I agree to that fact stated by Ellen C. Carillo in her article, ‘Navigating This Perfect Storm’ that students don’t know the real meaning behind why something is written because now a days, we are being graded based upon the Common Core State Standard. People are not unknown to that fact that they all have access to Google knowledge through which they can pass a class. Due to this, people just concentrate on knowing about something rather than understanding it. In the past, I have read just for the context. I believed reading for context would help me enough to get the work done and have an idea of what I am reading. But, there were times where I was completely lost and the context did not helped. That is when I realized I should stop skimming in order to process my thoughts. Students don’t get the purpose of what they are reading. Purpose is important as it gives meaning to why someone is doing something. And when the students will have a purpose to read, they will care about what and why they are reading, and would not rush just to get the work done.

 

I think there should be a combination of both, The Google knowledge and Understanding as each as its importance. There are chances that we can get lost and are unable to understand something even after reading thoroughly. This is when the Google knowledge plays its part. We shouldn’t rely completely on internet and Google knowledge, but can use it to clear our doubts and find meaning of words which will help us to build up on our existing knowledge.

 

I truly believe that annotating is one of the good ways to improve critical thinking. I have been using the process of annotation since long and it has helped me to reflect on my understanding of a situation described in the text.