ACTIVE READING NOTES

THIS IS A LIST OF TECHNIQUES YOU MAY USE TO GENERATE A.R.N. I HAVE TAKEN THESE FIFTEEN STRATEGIES FROM A CALFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION DOCUMENT. TRY TO USE AT LEAST THREE OF THEM IN EACH SET OF A.R.N.

MAKE MEANING AND AVOID MERELY RECORDING WHAT HAPPENS

1. EXPERIMENT WITH IDEAS; THINK DIVERGENTLY; TAKE RISKS; EXPRESS OPINIONS (E.G., SPECULATE, HYPOTHESIZE, EXPLORE ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS [WHAT WOULD IT HAVE BEEN LIKE ON THE ISLAND WITH ALL GIRLS, INSTEAD OF BOYS?], RAISE QUESTIONS; MAKE PREDICTIONS; THINK METAPHORICALLY

2. SEE CULTURAL AND/OR PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPLEXITIES

3. FILL IN GAPS [WHAT ISN’T THERE CAN BE AS IMPORTANT AS WHAT IS THERE]

4. RECOGNIZE AND DEAL WITH AMBIGUITIES OR VAGUENESS

5. REVISE, RESHAPE AND/OR DEEPEN EARLIER INTERPRETATIONS YOU HAVE MADE

6. EXAMINE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT THE AUTHOR BELIEVES AND YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCES

7. DISAGREE, ARGUE, ENDORSE, OR SIMPLY WONDER ABOUT THE TEXT

8. WRITE ABOUT HOW THE STORY IS PUT TOGETHER; WHAT IS THE OVERALL STRUCTURE; WOULD IT HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE IF PLOT EVENTS WERE IN A DIFFERENT ORDER?

9. HOW DO THE PARTS OF THE STORY WORK TOGETHER? THE CHARACTERS?

10. NOTICE THE STYLE OF WRITING; HOW ARE CHAPTERS, PARAGRAPHS, SENTENCES, AND PHRASES PUT TOGETHER?

11. ENGAGE EMOTIONALLY WITH THE STORY AND RECORD YOUR FEELINGS

12. ARRIVE AT THEMES AND UNIVERSAL MEANINGS THAT GO BEYOND THE TEXT

BE SURE TO END THE TWO PAGES OF NOTES WITH A LABELED SUMMARY OF THE SECTION’S MAIN IDEAS, THE UNIVERSAL THEMES. (DO NOT SUMMARIZE PLOT). BEGIN THIS SUMMARY WITH THE WORDS, “WHAT I MAINLY GOT OUT OF THIS READING ARE THE IDEAS OF. . . .” FINALLY, DEFINE TWO WORDS YOU DID NOT KNOW. THESE WORDS DO NOT COUNT TOWARD THE TWO-PAGE MINIMUM AND SHOULD APPEAR ON A THIRD PAGE. ALL NOTES MUST BE HANDWRITTEN, IN PEN, AND ON ONE SIDE OF THE NOTEBOOK PAPER. YOU WILL LOSE POINTS FOR MISSPELLED WORDS. EACH SET HAS A VALUE OF TEN POINTS AND IS DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PERIOD.

A FORMER STUDENT’S NOTES

USE THESE AS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW YOUR NOTES SHOULD READ

“MY FIRST REACTION IS TO WONDER HOW THE TWO SCHOOLBOYS GOT ON THE ISLAND. I NEVER THOUGHT OF THE WORD ‘SCAR’ TO BE USED AS A SYNONYM FOR ‘HOLE’. I THEN REALIZE THAT THE AUTHOR USED THE WORD ‘SCAR’ TO SHOW THE POINT OF IMPACT OF THE PLANE AND THE ISLAND IS SOMEHOW BAD AND UNWANTED, LIKE A SCAR FROM A WOULD ON THE SKIN. THE SCAR WAS ‘A BATH OF HEAT’”

“ALREADY A BOY IS SHOWING ASPECTS OF A SAVAGE. RALPH WOULD PROBABLY NEVER HAVE TAKEN OFF HIS CLOTHES IN THE PRESENCE OF ADULTS. ALREADY A SENSE OF REBELLION CAN BE SEEN.”

“‘THE LAGOON ATTACKED THEM. . . . ‘ IS THE LAGOON A FORCE OF EVIL?”

“I LIKE HOW GOLDING REFERS TO THE CHOIR AS A DARK CREATURE. IS IT ALSO EVIL? ON PAGE NINETEEN, MERRIDEW’S STRONG SENSE OF POWER IS ALREADY BEING SHOWN. GOOD FORESHADOWING!”

“WHAT I MAINLY GOT OUT OF CHAPTER ONE WAS THE EVIL OF THE ISLAND AND THE DEFINITE LOVE OF POWER.”

NOTICE HOW SHE ENDS THE NOTES WITH A SUMMARY OF THE READING SECTION’S MAIN IDEA(S)? BE SURE TO DO THIS AND DEFINE AT LEAST TWO VOCABULARY WORDS.

A FINAL THOUGHT

HERE IS MAIL FROM A FORMER STUDENT THAT COMMENTS ON A.R.N:

Dear Mr. Ayres,

Hi!!! How are you and how has your summer been?? I heard the Italy trip went
really well! I was so sad that I couldn't see you at graduation in all the
crowd because I really wanted to say "Bye" before I came here.

Berkeley is AMAZING. I absolutely love this place - the people are the
greatest combination ever of lively, aware, active, brilliant, and friendly!
And somehow the air just feels cleaner/clearer than Riverside air; I can't
really explain it. I am currently an intended Math-English double major -- I
think I talked to you about how torn I am about what I want to eventually
become, so this is the direction I'm headed in right now.  But I'm also
playing around with Economics and Philosophy as possible
majors/minors/whatever. In any case, I was able to fulfill my reading and
writing requirements with 5's on both AP Language and AP Literature (hurray! I
can tell you that MUCH of that is owed to you!). So...I decided to enroll in
English45C (Modern Literature), which is one of the prerequisites to
officially declaring an English major.

In any case we are currently discussing Victorian poetry before going in to
Modernism, and the professor has asked that we read The Picture of Dorian Gray
on our own by next week so we can begin discussing it then. And now I finally
come to my point, which is that he didn't assign any notes or writing of any
kind from our reading, and that in spite of this.... I have been doing VERY
VERY ACTIVE ARN's!!! And oh my goodness they make the reading so much more fun
because I have a record of all my thoughts and ideas, not to mention that if I
end up writing a paper on this book, it'll be so much easier! Goodness I
cannot tell you how glad I am that you developed this skill in us...I also
hope to be really active in class when we begin discussing the book because
all my ideas will be right there written down with quotations and page number
citations right behind them! As I was working on them just a little while ago,
I felt I just had to tell the person who was responsible for it all, so here I
am e-mailing you. =)

I hope I can come by and visit soon...I'm actually coming home this weekend
but I'm only staying from Friday night to Saturday morning.  Hopefully in
October or later in the year I can come on a weekday afternoon and drop by
Poly!

In any case, it would be so great to hear back from you, and thank you again
for assigning active reading notes...I never thought they'd become my best
friend three years later and five hundred miles away.

Take care!