Goucher College Writing Assignment Bank
Close Reading: An Introduction
Students: Entering freshmen, 104 and 105, first class..
Skills/concepts developed:
English 104: To interpret a difficult passage, to differentiate between observations and interpretations, to begin to discover what makes literature good or worth remembering, to introduce exploratory writing, to establish the expectation for active participation and to help students realize that they have worthwhile things to say about literature.
English 105: To interpret a difficult passage through questioning and exploratory writing. .
Method: Use a suitably dense poem or any reading that offers some difficulty and is relevant to the course material.
We read the text aloud three times - three different voices. Students are asked to listen without reading along.
104: Students are asked to turn papers over and jot down the phrases they remember. They are assured that this is not a test of their memories but rather of what in the poem makes an impact. Then they select any of the words/phrases they remember and free write for five minutes or so. I explain free-writing as exploration and how it is done. Subsequently, we discuss and compare – a) what they remember. We look at what most people have selected and discuss that one measure of great writing is how memorable it is – we discuss why the particular phrases may have been remembered and probably get to concrete language: sensual description, unusual diction, rhetorical devices, whatever comes up. b)Using student writings we discuss the poem. Then we discuss how free writing works. I relate the poem to the course goals and the text, then assign them a short reading and a written response.
105: Students are asked to write questions about the poem down the margin. I give an example: "Who is ‘you’? How do you know?" The goal is to ask as many questions as possible. Then students are asked to respond in writing to one of the questions that fascinates - not necessarily one for which the answer is known and begin to write first about the evidence for the response sticking to the poem itself as long as possible. Note I say respond to the question, not answer it. Students are to write steadily until told to stop. The goal, I tell them, is to catch all the bits and pieces of ideas that float into the mind as the writing occurs. Students are told to write in sentences in the natural rhythm of thought, not to stop to correct spelling or grammar. Those who finish before I call "time" are encouraged to push themselves to continue. (5 minutes approx.)
Class discussion 105: First we listen to the questions. We discuss the nature of the questions that have come up; we note that the poem has been written as a series of questions. We talk about questions in general. Then to the responses. On the basis of the writings, we begin to discuss the meaning of the poem. Depending on what happens, I’ll mention the relationship between observations and interpretations. I’ll frequently pull students back to the poem by asking: "What is that interpretation based on?" I’ll help the class come to some conclusions about language/literature and identity and re-iterate the theme of the course, welcoming them to 105. We’ll discuss how questions provide approaches to readings and, how creating questions and responding to these questions forms the basis of research. Assignment: Read pages 1-66 in Breadgivers. Note questions for further exploration during the reading. Choose one question to explore in 1-1/2 pages. Hand in Exploratory Paper #1 typed. Include questions.
Suggestions: In analyzing the poems, let the students lead. No problems come up, although opportunities are sometimes missed.
Adapting this assignment to other disciplines: This assignment can be adapted
to any class (history, psychology, philosophy, etc.) in which the instructor would like students to closely read a difficult passage and wants: a) class participation and b) to introduce a method that students can use on their own to help them with difficult material.
Lee Gould