Using your brain while reading

Is your brain engaged in your reading and writing activities? Woodmonsta brains are - they do all these things when reading actively....

• Summarize: Every once in awhile, you should stop, look at a portion of text you just read, and try to summarize the content in your own words. This is a good way to test your understanding of the material.


• Make Predictions: To keep your brain fully engaged in the text, you should make predictions about what you think might happen next based on what you already know. It's always fun to see if your predictions are accurate.


• Formulate Opinions: We have opinions on everything from the weather to politics. When you are reading, allow yourself to form opinions about the characters, the plot, the style of the writing, etc.


• Make Connections: A good way to understand something that is new and unfamiliar to you is to connect it to something you already know or have experienced. Can you connect the text you are reading to a personal experience? Does it remind you of something else you've read or seen?


• Ask Questions: Don't expect that you are going to understand everything in the reading with complete clarity the first time through. What don't you understand? What confuses you? What words are unclear to you?


• Analyze the Author's Craft: As you are reading, you may notice certain things about the writer's style. Is there a lot of description? Is there too little description? Is the reading easy to follow or difficult in some way? Does the author use a lot of literary devices like similes and metaphors? Do you understand how and why the author is using such devices?


• Reflect/React/Comment: What do you notice? What surprises you? How do you feel about what you are reading? What do you think about what you are reading?


• Look for Patterns/Repetitions: What do you notice about the way the text is structured? Do you notice some kind of pattern? Is there some element in the text that is repeated? What is important about this pattern or these repetitions? How does the structure contribute to the overall meaning?

[- as described in Angela Maiers blog]

http://www.angelamaiers.com/2008/02/active-reading.html

And thoughts on actively engaging with a txt:

http://psuwritingcenter.blogspot.com/2007/09/talking-to-books.html

Tom Sawyer versus Harry Potter

It's a time for a show down... who was the better author? Mark Twain or J.K. Rowling?
Would you rather read about Tom Sawyer or Harry Potter?
I imagine the answer will be swayed heavily one way, but I suspect if you read more some of the classic literature available, you might be surprised as to how engaging the older novels are. There may not be wizards and magic, but the authors weave their own kind of magic with the brilliance of their story and character development. In some ways, the worlds of Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, or Dicken's David Copperfield [which I really enjoyed] are as alien to you as the castles of Harry and Hermione's world.
Has anyone read any Dickens or Twain?
You will be soon.... Hooray!

Here is a link to an article on the subject... read the article and be prepared to discuss on this blog and at school. I am interested in your opinions. Also discuss it with your parents, older siblings, other friends or family. Your question for them could be:
"What did you read when you were at school? Does anything stick in your mind? Were you glad you were forced to read classic novels? Do you feel there is any worth in reading the works of famous authors, and if so, what?"