Answer: You will have finished your VCE!
Television taught us to be passive – to sit back and take it all in.
Often, teachers have encouraged students to be ‘passive’. Too often we say to our students: “Sit quietly. Answer the questions in the book.”
Have you ever:
… read a book but not really “taken it in”?
… sat in front of a book “reading” – only to discover at the end of the page that you haven’t taken anything in?
In Year 12, in English, you need to be an ACTIVE LEARNER – because English is NOT about memorising stuff that you must repeat in an exam; English is about THINKING and FEELING.
How do you become an ACTIVE READER?
Pay careful attention to what you are thinking & feeling as you read.
Try to get clear what you ARE understanding, and what is confusing you.
Express your confusion – ASK QUESTIONS
Student A [below] wrote to me as follows:
From: Student A
To: b.carozzi@bigpond.com
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 5:47 PM
Subject:
hey Barry, just letting you know I read the first 10 pages of ranson and Im pretty lost, mostly because I don't know anything about the Greek god stuff so I'm going to hire Troy and then il re read it
My reply:
From: b.carozzi@bigpond.comTo: Student ASubject: Re: Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2011 07:41:33 +1100
Hi Student A,
Saw your email when I arrived home from dinner with old friends.
Yes - when I first read Ransom - about this time last year - I found the opening really difficult. I kept asking questions: who is this person who is squatting by the ocean? what's all this stuff about water?
I've been looking for a Reading Journal I started at the time; if I find it I'll pass it on. But here are some ideas to help:
1. Read the Handout about ACHILLES - from Myths & Legends (I gave it to you with the bundle of stuff).
2. Some elements of the myth of Achilles:
His father was mortal (ie. he was a normal human being, who could die). His mother was Thetis, a water godess - she lived in the ocean. So while Thetis was pregnant with Achilles, she was living in the ocean.
Achilles was born of a human father, and was therefore destined to die. Thetis didn't want that; she thought she could protect him from death by 'dipping' him in the River Styx. [The River Styx is in the Underworld - according to Greek myth, we cross the River Styx when we travel from life to death. Hades rules the Underworld Land of death. WE get across the River on a boat ...]
So Thetis dipped Achilles in the river; but she held him by the ankles, and as a result ONE part of his body - his heel - was not protected.
[This is not relevant to the story, or the book - but I just realised that that Greek myth pre-dates and predicts something that modern Science discovered - the whole idea of vaccination is that we are given a small dose of an illness - say chicken pox - and our body becomes immune to it. So in a way , the early Greeks hit upon the idea of protecting ourselves from illness (or death) by being given a small dose of it during childhood ... that is really COOL!!]
It's good that you are EXPRESSING the difficulty - keep doing that. The best phrase you can use at this stage is: What I don't get is ...
Because once you CAN answer your question, you have learned something.
I'm looking forward to your next letter.
Regards
Barry
Often, teachers have encouraged students to be ‘passive’. Too often we say to our students: “Sit quietly. Answer the questions in the book.”
Have you ever:
… read a book but not really “taken it in”?
… sat in front of a book “reading” – only to discover at the end of the page that you haven’t taken anything in?
In Year 12, in English, you need to be an ACTIVE LEARNER – because English is NOT about memorising stuff that you must repeat in an exam; English is about THINKING and FEELING.
How do you become an ACTIVE READER?
Pay careful attention to what you are thinking & feeling as you read.
Try to get clear what you ARE understanding, and what is confusing you.
Express your confusion – ASK QUESTIONS
Student A [below] wrote to me as follows:
From: Student A
To: b.carozzi@bigpond.com
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 5:47 PM
Subject:
hey Barry, just letting you know I read the first 10 pages of ranson and Im pretty lost, mostly because I don't know anything about the Greek god stuff so I'm going to hire Troy and then il re read it
My reply:
From: b.carozzi@bigpond.comTo: Student ASubject: Re: Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2011 07:41:33 +1100
Hi Student A,
Saw your email when I arrived home from dinner with old friends.
Yes - when I first read Ransom - about this time last year - I found the opening really difficult. I kept asking questions: who is this person who is squatting by the ocean? what's all this stuff about water?
I've been looking for a Reading Journal I started at the time; if I find it I'll pass it on. But here are some ideas to help:
1. Read the Handout about ACHILLES - from Myths & Legends (I gave it to you with the bundle of stuff).
2. Some elements of the myth of Achilles:
His father was mortal (ie. he was a normal human being, who could die). His mother was Thetis, a water godess - she lived in the ocean. So while Thetis was pregnant with Achilles, she was living in the ocean.
Achilles was born of a human father, and was therefore destined to die. Thetis didn't want that; she thought she could protect him from death by 'dipping' him in the River Styx. [The River Styx is in the Underworld - according to Greek myth, we cross the River Styx when we travel from life to death. Hades rules the Underworld Land of death. WE get across the River on a boat ...]
So Thetis dipped Achilles in the river; but she held him by the ankles, and as a result ONE part of his body - his heel - was not protected.
[This is not relevant to the story, or the book - but I just realised that that Greek myth pre-dates and predicts something that modern Science discovered - the whole idea of vaccination is that we are given a small dose of an illness - say chicken pox - and our body becomes immune to it. So in a way , the early Greeks hit upon the idea of protecting ourselves from illness (or death) by being given a small dose of it during childhood ... that is really COOL!!]
It's good that you are EXPRESSING the difficulty - keep doing that. The best phrase you can use at this stage is: What I don't get is ...
Because once you CAN answer your question, you have learned something.
I'm looking forward to your next letter.
Regards
Barry
TO THINK ABOUT:
Passive learning occurs where the student simply takes in what the tutor or lecturer teaches. This type of learning encourages “surface learning” and is generally regarded as less effective than active learning, which encourages “deep learning”. An example of surface learning is rote learning where bits of information are memorised without regard for meaning or context.
Whereas surface learning concentrates on the words rather than the meaning of what is being said, deep learning is more insightful and requires the learner to organise the information being imparted into meaningful units. Grouping information in this way helps both learning and memory.
The term “active learning” can be applied to your own attitude to learning, or to methods of teaching which force you to be active. As a student, you can take an active or a passive attitude to any learning situation.
Whereas surface learning concentrates on the words rather than the meaning of what is being said, deep learning is more insightful and requires the learner to organise the information being imparted into meaningful units. Grouping information in this way helps both learning and memory.
The term “active learning” can be applied to your own attitude to learning, or to methods of teaching which force you to be active. As a student, you can take an active or a passive attitude to any learning situation.
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