Strategies used to annotate this passage include highlighting important information. I highlighted important information in this passage to reference later on for discussions in class or possible essays to be assigned during the semester. During the class discussion I was able to go back to the general area in which I thought the quote was located and the quote was highlighted from my earlier reading for easier access. I also questioned the use of certain rhetorical schemes such as a metaphor using the word “yenta”. I made connections to the outside world in my annotations, referencing world leaders and politics to the quote “why do the people with the library cards make so many bad decsions?”  I also related how we recieve advice from others despite how bad it may be and we accept it foolishly to my own life in which I take advice from friends on situations that they have not themselves been through. I brought in another source, which happened to be a TED talk about listening. One of the most difficult social skills to master is listening according to the TED talk. I related the TED talk to the line “Do we listen too well when others speak, or do we not listen well enough.?”

In the past I did not often employ active reading strategies when studying academic texts and when I did I would highlight important information that could potentially be used as an example for an essay assigned later on in the class, summarized complex topics that could easily be misunderstood and made notes in the margins to define words which I did not know the meaning to. Summarizing complex topics would allow me to fill in the holes for knowledge that was absent through doing research outside of the text on those particular topics. It would also help me to remember those topics that are more complex and important information for an essay, test, quiz or if I would just find it useful to know. Writing notes on important topics assists in encoding the information into working memory. Defining words that I did not know the meaning to or understood was helpful because it would allow me to better understand the text or passage as a whole. If I had to look back at a passage in which I defined words it would take less time to reference what those words meant. Highlighting information would also make referencing examples for essays a faster and thus more efficient process.

 

Strategies introduced to me by Emerging encouraged me to annotate more often because it explained aspects of annotating that make it appear to be more useful to me, rather than a task that I must complete for a homework grade. Glossing and writing down what I understood about a particular passage were strategies that appealed to me. I can incorporate glossing to quickly reference topics that I could use as research for later and writing down what I understood so that I can research what I did not understand, as well as encode information into my working memory for use as evidence to support an argument later.

Above is a reflection piece that I wrote regarding the annotating I have done prior to my entrance into English 110.  Within the last two weeks I have learned more annotating skills that will strengthen my understanding of the text even further. During the classroom activity the majority of my annotating codes were “U”‘s for understanding the text. Reading to understand was the majority of what my annotations looked like in high school but being introduced to new ways of annotating will help me to strive towards less U’s and more of the other conventions discussed in class.