to repeat what he or she said. The speaker may or may not repeat himself exactly, but when reading, we can just go back to the place where we drifted off, and read again. The information will be exactly the same as it was when we read it the first time.  This is one area of my thinking about reading literature. As I am actually reading though, I find I just focus on the story and on the characters. I imagine myself as one of the characters, or I wonder ìwhich character am I most like?î ìWhich Karamazof brother would I be?î

Drifting Away, Returning, and Imagination:

Kevin identifies a problem we all experience when we find we may have just read several (or more) pages and realize that we cannot remember one word we have read: sometimes I find it helpful to identify why I am having a struggle focusing: is the text difficult; do I understand what I am reading; do I need to stretch, get a drink, or walk around. Sometimes I just sit and try to assimilate what I have read and make sense of the new information before I go any further.  Kevin also has a great idea about imagining ourselves as one of the characters; I have empathized with certain characters, but I have never acted as one of the characters--when I took several minutes to try and imagine myself as different characters in The Rivals, it helped me a lot. 
 

Location and Focus:

Vanessa realizes how surroundings can mean everything when you have a lot of reading to do: as you start focusing on your reading processes, pay attention to what sidetracks you, what makes work an impossibility, and when you finish the most work.  Some people can work in cubbies in the library hidden away--that feels way too claustrophobic to me; I like to go to coffee shops, put my headphones on, and read away--everyone will have a different spot that works for them; you just have to take the time to figure it out. 

Caroline:

During my reading, I have always circled back to earlier parts of my reading and tried to reconnect or understand my previous reading in light of the new information: because of this process, I thought of myself as a poor reader: other people seemed to get stuff much faster. Then I read a statement by Wolfgang Iser that talks about how when we read, ìmeaningful patterns are created that must constantly be rearranged.î Whoa. That statement really helps me to understand the dynamic, shifting patterns of my reading. I also try to connect what I'm reading to something in my life; this may happen instantly with an Aha! moment, but at other times require thought: 
What the author is trying to say
Who is the audience?
What is the author leaving out?
What viewpoint is the author writing from?
What pictures come to mind as I read the text? I want to SEE the material.
I have always taken notes when I read, but now I jot down small notes more often instead of waiting until it's the end of the chapter. I write down vocabulary words that I do not know. The little notes trigger so much when I review them at a later date. Granted, writing notes will slow you down, but it's an effective use of time.
 
In conclusion, we have come to realize how differently each of us processes and handles reading whether for pleasure, information, or academia: we will all have to read millions of words between school, work, and play.   Each of us will benefit from periodically taking a few minutes to examine our reading processes and see what's working or not working out for ourselves.  Locations and venues may change from school to work or work to school, but a little consciousness will pay off. 

• To me, the things that go on in my brain while I read are a lot like skipping rocks.  The stones represent the neurotransmitters in my by brain, which I employ to go out and make sense of what it is that I'm reading.  I throw them out into the rippling stream of information that the text has provided for me, and they strike the water on those ideas and details that I subconsciously decide need attention and scrutinizing.  From the symbiotic relationship that the two entities share (i.e. Stone and stream, textual idea and personal understanding) a rippling effect reverberates through my mind, drawing from not only the text, but from personal experiences, learned information, and the collective unconscious to come to a holistic understanding.  The apex of understanding happens when multiple ripples of information run into each other and create an even bigger sense of comprehension, almost like an epiphany.

•  The reading process resembles driving a stick-shift car: think about starting the car, accelerating, shifting gears, and stopping.  Reading definitely has levels of engagement which seem a whole lot like shifting gears: sometimes when you first start reading, until you understand what is going on in the book, you stay in first and second gear--ten to thirty miles an hour.  When the book engages you, you become involved in the plot, or at least understand the action; you hit third gear and drive about forty-five miles an hour.  Sometimes you really start seeing the plot, realizing the author's intent, finding metaphors and symbolic language, and having aha moments; how does it feel to cruise along at sixty-five miles an hour or more--pretty sweet, huh?  We all hope to hit fifth gear even when we read for work and not just pleasure.