We actually read Giovanni’s Room last month!!! Many of my colleagues have degrees in English or comparative literature, and I was blown away by the way they could talk about a work of fiction.
This really gets at so much of what has been going round and round in my head lately... literacy and justice for all! Thanks, Rebekah! Really enjoying your thoughtful musings!
Thanks, Angela! I'd be so curious to hear more about how your school manages reading in digital formats vs. hard copy. I'm more and more convinced that our students lose something big when we don't generally prompt them to choose the latter.
We are all learning more and more about this. One example for our school is that we moved away from digital CTP testing and have returned to pencil and paper. That was easy! I am learning more from the work of Jared Horvath, also a neuroscientist, who presented at a recent ADVIS annual retreat for Heads. His book, Ten Things Schools Get Wrong (and how we can get them right) has been eye opening, as well as his YouTube videos. Even something as "simple" as moving away from popcorn reading, and understanding why we retain more when reading from paper, rather than a screen... has to do with what our brain does with the space on the paper page. The space does not exist in the same way when reading from a digital platform. I am sure I am totally messing up the neuroscience, but the idea that reading from paper text (especially after three pages) is better, is spot on. I'm rambling and could go on, but will stop there for now. Clearly your piece was thought provoking, thank you!
Thanks for this, Rebekah! I’ve tried to strike a happy middle in my reading for my classes. I highlight passages or words in the pdfs of the readings and also take extensive notes or write comments to myself by hand in a notebook. I hadn’t thought about the flourishes I put on the handwritten pages as creating or marking an emotional connection before.
This seems like a good strategy, Trisha! I do wonder how today's (alas, younger) students think about note-taking by hand, since they have less experience with everything hard-copy than we do. Does it feel normal (and useful) for them to take notes this way? Or does it seem extraneous alongside highlighting a pdf? I don't know....but also, I'm sure your handwritten flourishes are beautiful :)
I loved everything about this post, Rebekah.
And also highly recommend Giovanni's Room when you're done with your current Baldwin read. You can borrow my paper copy :)
We actually read Giovanni’s Room last month!!! Many of my colleagues have degrees in English or comparative literature, and I was blown away by the way they could talk about a work of fiction.
As someone who holds English degrees, this note is everything! <3
This really gets at so much of what has been going round and round in my head lately... literacy and justice for all! Thanks, Rebekah! Really enjoying your thoughtful musings!
Thanks, Angela! I'd be so curious to hear more about how your school manages reading in digital formats vs. hard copy. I'm more and more convinced that our students lose something big when we don't generally prompt them to choose the latter.
We are all learning more and more about this. One example for our school is that we moved away from digital CTP testing and have returned to pencil and paper. That was easy! I am learning more from the work of Jared Horvath, also a neuroscientist, who presented at a recent ADVIS annual retreat for Heads. His book, Ten Things Schools Get Wrong (and how we can get them right) has been eye opening, as well as his YouTube videos. Even something as "simple" as moving away from popcorn reading, and understanding why we retain more when reading from paper, rather than a screen... has to do with what our brain does with the space on the paper page. The space does not exist in the same way when reading from a digital platform. I am sure I am totally messing up the neuroscience, but the idea that reading from paper text (especially after three pages) is better, is spot on. I'm rambling and could go on, but will stop there for now. Clearly your piece was thought provoking, thank you!
Thanks for this, Rebekah! I’ve tried to strike a happy middle in my reading for my classes. I highlight passages or words in the pdfs of the readings and also take extensive notes or write comments to myself by hand in a notebook. I hadn’t thought about the flourishes I put on the handwritten pages as creating or marking an emotional connection before.
This seems like a good strategy, Trisha! I do wonder how today's (alas, younger) students think about note-taking by hand, since they have less experience with everything hard-copy than we do. Does it feel normal (and useful) for them to take notes this way? Or does it seem extraneous alongside highlighting a pdf? I don't know....but also, I'm sure your handwritten flourishes are beautiful :)