Running Head: JOURNAL #4 INCORPORATING TEXT ANNOTATION IN THE CLASSROOM 1

Journal #4 Incorporating Text Annotation in the Classroom as Seen in Emily Nicole Howells Odysseus Deconstructed: Crossing the Threshold into Critical Thinking Alexi Swank Seton Hill University

JOURNAL #4 INCORPORATING TEXT ANNOTATION IN THE CLASSROOM

A) In her article, Odysseus Deconstructed: Crossing the Threshold into Critical Thinking, Emily Nicole Howell discusses the complications that arise in teaching a classical heroic figure in literature to a more contemporary audience. Howell feels that the character of Odysseus is a vital part of student learning in that his complex tale allows [her] to teach students to challenge traditional notions through authentic critical reading (Howell, 2012 pp. 61). Through the study of Odysseuss character, students are asked to respond to an essay prompt asking them to define the term heroism, citing textual evidence from the work itself. One large way in which Howell is able to foster students critical reading skills is by helping them learn further in the ways of text annotations. She teaches students that writing in the text creates a conversation between their own thoughts and those of the text and author, and these conversations cannot be recreated, so it is extremely important that they spend a great deal of time going through this process. Another thing that is necessary to remember when teaching methods of text annotation is that some students are going to respond in very emotional ways to certain texts or characters, and as teachers, it is our responsibility to redirect those rants in an academic manner. However, regardless of the commentaries that students have to share with their textbooks or novels, without this processing of the information that they are given, it is clear to see that students would not be able to fully comprehend the meanings behind the stories. B) The controlling point of this article is that text annotation is a vital part of students learning to read critically. Without the use of text annotation, students would

JOURNAL #4 INCORPORATING TEXT ANNOTATION IN THE CLASSROOM

not be able to come to the discovery of the underlying themes and messages that the texts have to offer in the academic field as well as outside of the school walls. C) In my own teaching, I often worry about how I am going to teach students to use critical thinking and reading skills in the comprehension of texts for the classroom. In this article, Howell presents a rather ordinarily expected method for how the scholar approaches a text text annotations. However, students on a secondary level are not very familiar with this process yet, so it is our job to incorporate this task into their reading. One way I can imagine myself helping students to understand the importance of their individual conversations with the text is in seeing that it is okay for them to jot down emotions or images that they think of when reading the text. It is those unique responses to the readings that allow students to see the way in which their brain works with a given text. Encouraging the use of doodles that have something to do with what the student is reading or perhaps even going off on a teenage rant, as Howell describes it, about how the student does not like the way that a character acts or speaks while also asking students to mark any passages of interest or confusion is a strong way to develop critical reading skills. D) In our ED 222: English in Secondary Education classroom, our credo states a number of tasks that we hope to accomplish in our own individual classrooms both preprofessionally and in the future. One of the components of our credo is noted as fully engaged students. This means that we hope to discover a method in which we as educators are able to get students fully participating in class activities and other vital parts of the learning process. The idea of text annotation is one such activity that students can all be involved in that targets every way in which a student can become engaged in the

JOURNAL #4 INCORPORATING TEXT ANNOTATION IN THE CLASSROOM learning process. Cognitively, students will be able to demonstrate their own thinking process through writing down their emotions and thoughts in response to given texts.

Affectively, students will be able to share their emotions and feelings through the writing of these intellectual conversations with the text itself. Physically, students have the opportunity to incorporate the manipulation of the material itself through writing in the text and displaying their individual responses to the readings on the pages with their own pencils or pens.

References Howell, E. N. (2012, September). Odysseus Deconstructed: Crossing the Threshold into Critical Thinking. English Journal, 102(1), 61-66. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/journals/ej/issues/v102-1