Page 316 - Foundations of Learning, 4th Edition (Revised)

Tips:
• After you read the first chapter or few pages, write down the main points of who characters are,

where they live, when and how they live, what they seem to be doing, and anything about why
they are doing things.
• Keep reading with pen in hand. Don’t stop reading, but underline or mark in margins: any images,
ideas, questions I have?
• In margins or on separate paper: characters? How are they connected? Motivations?
• What connects with me as reader? I might notice law themes, somebody else might notice nature
or gender themes
• Read for a while without taking notes: just get into the story
• Stop reading for a while and write down any thoughts, questions, even complaints about the
book to bring to class
• Keep reading—enjoy being in someone else’s life for a while! Know you might have to read a
story or parts of the novel more than once. Find the human connections—that’ll make it easier.
By the time Abby gets back in her group, she has actually read and enjoyed more of The Great Gatsby.
She got into the idea of how we see the American dream these days. She also is thinking about whether we
should re-define that dream if it just means money and material things. She has started writing an essay
about this for her lit class, and may even write about justice and money for a research project. Abby tells her
classmates that reading lit is about enjoyment, but also about analysis. One classmate learned that reading
history is similar in that it’s also about analysis, but his instructor also mentioned that reading history is a
great way to understand the present. Another classmate shared that his anthropology instructor said that
reading in that discipline is a bit like playing Sherlock Holmes.

310 Foundations of Learning