Entry #2: What Happens When I'm Forced to Slow Down

I am the queen of power reading. If you haven't heard that term before, it's because it is one of my own creation. Power reading is my tactic for getting through all the required readings for grad school: you collect all the texts you need to read for the week, find a stretch of free time, get into a comfy chair or climb onto the treadmill (depends on how motivated you are feeling), and read straight through all the texts until you are done.

If that sounds horrible, it kind of is. But it's effective. I can power read through all my readings in a couple of hours and then focus wholly on the assignments related to the readings. 

However, power reading doesn't allow me to interact with the text or really dig deep. I mean, sometimes, all the text blurs together, and while I can tell you about the key topics of what I read, I cannot provide any real details. 

The SQ4R strategy made me slow down. Like drastically. I spent probably over an hour interacting with an article that normally would take me half that time. And in slowing down, I saw a lot more in the text. I saw recurring themes - such as educational inequality and the ineffectiveness of the Common Core State Standards - and made connections with other texts (Kucer, 2015) - particularly Gholdy Muhammad's Cultivating Genius (2020). Normally, I am so focused on getting the words into my brain that I do not see these themes or connections. 

When it came time to answer questions about the text, I already had a list of insights I could use. The notes I had taken saved me a lot of time (though I still can't say this whole process was faster in the long run). I didn't have to reread sections and try to rack my brain for what I thought as I was reading (if I was thinking anything at all...). My thoughts were right on the page, next to the important lines. Furthermore, when I began responding to peers, I realized that I remembered a lot more of the article than I normally would have. In fact, I even remembered some of the thoughts I had while reading - without looking at my notes. That is not something that happens to me often; I've got too many things going on in my head and very rarely are they my own thoughts (which sounds sad when I write it down...). In the places when my classmates mentioned something I didn't remember of the top of my head, I was able to look back and see my thoughts from when I was reading the article. This allowed for an answer based on my actual thoughts at the time, rather than what I thought my thoughts were, swayed by others' writing. (I probably could have fit the word "thought" in there another time, but my brain might have exploded.)

Moving forward, I can't say I will use this strategy with every text I have to read for grad school; I just don't have the time to do that. However, I might spend some time after reading each text to write down some of my overall thoughts and circle some of the key vocabulary. Stopping after a reading rather than continuing on my power reading quest and gathering my thoughts might do some actual good. After all, doing so will force me to truly think about what I read, the themes I saw, and the connections I made. Additionally, it will prepare me for responding to classmates without requiring me to go back and reread the whole article to come up with some thoughts that I may or may not have had when I read it the first time. I can also see how this would be a good strategy to teach my students. I can see how it could make a difficult text more approachable and overall more comprehensible. 

[This post was updated January 27, 2022 at 11:30 AM]

References

Kucer, S. (2015) "Literacy: Varied, Dynamic, and Multidimensional," Journal of Family Strengths: Vol. 15: Iss. 2, Article 1.

Muhammad, G. (2020). Cultivating genius: An equity framework for culturally and historically responsive literacy. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Entry #1 - Literacy: More Than Just Reading?

When asked how I would define literacy now, I would describe it as this:

"Literacy, to me, is the ability to read, comprehend, and use text in a language. To be literate is to be able to not only take in the written word, but use it to learn and navigate the world."

When asked how I would define a literate person now, I would describe them as this:

"A literate person is one who is able to read, comprehend, and use the written word in a particular language in real life. They are able to take in information through reading. They do not necessarily need to be able to comprehend all written language, but they should have the ability to utilize resources to supplement knowledge they are lacking."

I used a variety of experiences to come up with these definitions. Some of these experiences were in my primary school; some were in college courses. As a child learning to read, "literacy" was a definite goal; it had a clear end. One day, I would just be able to read. However, during the process of learning to read, I realized that there is no end. Being literate is a misnomer; it is a continuous process of becoming. In college, as a linguistics major, I had to grapple with more ideas of what literacy is. I was forever being asked if I knew another language (people's understanding of what linguistics is is quite disappointing), and I had to decide what it means to "know" another language - and if I could consider myself literate in another language. Was it enough to be able to read a few words? Short stories? If I could read something but couldn't understand it, was I literate? Then, in my first semester of grad school, I read Gholdy Muhammad's Cultivating Genius (2020). She had a multimodal approach to literacy; she saw it as more than just being able to read. 

When it comes to people who have been influential in helping me develop these definitions, I would have to strongly say my teachers, my classmates in college (especially those who were bilingual), and Gholdy Muhammad: my teachers because they taught me to read - or rather the process of reading, as it is ever growing; my classmates for making me question what it means to be literate and biliterate, therefore changing my perspective to literacy as a continuum; and Gholdy Muhammad for making me include aspects beyond just reading as important elements of literacy.

Given my definition, I think I would consider myself a literate person - or on the continuous path of being one. While I am far from being able to comprehend all written language (sometimes, science journals look like gibberish to me), I am able to read, comprehend, and use the written word in my academic and daily pursuits. I can take in information through reading, write my thoughts, and speak about what I read. When I do not understand something, I have the ability to use resources to augment my knowledge and learn new vocabulary. 

References

Muhammad, G. (2020). Cultivating genius: An equity framework for culturally and historically responsive literacy. New York, NY: Scholastic.