Thursday, August 28, 2014
To Read is To Attempt Comprehension
Last night's reading was very enlightening to me. I was enthralled by the images of the human brain that depicted the regions in which we hear words, see words, read words, and generate verbs. On page 38 and 39, Dr. Merlin C. Wittrock states " To comprehend a text we not only read it, in the nominal sense of the word, we construct a meaning for it." I found this quote to be very accurate as to how I read. I thoroughly enjoy to read, but I enjoy the comprehension that I gain from a text even more. In the text we are told of the "silent reader" which I definitely resonate with. I often enter my own world when I am immersed in a novel or poem. I find that the freedom literature offers to a reader is incomparable to anything else. My motto has always been why should you alter your state of mind with a substance when you can just enter a new world via an enthralling work? In the text on page 53," Emerson believed that reading a book was a private and solitary business," and I agree to a certain extent. I believe that the act of reading alone to gain enjoyment is more achievable than when the text is shared in a group effort. I never enjoyed "popcorn" reading in school for this reason, but I truly enjoyed when we would discuss the text that we had read on our own. What do you think? Is reading more enjoyable alone or in a group? Which do you benefit from more?
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Personally, I enjoy reading by myself. I think reading alone is more of an experience than reading in a group. I can go my own pace in reading, and take the time to enjoy it and become completely immersed into the book. I love the fact that reading takes you on so many adventures without having to leave your room. For example, the book I'm reading now, The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi, is absolutely fantastic. There have been two major plot twists (so far) that I wasn't expecting at all, but they're something that pulls me into the book even more!
ReplyDeleteI've always enjoyed reading silently over reading aloud. There are too many variables when reading aloud. Someone may not read at your pace or stumble on a word that throws you off as you read it yourself. This is especially true when I was in high school; there were so many different reading levels in one class that reading aloud became increasingly infuriating as I tried to be patient for those students with lower reading levels. As I said in my own post, it's hard to believe these people were able to focus when everyone was reading aloud at once. I'm thrilled to know we've gone beyond that point.
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