The Challenge of Teaching Critical Reading and Research

This project grows out of my on-going research on students' learning in interdisciplinary courses. One of the key challenges I've wrestled with is the difficulty of teaching students to read texts deeply and to do research in meaningful ways. more...

Key Findings

• The unconventional nature of this project caused some discomfort for students, but for many the clear structure, broken down into manageable steps, and the open-endedness of the project facilitated deeper and more critical analysis. more...
• The clear structure and opportunities to practice some of the inquiry activities in class provided support and guidance, so that students were able to learn from the project despite their uncertainties. more...
• The recursive nature of the project encouraged students to rethink their reading of their novels, rather than clinging to their first impression or interpretation. Their work became deeper and more nuanced. more...
• Even though the project did not explictly invite students to do so, many used historical and other non-literary resources very well. more...

Links with Other VKP Projects

My project shares some common themes with several other VKP projects. Like Randy Bass and Peter Felten, and my YSU colleagues Stephanie Tingley and Martha Pallante, I'm exploring issues of how students read and how to foster better reading. Like Teresa Goddu, I'm interested in exploring strategies for helping students learn how to pursue complex research in cultural studies. more...

ENGL 3780: American Genres

American Genres is an upper-division literature course. The students represent several different majors -- English, Integrated Language Arts (for pre-service teachers), Professional Writing and Editing, and even Psychology. The focus of the course is helping students learn how to read and analyze literature as part of a genre. more...

The Inquiry Project

The major project of the course was a semester-long "inquiry project" in which each student explored his or her own questions about an immigrant novel that we had not read as a class. Students completed a series of assigned tasks, but these tasks were designed to allow them to pursue whatever aspects of the book interested them. more...

Links

Immigrant Novels Inquiry Project

Defining Critical Reading

As I begin looking at students' portfolios more closely, I have identified several qualities that are central to good critical reading:

-- a habit of inquiry, expressed by posing questions throughout the reading and research process
--connectivity, a habit of exploring how an individual text connects with other texts and ideas about a period, theme, or issue
-- recursivity, which can mean both rereading a text and revisiting an issue or question
-- self-awareness, as in the ability to notice and reflect on one's own experiences and thoughts over time
-- the ability to synthesize ideas from the reading and research process while also remaining open to the possibility that further exploration would yield different insights. more...

Links

Defining Critical Reading