Reading Development

I think reading was the most important part of my formative years. Growing up was an extremely boring process, so having a book nearby felt essential. My parents didn’t read to me much, but they always encouraged me to read for myself and to find what I liked. The times they did read to me they read usual fantasy children books, like Where the Wild Things Are or Cat in the Hat. As I got older, I started to read whatever I could get my hands on. Non-fiction always seemed to hold my attention, more so than fiction, so when the school book fair rolled around I’d always ask my parents for those DK Eyewitness books. When I’d read the same book or encyclopedia for the hundredth time I’d borrow from the school library or classroom, but I had a bad habit of never returning them. To this day I probably still have a book in storage from my elementary years. The most memorable book to me growing was always Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage. Since then, I’ve tried to branch out more into fiction to try and find the qualities of that story and what made it special in other works of literature. When I heard about the works of George Orwell, I decided to try an audiobook for the first time with my choice title being 1984. It wasn’t what I expected or maybe I didn’t give careful thoughts to my expectations. I think if people are not used to having stories read to them, then the experience is rather quite jarring and would be a turn-off. As it was, I nearly didn’t finish the story because of it. However, after giving it some thought, I realized that audiobooks can provide that extra level of depth of the story that I think anyone can appreciate. Different narrators can provide different tones of the story and inflect a character’s dialogue, completely changing what the reader or author interpreted or intended.

As far as academic reading is concerned, however, I don’t I have much experience or skill in that. I don’t believe any comprehension strategies were taught to me (or any that stuck) when I was attending school. I’ve never needed it, but then again, I’ve never read truly challenging reading material. Works like Ulysses and Atlas Shrugged are not something I can read without a guide and an unending source of patience. When I read, I read what’s written in its entirety. I feel that just having the important bits is not enough and that the context for that information is just as important (or more) to what it’s trying to convey. It may be waste time, but It’s what I’ve chosen. To me, it’s the choice between passing a test and trying to learn something and having that information stick for the rest of my life. That said, I don’t think I would have gotten past middle school without the skills I developed naturally myself, as sparse or undisciplined as those may be. Nearly everything in the world becomes a bit easier if you have good comprehension skills. Instructions on how to do things, different perspectives, or difficult subjects and ideas that make you think are all things found in literature. Understanding it all is just the hard part.

I expected that reading well had played a large role in my success at college this past semester. All of my classes involved some sort of reading, such as technical books for my IT classes and the writing handbook for my English class. When I came to Thomas Nelson, the number of times I had previously experienced difficulty reading academic works was extremely rare. Except, however, for the encounters with my own short attention span I experienced every once in a while. As a first-generation college student, I planned to remedy this so I could also be the first successful college student in my family. These were my feeling at the start of the semester coming to Thomas Nelson.

Although I have a lot to learn, I believe I’m on the right path towards developing the skills to be a respectable reader. During my time at Thomas Nelson, I have learned both Cornell note-taking and the SQ4R strategy and have applied them to my work. The first strategy I learned was the Cornell note-taking format which helps separate my notes on a paper to be easily read. To begin with, on the left side of the paper, I write down the key points and on the right, I jot down notes relating to the key points. After I have both my notes and key points, I finish it off with a summary at the bottom of the paper relating to the main ideas. When the bulk of the work is done, I then re-read my notes to ensure I completely understand the basics of the concepts and ideas being present. Of course, all papers need to be properly documented, so the course name, my name, and the date are entered at the top of each paper.

The second reading strategy I learned was the SQ4R strategy. SQ4R stands for survey, question, read, respond, record, and review. I follow these steps in the order they appear. Surveying a book or paper basically means I scanned through it to find the main ideas and topics it will cover. This usually can be found in the index and table of contents of a book. Before I begin reading, I should ask myself questions that are relative to the to the main idea being presented. I then read the section and respond to my question in my own words. Once I know the material and can put it in my own words, I should record the information for myself. I then will review my notes and the material a few times so that I can properly recall the information when I need to. This is basically what the SQ4R strategy is.

Looking back, I believe the most important skill I learned was the SQ4R reading strategy. I constantly used it for my IT classes and I was able to keep my grade up. I also learned how to document my reading sources properly in both MLA and APA format. While the APA format was not taught in the ENG 111 course, I was able to use the handbook for ITE 119 where I was required to write a research paper in APA format. While I’ve learned a lot about both APA and MLA formats, I still feel like there is a lot more for me to learn. For starters, I want to be able to structure my ideas and paragraphs in a way that is both fluent and concise. At the moment, the way I use words is still a bit awkward and clumsy. However, I’m still proud to know that what I learned will help me be successful in college and my future careers. I feel like my quality of life has improved remarkably since learning how to write properly.