Reflection #1
Chapter 1 discussed about paraphrasing and summarizing and what each one entails. According to Spears (2009), “To paraphrase means to restate a writer’s ideas in your own words” (p.28). To be able to properly paraphrase what you have just read, you need to be able to clearly understand what the author is trying to say and be able to write able to write it in your own words. Some techniques to proper paraphrasing are to use synonyms for key words, change the order of ideas from the original, remove unnecessary words, combine sentences and ideas, and maintain the same tone and style as the original (Spears, 2009, p.29). Summarizing goes beyond paraphrasing because you must decide what is necessary and what isn’t, decide the arrangement of ideas, write the ideas clearly and without bias, and finally summarizing helps to avoid plagiarism. Some techniques to writing an effective summary are: to read through the passage at least twice to understand it better, maintain the balance between main ideas and supporting details, paraphrase the writer’s ideas as much as possible without changing the writer’s key term, and place transitional words or phrases when needed to show the relationship between ideas (Spears, 2009, p.41). A good summary unless the teacher says otherwise should be between five and fifteen percent of the original and clearly state the writer’s ideas clearly. A lot of time and effort is put into becoming efficient at paraphrasing and summarizing but if you manage to master these two things not only will you be able to write great paraphrases/summaries but you will also become a more efficient reader by being able to pick up on the main ideas of the writer.
Reflection #2
This week I learned how to understand how to pick out the author’s main idea or dominant impression in the paragraphs they write. According to the book, “A main idea consists of a topic and a controlling idea.” (Spears, 2009, p.44). A sentence contains a main idea if the topic and controlling idea can shift the order and not change the sentences meaning. When the writer suggests the main idea by using descriptions, then the main idea is implied (Spears, 2009, p.50). A good paragraph has major and minor supporting statements that reinforce the main idea. Being able to pick out the main/minor supporting statements is an important thinking skill. The book states that, a major statement directly relates to and develop the main idea whereas a minor statement further, explain, illustrate, or otherwise develop the major one (Spears, 2009, p.54). The last things the book talked about were identifying the mode of discourse, which relates to the writing style in nonfiction prose. The four modes are narration, description, exposition, and persuasion. These modes are closely relation to the author’s purpose which is why the writer is writing and they hope to accomplish. All these things require attention to details and careful thinking about what each paragraph contains. Both these mental tools help breakdown the paragraphs into what we discussed earlier in the reflection.
I really can’t think of any difficulties I couldn’t resolve in the end but as for my “Hurrah!” moment, it was when I remembered my first day of work that I used for that short story. I honestly wasn’t sure I could remember the details or how I felt because it was so long ago but when I gave it some thought, it came back to me in crystal clarity. As for my service hours, this week, I spent some time hanging out with the kids at Boys and Girls Club. I got to admit it is kind of fun to hang around the kids and play scrabble, do word searches, and crosswords.
I really can’t think of any difficulties I couldn’t resolve in the end but as for my “Hurrah!” moment, it was when I remembered my first day of work that I used for that short story. I honestly wasn’t sure I could remember the details or how I felt because it was so long ago but when I gave it some thought, it came back to me in crystal clarity. As for my service hours, this week, I spent some time hanging out with the kids at Boys and Girls Club. I got to admit it is kind of fun to hang around the kids and play scrabble, do word searches, and crosswords.
Reflection 3
Media can affect how you think about what you are reading because it can bring things into perspective that perhaps words cannot. A cartoon can be a useful way to touch upon a sensitive subject without offending too many people by approaching it in a humorous way. A cartoon can mold public opinion or comment on the news of the day or social trends (Spears, 1999, pg.95). Graphs can also help shed more light on a study instead of just explaining it in words because they show the data in a much more readable format. These visual elements reinforce and clarify complex material (Spears, 1999, p.96).
Media is becoming more prominent in our reading materials than they were years ago. If you look at text books today they are loaded with pictures, graphs, and other media. These are helpful to clarify things that perhaps one can’t understand so well in words. I believe that media in the books are a good thing as long as they don’t take too much away from the reading material. It should be fairly balanced because children learn differently. Considering my issue is about understanding human memory and I am working with kids it is good to see how media can help kids to remember what they are learning. Well, the more I work with the kids the more I understand how well they learn and what methods work best for them. These things slowly help to explain methods to understanding memory and what ways help them to remember.
Media is becoming more prominent in our reading materials than they were years ago. If you look at text books today they are loaded with pictures, graphs, and other media. These are helpful to clarify things that perhaps one can’t understand so well in words. I believe that media in the books are a good thing as long as they don’t take too much away from the reading material. It should be fairly balanced because children learn differently. Considering my issue is about understanding human memory and I am working with kids it is good to see how media can help kids to remember what they are learning. Well, the more I work with the kids the more I understand how well they learn and what methods work best for them. These things slowly help to explain methods to understanding memory and what ways help them to remember.
Reflection 4
This week the book talked about the methods used to develop paragraphs. According to the book, “The methods of development refer to the various ways a writer presents evidence to support the idea within an individual paragraph. A main idea cannot be left unexplored; it must be examined, supported, explained, illustrated, or defined as the subject dictates (Spears, 2009, pg.119). There are eight methods of development which are: facts and statistics, examples and illustrations, process, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, classification and analysis, definition, and analogy. Facts are supportable, impartial information and statistics are data in the form of numbers. An example is a specific case of a more general thought and an illustration is a single, longer, extended example. Directive tells people how to do something and informative tells how something works. Comparison and contrast is how the writer describes how things are similar or different. Cause and effect refers to why something happens and what happens because of it. When a writer classifies something, they put two or more things into categories and when they analyze something they examine a single subject in different parts one at a time. Definition is use to clarify a term that may be open to misinterpretation. Finally analogy is when the writer discusses the literal subject in terms of something else and is the most complex method of paragraph development. Understanding all of these methods can help the reader to comprehend how the writer put together the paragraph and further understand the subject.
Reflection 5
This week the book discussed how to organize paragraphs, the four ways it is done, and how to make paragraphs more coherent. According to the book, the patterns of organization refer to the various ways that a paragraph’s sentences can be arranged (Spears, 2009, Pg.158). The four ways discussed in book are chronological, spatial, deductive, and inductive orders. Chronological order is just as it sounds, the events are written in the order that the happen. Spatial order refers to how details are arranged as observed in an environment. Deductive order also called general-to-specific order is just as it sounds as well it refers to a general idea supported by more specific ideas and inductive order is the exact opposite of deductive order. The other topic discussed in the chapter is two ways to make paragraphs more coherent by using transitions and repetition. According to Spears, transitions are signposts or markers that indicate a logical relationship or a shift in direction and by repeating keywords and phrases, which help keep the reader on track and maintain focus (Spears, 2009, pgs. 166 & 170). All of these methods help keep the paragraphs organized and coherent.
Reflection 6
In this chapter of the book, we learned about denotation and connotation, figurative language, connotation and our perception of the issues, and language misused and abused. According to Spears (2009), Denotation is the literal or explicit meaning of the word and connotation is the cluster of suggestions, ideas, or emotional associations a word carries (pg. 189). An example of the difference between denotative and connotative is the word lemon. The denotative meaning is a yellow, sour citrus fruit and a connotative meaning could be a defective machine. When using connotative words it is important to remember the context of the sentence or paragraph. The book also discusses figurative speech such as metaphors, similes, and personification. According to Spears (2009), Metaphors and similes are very closely related as they both represent imaginative comparisons between two essentially unlike things. A metaphor is a more direct comparison, in which a particular quality or characteristic on one thing (the figurative) is transferred to another (the literal). A simile, in contrast, is an imaginative comparison stated indirectly, usually with the words “like,” “as,” “as though,” “as if,” and occasionally “seem (pgs. 197-198).” Personification is when one gives human attributes or feelings to inanimate or nonhuman objects. The last part of the chapter discusses how language is misused and abused in several ways such as clichés, jargon, euphemisms, etc. and how to notice these things for what they are and look past them to get to the truth behind them in what you are reading. The ability to notice such things help you to not be lead on to think how the author or writer wants you to think and be able to form your own opinions despite misused and abused language.
Reflection 7
Chapter seven discusses the author’s point of view or their attitude towards or where they stand on a subject. According to Spears, “The point of view leads to certain choices the writer makes, to the other important elements in writing, for example, mode of discourse, diction or word choice, and tone (Spears pg. 238). The author’s tone is also discussed in the chapter and basically the author’s tone is how their writing comes across emotionally such as anger, fear, or sadness. It is hard to perceive the author’s tone because when we read, there are no visual or vocal cues and you need to look at the connotative values of the words, from the details included, and the author’s point of view (Spears pg. 241). There are many types of tones an author may use but most fit into three general categories which are neutral, positive, and negative and which of these categories the author’s tone is in are determined by the author’s point of view. The tone of writing can be used to persuade readers or get the author point of view across more clearly that to just write based on facts. It is still important to have facts to back up an author’s tone but if the reader can feel the author’s anger or displeasure about the subject and understand why the author feels that way then perhaps they are more likely to be swayed. The last subject that this chapter discusses is “allusion.” “An allusion is a pointed and meaningful reference to something outside the text, which helps illustrate the subject (Spears pg. 266).” Allusions can come from any source but they are most affected when the source used is one that is widely known because if the reader doesn’t understand the connection of the allusion and the subject misses out on both the literal and connotative meaning. The ability to properly understand an author’s point of view, their tone, and what they are alluding to helps us understand the deeper meaning behind just words on paper.
Works Cited Spears, Deanne. Developing Critical Reading Skills. McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009.
Works Cited Spears, Deanne. Developing Critical Reading Skills. McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009.