Southworth’s Tips: Teaching with “Difficult Texts”
A difficult text, by definition, is one that permits, stands up to, even insists upon interpretive works. Students cannot learn to do interpretive work in a curriculum devoid of difficult texts.
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Active Reading summarized /adapted from John Bean, Engaging Ideas , Chap ter . 8
Roots of poor student reading skills
· Assuming that reading should be speed reading, not laborious and slow
r Experts read slowly and reread often
r They write “gist” statements in the margins as they read
· Failing to adjust reading strategies for different texts and circumstances
r skimming, close scrutiny, application
· Failing to perceive an argument’s structure as they read
r “chunk” the into parts with describable functions
· Difficulty in assimilating or accepting the unfamiliar
· Failing to see the rhetorical/cultural context in which a text exists
r Appreciate political biases, varying levels of scholarship, author as real person…
· Difficulty in seeing themselves engaged in the text’s broader conversation
r Carry on a silent conversation as both skeptic and believer
· Failing to know the allusions and cultural references of a text
· Possessing an inadequate vocabulary, and resistance to looking up words
· Difficulty in understanding difficult and unfamiliar syntax (sentence structure)
· Failing to see how discourse varies from discipline to discipline
Strategies for helping students become better readers
· Show students how your own reading process works, especially how you vary reading strategies
r Model how YOU handle texts considering the points mentioned above
· Show students your own notes, marginalia, quotations, etc.
r What you underline and why, how you sort things out
· Encourage students to use the dictionary. Try to get them to tick off one unknown word per page and define it; offer extra credit, in-class writing based on vocabulary
· Teach students two levels of glossing: SUMMARY (what it says); RHETORIC (what it does) for each paragraph.
· Have students present reports, notes for texts not covered in class
r Make them responsible for this material to increase amount of material covered
· Brainstorm/group task on a problem to be addressed in a reading; writing before a text is assigned
· Present two readings from sharply contrasting perspectives to show the impact of authorial frame of reference. Have students do brief research/presentations on authors to help understand their perspectives
r Have students locate the same story covered in publications of varying scholarship
· Unlock cultural codes in a text through discussion and student-generated reading guides
r Discuss what kind of cultural background knowledge is needed or implied
· Have students realize all texts are persuasive. Have students write their beliefs on a topic before/after reading.
r Before I read this text, the author assumed that I believed…
r After I finished reading this text, the author wanted me to believe…
r The author was/was not successful in changing my view. How so? Why or why not?
· Teach students to role-play, first as a believer in a text, second as a skeptic
Assignments to help student improve their reading skills
1. Have students turn in photocopies of texts with their marginal notes
1. use post-its, stixy, digital notes…
Getting Started With Marking the Text
1. Have students annotate in different color with each reading (silently, aloud…)
2. Write the thinking next to the words on the page that cause you to have the thought.
3. If there isn’t room on the text to write, use a sticky note.
4. Don’t copy the text; respond to it.
5. Merely underlining text is not enough. Thinking about the text must accompany the underlining.
6. There is no one way to respond to the text. Here are some possible options:
r Ask a question
r Make a connection to something familiar
r Give an opinion
r Draw a conclusion
r Make a statement
2. Have students keep column notes, where you provide subject headings for each column
3. Have students keep two-column journals, one column for summary, one for response
4. Devise reading questions—and make students respond in writing to them
5. Ask students to write dialogues with the author, or several authors assigned
6. Have students write abstracts of articles
7. Have students write annotated bibliographies, where the annotation is tailored by you.
8. Have students map, or outline, the writer’s argument
9. Have students devise multiple-choice or essay test questions on readings
10. Have students write translations, or reading guides, for classmates, other classes, succeeding students, etc.
11. **Encourage and foster outside/independent reading of all kinds!!
Tips for Students: Getting “Unstuck”
1. Trust the author. Don’t panic if at first the text doesn’t make sense. The author will slowly reveal clues.
2. Ask questions. Someone else may have the same question. Someone else may be able to clear up confusion.
3. Slow down. Give yourself time to read, reread, and paraphrase what you’ve read.
4. It is okay to go back. Sometimes readers go back and reread several times before parts of the text make sense.