Teacher Resources: Things That Work

Three Exercises for Improving Reading Comprehension: Filling out the Conversation, Diagraming Arguments, Identifying Difficulties
by Richard E. Miller

Filling out the Conversation: Reader's Block

Everyone has heard of writer's block and most students who've taken first year composition have had direct experience of this struggle to find something to say. There's no term, though, to name a similarly common experience with reading. No one says, after struggling to make sense of a difficult essay, "I have reader's block." They say, instead, that the reading is boring or too hard or that it is poorly written. When we have trouble writing, we frequently blame it on ourselves; when we have trouble reading, though, we frequently blame it on the material. Such explanations don't make us better readers or better writers; they simply give voice to a common frustration we all feel when confronted with a task that seems unnecessarily difficult.

It's safe to say that every reader, at one time or another, has had to struggle to make another writer's argument seem interesting or relevant. All of us have had days when creating connections between the words on the page and the matter of our own lives has simply seemed impossible. Though there's no handy term to name this common experience, it's clear enough that "reader's block" of this kind can lead quite readily to writer's block: a reader who gets lost in the assigned material and gives up hope of making it to the end becomes, in short order, a writer who has nothing to say about that material.

Part of the challenge of becoming a skilled writer in the academy involves learning how to make the assigned material interesting, no matter what the subject matter. This is hard work: it requires persistence, creativity, versatility, and a willingness both to follow the author's lead and to stray from the course the author has set. In other words, one must learn not only how to capture the gist of the author's argument, but also how to use the author's argument as a launching point to engage in thinking that is deliberative, speculative, meditative. This kind of thinking, which proceeds by imagining alternatives, qualifying positions, clarifying differences, and exploring potential consequences, lies at the heart of the academic enterprise: it is the engine that propels both the production and the consumption of writing in the university.

Because learning to think in this way is intimately connected with learning how to read and to write successfully in the university, you can expect, over the course of the semester, to be asked to contribute to the conversations that are being carried on in the assigned readings by generating similarly deliberative, speculative, meditative responses. In order to do this, you will need to developthe ability to spot openings in the readings where you are being invited to join in the discussion. You will need, as well, to find ways to create such opportunities on your own, places where you can move the discussion in a direction that you find more valuable.

One fruitful way to begin reading in this new way is to think of all the writing that you will be assigned to read this semester as writing that is already engaged in an ongoing conversation that you've only just joined. In a sense, you need to do what any student who arrives late to a class discussion does automatically: you must use the words before you to figure out what the preceding conversation must have been to generate the discussion you've just dropped in on. As a reader, of course, you'll be working withassigned essays that apparently have clear beginnings and endings, but like the student who is late to class, part of your task will involve figuring out who the writer in question might be responding to. By asking the following questions-- who is this writer arguing with and what is this writer arguing against?-- you can begin to trace out the context that has led the writer to believe that his or her writing warrants your attention.

I would like for you to begin to practice this kind of reading. As you read through Peter Drucker's "The Age of Social Transformation" for class on Friday, I would like you to take special care to underline those passages where you catch a glimpse of who Drucker is arguing with. As Drucker builds his case for his version of social transformation, what alternate theories is he arguing against? What theories of social change does he think are incorrect? As you develop your sense for who Drucker is arguing against, you will simultaneously be developing a sense for what Drucker's own theory is and why he thinks his theory is the superior one. Please come to class prepared to discuss three passages where Drucker alludes to or directly addresses theories of social change contrary to his own.

Diagraming a Paragraph, Diagraming an Argument: An Exercise in Close Reading

In our first exercise on reading, we started out by determining who Drucker was arguing with. As our own discussion unfolded, we came to see that part of Drucker's project is to join in an ongoing discussion about who makes history. Thus, in order to understand Drucker's position, we first had to figure out the positions he is rejecting. By filling in the missing pieces of the conversation, we were able to see the uniqueness of Drucker's position (i.e, the most significant social transformations are not set in motion by wars, by great leaders, by the rise of the working class, or by industrialization). By figuring out what Drucker was arguing against, we put ourselves in a better position to see what was striking about what he was arguing for.

For our second reading exercise, we begin with a piece that is literally taken from an ongoing discussion, the third chapter from Benjamin Barber's A Place for Us, "Making Civil Society Real: Practical Strategies." As is clear from the very first sentence of Barber's chapter, "We have seen, in our study of civil society thus far...," "Making Civil Society Real" picks up in the middle of Barber's book length argument. Since we will not be reading the first two chapters of Barber's book, we must begin, then, by getting our bearings. As in our first exercise, we need to figure out who he is arguing with and why. To get started on this project, we will look first at Barber's opening paragraphs where he summarizes the argument he has made in his first two chapters.

Here's what I would like you to do: after you read through the first paragraph of "Making Civil Society Real," I would like you to draw a diagram that illustrates Barber's vision of civil society. Your diagram should include, in your own words, a definition of what the role of civil society is. It should include, as well, a description, again in your own words, of the three obstacles that currently prevent civil society from functioning in the ways that Barber would like it to.

Pre-Writing Assignment for Stephen Jay Gould's "What does the dreaded 'E' word mean, anyway?" Defining Difficulty.

For this assignment, I would like you to discuss in detail the particular challenges you confronted in reading Stephen Jay Gould's "What does the dreaded 'E' word mean, anyway?"

What did you, as a reader, do to handle the difficulties presented by his "reverie"? What sense were you able to make of his way of putting together an argument? Of his use of Darwin? What work would you need to do in order to overcome the challenges you've described?

In writing this response, you will be providing an account of your own experience reading Gould's essay and you will be outlining a plan of action for addressing the difficulties you encountered. To perform this work, you will need to refer to Gould's essay directly, explaining which parts tested you as a reader and how you were or were not able to respond to this essay's challenges. You might begin by selecting a passage that you feel is important to Gould's argument, one that you need to work on to understand: your task, here, is to discuss why the passage you've selected is difficult and to chart out a plan for untangling the difficulties you've discovered.

Your response, which will not be revised, must be at least three full pages long. Bring two copies of your essay to class.