Read the brief selection from Susan Gilroy and the learning outcomes for English 110 found on the reverse of this page. Treat Gilroy’s selection, Learning Outcome 3, and both the chosen Course Reading Annotation Pages and Informal Reading Response Evidence as your sources. Write about your own approach to active, critical reading (about 200-450 words). Explain your reading practices in the chosen evidence, making sure to engage Gilroy’s ideas and the third learning outcome. What are your annotations and informal responding approaches? How did you decide what to mark or discuss? What might this tell you about your ability to “interrogate” readings, as Gilroy puts it in her title. You will likely also draw from the ways your class has discussed and practiced active, critical reading. Title this section of your statement Learning Outcome 3.
Introduction
Annotation is one of the best ways to understand a text. Every highschool dreads the concept of homework being another poem or short story by Walt Whittman that needs to be annotated fully and turned in the next day, but it is a true and invaluable skill to have. Annotation helps students stop skimming papers and truly gain an in-depth understanding of the text. I will be the first to admit that it is not fun but it makes the reading difficult text much easier and helps me when we have in class discussions about the text. According to “Interrogating texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard” by Susan Gilroy “Annotating puts you actively and immediately in a “dialogue” with an author and the issues and ideas you encounter in a written text.”(1980).
Gilroy’s statements hold true, students who annotate are more likely to understand more complex text because while annotating they take the time to sit and really understand the text instead of just breezing through it. I think annotation helps so much because of how easy it makes to understand case studies on unfamiliar topics or just longer short stories with deeper meanings and everything in between.
Journal Entry
This article is regarding the problem that students are quickly losing interest in becoming biology students. The organization that took on this challenge of getting students more interested in the biology fields was the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. They attempted to go about this by using more hands-on learning opportunities, research partnerships, and informal learning. What they wanted to see was if this change in education would improve students’ interest in biology fields. In the test, they did hands-on learning and brought students to locations along the ocean to do research.
In the results, it was found that over the past 6 semesters, at least 50% of students who did this study showed a significant change in their views on science and the importance it plays in conservation. When using informal education HIMB brought marine sciences into the classrooms. The hands-on learning including plant-based curriculum has helped to improve participation in biology fields.
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