Day 2 Agenda (Monday, Aug 30)
Write a short paragraph (approx. 100 words) responding to Jacqueline Woodson’s ideas (“What Reading Slowly Taught Me About Writing”).
Write your response in the “Leave a Reply” comment section, below this post.
In your response consider the following:
- Woodson discusses the value of reading slowly and connects it to her work as a writer. She explains that reading and writing allow her to look deeply at the world, to understand the future and the past, to get lost and forget, to remember those who came before, to drown out the noise, and to pay homage to ancestors. She also says stories connect people to each other. Discuss how her ideas on reading and writing resonate with you. Be sure to refer specifically to an image or detail that Woodson includes in her talk; likewise, use details from your experience to explain why her points relate to you in some way.
- To write your response, use the “Reply” button and write your response as a comment.
Not only was Woodson’s speech genius, but It was also right on the bat. In her speech, she mentioned how reading slow helped her to learn a new part of the story. In other words, when she read slow or took her time tracing beneath each word, or rereading a sentence, she learned something new and even got a different perspective than the original message she might’ve thought of. This was because she didn’t rush through to get to the end, but she also hung unto every word, and thus creating a mind space of what could’ve been the message. This resonates to me because like every teenager, I text daily. I’ve come to realize how easy it is to misconstrue words or how difficult it could be to understand another’s point. Especially if it’s an argument. With that being said, when I come across similar situations, I find myself reading the text slowly, asking myself questions, and trying to understand the many ‘what could’ve been’ s instead of what it should’ve been. Reading and writing is truly a source of communication, that can not only take you places, but could never die.
-Vivian Uwakwe
You make a good point about how texting can create misunderstandings. I think everyone can relate. And as you say, arguing via text can be so *un*helpful in solving a disagreement.
The number of hours spent reading, considerably exceeded the number of hours spent watching television. We were forced to sit with our hands folded on our desks in elementary and then turn the pages. I was told that stories were supposed to be cherished as a kid. One of our earliest kinds of connected technology is storytelling. As we start to get older, the youth is starting to become more in touch with electronics than their mind. I used to read slowly as a youngster, imagining an unseen finger guiding me from word to word, from ignorance to comprehension. All these were things I agreed with.
I like that you refer to your own childhood experiences with reading in school and how modern electronic devices affect your reading habits.
Woodson’s TedTalk was something I can resonate very easily with. From her talking about reading while others are playing to her speaking on how re-reading the same stories can enlighten you further giving you more context on the same story. Her example on her reading “The Selfish Giant” also was something I felt a lot in school where we would read the same stories over and over looking for different things getting new information slowly learning more about what the author envisions. Another thing that I thought a lot about when how reading slow can help a lot because I was a kid that always read fast trying to get through as fast as possible and opened my eyes to see how taking more time to think about a cetrain message.
-Haim
It’s good to see you write about how reading is an activity that you get more and different things out of at different times.
Woodson paints stories and writing as an activity that deserves to be preserved and encouraged. She points out that the modern world is becoming more and more dependent on information right there and then, that many do not take the time to value the effort and ideas that are put into writing. As such she claims to write in order to honor the people before her that could not, to honor the information and purpose of stories, to honor the increasingly scarce art that is writing and reading. This resonated with me because I too realize this decreasing interest, and I as well have that disinterest in reading and writing. The power of reading and writing is without a doubt one of the most powerful skills that one can have, but the increasing number of people who constantly show that they cannot do either for long amounts of time is worrying. While I do not have any plans to change this, encouraging reading and writing as a pastime or something that’s honorable is far better than forcing it upon us and calling it work.
This is a fantastic (and encouraging!) response and brings up a great question: how many of your peers consider reading as “work”? It’s great to read that you seem to appreciate the potential of reading as something we can do with extra time, for fun, even if fewer people do it today.
Woodson brought up the idea that technology and forms of storytelling are advancing every second while reading is becoming less important, however her being able to take life and reading slowly allowed her to look more deeply at things. This resonates with me because I feel like everything has always been going by so fast, especially as a teen in this generation. It feels like one day something is important, entertaining and new while the next day it isn’t. It can be very confusing. I constantly get lost in information but just taking a step back and taking my time allows me to understand many things I wouldn’t have recognized before or things others have not taken the time to realize. As a child I always took my time to read and focus on the things around me. As the person was reading out to the class I was always the person left behind rereading paragraphs to further understand them. To be able to understand the information that was unclear to me before instead of leaving myself confused. My reading habits and life are very similar as when I get lost I take it slow to further understand it.
Your response brings up such a major issue we deal with today, which is how much information and entertainment is hurled at us from so many angles and how that can be overwhelming. I like that you recognize that and know how to step back to try to make sure you’re picking up on what’s important.
Woodson’s TED Talk resonated with me the most because her points about reading in her childhood really reflects some of the moments I had when I “got lost in a book” myself. This feeling of just reading a really good book, drowning out the noise around you, is something that I have experienced before and something that only reading a book has ever done it so well. I feel like when you are getting deeply into a book, you start to ignore everything around you and start immersing yourself in the world that the author has created through words in the book. This almost magic-like moment is what made me appreciate the power that reading had, as well as the work of the author to make it immersive using the different strategies they use in their writing to hook the reader in.
Yes, you and Woodson both emphasize that wonderful experience of immersing oneself in a book and how that can be almost like magic. I like that you point out how authors can create a world.
Woodson’s speech hits every point on the money. I personally have a different opinion and experience on reading. I read very fast but I tend to reread a lot more because I read so fast. Woodson points out that reading slowly helps to dive into a new world of reading; it helps to honor the information and the author. This resonates with me because I tend to take my time when reading books that entice me. To savor the book and collect every single detail. In her speech Woodson said “we read to remember those who came before us , who live through something harder”. This captivated me because it reminds me of politics and history, not only mine but those of my people and others. And that is some of my favorite things to discuss, read or write about.
Insightful comments here. You make a great point by connecting Woodson’s approach to reading to your own view of history and politics.