Chapter four of our text teaches us how to critically think. “Question everything” it says. How, though, are we suppose to pick what needs to be questioned? Well first there are three major ways that the author tries to connect with their audience. Pathos is one, and it is what the author uses to appeal to the readers emotions. Logos is another, where the author tries to be more logical then anything else. Ethos is where the author tries to appeal to the reader through character. These can be by themselves, or the author can choose to use two or even all three of them. It is up to the reader to question everything and not take it at face value. Just because the author writes something about rocks being edible does not make it true. With a little research and adding your own opinions in, you can come to make your own decisions instead of being told what to think. Aside from reading, this also gets one ready for the real world, like most of us in college are experiencing. There are many other tactics to use while questioning text, like ideology, visualizing, and interviewing the author. Some of these tactics might work better then others, depending on the person. The main point of this, I suppose, is find how you best question something, find out why you are questioning it, and finding where you stand on the subject.
Applying reading to my blog. (part one)
Reading for anthropology.
1. I have read some text for Anthropology so that I would understand various facts about the human race, racialism, and more. This reading also prepares me for the test.
2. While reading this information for this class, I sit on my couch watching youtube videos and taking breaks periodically to play video games. This helps keep my nerves calm and keeps me focused, as well as let’s me know I understand what I had just read. I know I understand it because my mind goes to my video games then I see what all I remember. It works well for me.
3. To get started, I turn the overhead light on, make sure I have bottles of water, and make sure I have either music or a youtube video running in the background. I also put items that make me feel comfortable close to me, like action figures, comics, or books.
4. When I read for anthropology, I go in expecting it to be boring beyond belief. But I actually really enjoy this class, and with the majority of the book being audio translated, it makes everything easier to understand and comprehend. I do think it is a chore, but since it is fun to learn it usually turns into me thinking to much. “Well if so and so happened like this, how will it change in fifty years from now?” and so on. Yeah, it is a chore, but it is the kind of chore that you somewhat enjoy. Like cleaning the pool so you can swim in it.
5. As I read, strategies I use are usually to have something else going on as I read. I take many short breaks, then get back to it. During these breaks I may be reading a book, writing stories that are in my head, playing video games, or something else. I think this helps me because if I keep reading for too long, or keep writing or keep doing anything I am not 100% into, I will get bored pretty fast and start skipping over stuff to get done. With many short breaks, I can get finished rather fast, and work on it for a longer, more spread out period of time.
6. When I stop, I usually do something to take my mind off of the work. Like playing a video game. Or watching a youtube video. Or reading my book. Doing this will make me get pumped again, and I can usually jump right back into the work quite easily. All I do to get back to work is… get back to work.
7. It usually takes me a few hours to complete my reading. It does not surprise me, as I set a limit for myself each day.
8. The results of my reading usually turn up well. When I do my reading for Anthropology, I enjoy learning about new facts. Last reading session, I learned about new terms like Racialism and other very interesting facts about human history. It is amazing to learn about all of this and even making me consider it as a minor! I usually expect for reading text to be extremely boring as I could be using that time to read my book, but with some textbooks it pays off.
9. In some cases, I answered the exact same because what I do is the exact same for both. However, for this class, I love it. For my political science class… not a fan. I must adjust certain things to help me focus a bit more for that class.
10. I was not really surprised about my reading process. It is like I planned out, despite what I find interesting or boring.
Applying reading to my blog. (part two.)
Reading for Political Science.
1. I have read various pieces of information that correspond to Government and Political Science. This reading prepares me for tests.
2. While reading this information for this class, I sit on my couch watching youtube videos and taking breaks periodically to play video games. This helps keep my nerves calm and keeps me focused, as well as let’s me know I understand what I had just read. I know I understand it because my mind goes to my video games then I see what all I remember. It works well for me.
3. To get started, I turn the overhead light on, make sure I have bottles of water, and make sure I have either music or a youtube video running in the background. I also put items that make me feel comfortable close to me, like action figures, comics, or books.
4. When I go to read for Political Science, I get bored. Like, really bored. It is one of those required classes that you have to take for some odd reason. I love to write, and my Anthropology class is fun. However, Political Science makes me feel as if I am being dragged through a field of rusty old nails. It is literally painful on the mind. So I have to take more short breaks then usual to stay focused, and spend more time on this class.
5. As I read, strategies I use are usually to have something else going on as I read. I take many short breaks, then get back to it. During these breaks I may be reading a book, writing stories that are in my head, playing video games, or something else. I think this helps me because if I keep reading for too long, or keep writing or keep doing anything I am not 100% into, I will get bored pretty fast and start skipping over stuff to get done. With many short breaks, I can get finished rather fast, and work on it for a longer, more spread out period of time.
6. When I stop, I usually do something to take my mind off of the work. Like playing a video game. Or watching a youtube video. Or reading my book. Doing this will make me get pumped again, and I can usually jump right back into the work quite easily. All I do to get back to work is… get back to work.
7. It usually takes me a few hours to complete my reading. It does not surprise me, as I set a limit for myself each day.
8. The result of my reading for Political Science confirms my expectations when I go in: it is boring as heck. I try to get into it but I just can’t. I fin politics very boring, controversial or not. Luckily, there are a couple of things that interest me in Politics. However, I highly doubt we are going to go over any of that stuff.
9. In some cases, I answered the exact same because what I do is the exact same for both. In this class, I find everything boring so I must put more effort and push myself to read. In my anthropology class, I find it very interesting! I still need to limit myself so that I do not try to skip ahead, however.
10. I was not really surprised about my reading process. It is like I planned out, despite what I find boring or interesting.
Module Two
- After reading the textbook, I can conclude that there are many different ways to interpret different forms of reading. For example, if the author of, lets say, an Political Science textbook wanted us to interpret a chapter as wanting us to look at the situation from a certain or neutral standpoint, I believe it would be best to look at the entire chapter as a whole. After looking over the entire chapter, we could take notes on what we find important to us. Also anything we may not fully understand, we can read over again. Another good strategy would be to ask ourselves questions over what we just read and make an answer based off of the reading material and any prior knowledge we have. That is what I found most helpful about this chapter, trying to get us to think more for ourselves. It would make sense since we have just joined college and need to learn not to take everything at face value. The thing I found most confusing, or disagreed with the most, was the different speeds at which people read. I, for one, am a fast reader. That does not mean that my reading skills are any less good then somebody who reads a lot slower, I do not believe that is what reading level is based on.
- In response to question two, I believe a community in which I belong to, and can quickly join in the middle of a conversation without much problem, would be the Star Wars community. A point of hot topic lately has been the abolishment of the expanded universe into a new category called “legends”. To sum that up, they took all the books, comics, games, and practically anything that was not one of the movies or part of the new television show, and no longer considers it part of the official story line. They are, however, creating a new story line with a new lineup of books, comics, games, an even movies and shows. This is great, aside from the fact that they will not be finishing up any of the old story’s that were left open ended. Now, if you are not fully into Star Wars, that topic might have gone over your head. In one of my groups of friends, I have one person who I can talk to this stuff about like it is first grade math. Simple, easy to understand. However, the other people around us, though having a slight understanding, still seem confused. Trying to incorporate them into the conversation, I attempt to fill them in using the most simple, and fastest way possible. Like how I explained above. Now, I can then go into more details, like specific books or games (that they might have even read or played) that will forever be open ended. I can also explain it to them by relating to something they like. For example, if the guy who wrote Lord of the Rings did not finish his final book in the series and decided to reboot it instead.
- I might use a paraphrase to make whatever I just read shorter, and use that to explain to somebody the idea of whatever I am thinking. The summary, however, would be a basic summing up of all the important points made in a paragraph, story, or any form of writing. I would more likely use a paraphrase to explain something to a friend who just needs the basic gist, or I may use a summary to explain the essential information one needs for a subject they express interest in. There are many challenges to these two, as they are so similar! Other obvious challenges are summing up basic ideas to put in either a paraphrase or summary, but you need to not only know the differenc but also know what to put into them and what to leave out. For example, I am usually guilty of adding many unnecessary details to my summaries. For some reason when I paraphrase though, I do quite better.
- Academic reading is much different then reading I have done in the past. For one, this material is much richer and offers much more information then other readings I have done in public school. However, this academic reading is also done on my own time, making me much more responsible then I was in a classroom. That is also how the expectations are much different from now and in the past. In the past, the teachers in public school would help with every little step along the way. They would let you turn something in late if you were home with a cold, or they would give you extra points on assignments if you were falling behind. In my current level of academic reading, I am expected to do everything and much more on time. If I am home sick with a cold, I still have to get it done. If I am falling behind, I will not be cut slack for it. Which I actually appreciate more, because it prepares us for the “real world” as some people call it. My process to reading has changed to try to interest me more in this material. I mean, these textbooks are expensive, so I need to get as much knowledge out of them as I can. They are rich with information, and like the textbooks in high school, I have wanted to drain the knowledge from these books for as long as I can remember, now I need to adjust myself to do it faster and more efficiently.
About me!
Hello! I am Charley Pope, a first year college student! I plan on majoring in creative writing, but am just trying to get my basics out of the way right now. I really enjoy video games, such as Legend of Zelda, Assassins Creed, and The Walking Dead game. I also like the expansive universes of Halo and Star Wars. They are so interesting and well written through many different forms of media. I love to write myself, and to create stories. That is why I want to major in creative writing. I think, as of right now, I am a decent writer. I practice grammar and spelling, and consider myself really good at that. I also think my passion for writing is a major strength. However, I believe my weakness in writing is adding detail. I have noticed that I like to go from point A to point B without really adding much to the side, making for a basic and short writing experience. I am working to improve that. My goals as a writer are to both improve my writing skills so I can create beautiful stories, and to tell wonderful stories that grabs the readers attention. That is pretty much it for now, if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
Charley Popes Blog! 