Things That Work:
Reading Difficult Texts
Presenting New Texts
The first day of discussing a new essay, three students bring
in a few questions that get us started-the questions can be problems (what
on earth is Virginia Woolf talking about?), which they often are, and
then I try to use their frustration as a starting point for discussion:
why might Woolf be writing in this digressive, indirect way?
--Christie Cox
Reading Difficult Texts: Communal Meanings
This is a simple and easy warm-up exercise. Ask students to find three
or four difficult-to-understand words or terms from the essay they are
reading. At the beginning of class, choose a volunteer to write the words
on the board. Students then shout the words to the volunteer who decides
if they are definition-worthy. Then the volunteer asks for definitions
from the class. In order for this exercise to work, instructors must stay
out of the discussion - no matter how crazy the definitions appear to
be. The class should work on these definitions until it is satisfied that
each is accurate, or that they fit with the way the term or word appears
in the text. The strange thing about this exercise - or maybe this is
not so strange - is that the definitions arrived at in this manner are
almost always accurate and always stay with the students far better than
the instructor-supplied definitions.
-- Brian Roberts
Group Pictionary
This another bizarre, but fun, exercise. In groups, have students
draw pictures of concepts from the essays. Pictures may include Foucault's
"panopticism," Greenblatt's "discourse," Ellison's
"masking," or even Tompkins' "epistemological quandary."
Then, bring the groups together as a class and have them explain their
drawings. This exercise can also be made into a contest, with the class
voting on the best or most accurate drawing.
-- Brian Roberts
Close Reading Group Exercise
Early in the semester, I set up groups and assign a different passage
from the essay we are presently reading. Students in each group call their
peers' attention to key words and phrases in the passage that they are
examining. While discussing the key words and phrases, one member of each
group serves as a scribe, noting their ideas. From their notes, the groups
produce a three- to six- sentence reading of their passage, which they
present as a group in front of the class at the chalk-board. I encourage
each group to try to connect their reading to other quotations in the
essay. If they do not make connections, then the class helps them when
the group is up at the board.
After doing the above exercise a couple of times, each group becomes
responsible for choosing a passage to analyze. In constructing their reading
of the passage, they must connect their interpretation(s) to a quotation
from another essay we are reading or another essay we have read. Linking
texts through quotations helps the students develop framing skills.
When the groups present their readings to the class, they must also explain
why they chose the quotations. Often students are uncertain about why
they are using quotations - they do not always see why one quotation might
create greater analytical opportunities than another quotation. Such exercises
help students better understand that the quotation choices they make affect
their essay's effectiveness.
-- Bob Coleman
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