Blog Paper

At the beginning of the semester I was at the “text-self” stage of the reading development stages, with out a doubt, and I am unsure that I have gotten past that stage. It is very hard for me to compare Shakespeare’s plays to other things that I have read, and things that are happening in the world today, since I have trouble understanding Shakespeare. Being an Education major I am constantly writing reflections about myself, my work, and things I have to read for the class. In these reflections I am answering questions that are very “I-centered.” The questions that are often asked of the students are ones that require answers with the phrases, “I think,” “I believe,” “I feel,” etc. Also I see a lot of reflections similar to the ones in my educations classes in my religion classes, requiring the students to answer questions much like the questions in the “text-self” stage of the reading development stages; “Did I like this text,” “Does this text remind me of an experience from my life,” and “Is this text good or bad?” Also without even realizing I am doing it, I ask these questions as I read books for fun. I think this is something everybody does; it is hard to read a book and not reflect on what you have just read. Therefore, I think that no matter how advanced someone is they are always going to have a little bit of the “text-self” stage in their analysis of whatever they are reading.
As I said before I don’t think I have moved out of the “text-self” stage of the reading development stages. When I looked over my blog post, I noticed that every single one of my post has more than one sentence that says, “I think,” “I realized,” “I believe,” and statements similar to those that begin with “I ….” Instead of bringing in other text I have read or things that are happening in politics and the world, I often bring in things that were said in class by other students. Then I reflect on what they have said. I think the reason that I don’t bring in other text is because, it is hard for me to relate Shakespeare to modern times. I know that it can be done because we often discuss it in class, but it is hard for me to make a connection. I am not sure why this is, but I have somewhat of an idea; it is easier for me to relate things that can understand to other text I have read. Sometimes I find it very hard to understand Shakespeare’s work and ideas, and because of that I tend to approach it more by deciding if I liked it, if it reminds me of my life, or is it good or bad.
One example of this is from my very first blog post dated August 28, 2008, in this post I was talking about my thoughts of Shakespeare in Love before I had seen it. “I thought that it was going to be a movie with a bunch of snotty high class English people, and I thought they were going to portray William Shakespeare as and old English man,” this is a perfect quote to show that I was very “I –centered.” Obviously I now know that I was just going along with many of the myths about Shakespeare, but it shows how naive I am.
Another quote that shows that I am at stage one is a quote from my blog dated September 19, 2008, it says “I am glad that we are taking this approach towards it because it makes it that much more interesting.” This quote shows that I am focusing on what I like. Instead of approaching the reading this way I could have instead related the text to another class that made whatever we were reading interesting.
Finally, a quote from my latest blog, in this blog I am talking about Aaron in the Titus movie, “When I watched the same scene that we watched in class at home, I really didn’t feel sorry for him at all,” this quote shows that I really haven’t made much progress. It again is showing me focusing on my thoughts and what I liked. I could have related to the movie and treatment of Aaron to how people are being treated by our government if they are different, instead I came at it with an “I-centered” approach.
I think that I need to start remembering these things when I sit down to do my blog. I don’t think that I necessarily need to stop saying what I think, or what I like, but add the other two stages into my reflections. I agree with what people were saying in Non-West, that instead of working up to the “text-world” stage, we should work on incorporating each stage. I can do this by taking my time when I do the blog. When I sit done and do a blog I have a lot running through my head of what I want to say, which leads me to end up forgetting to say some things. What I can do is write everything down before hand to make it easier to get all my thoughts out.
The other point that I want to make is that sometimes the first stage is the only stage you need to reflect on a text, it just depends on what type of text. Some books I think it is sufficient enough just to state whether you like it or not, and in most cases if you don’t enjoy something it is hard to relate it to things that you have enjoyed.
I think these blog assignments are one of the best things I have done, and I hope that it becomes more common in other classes. I also think that I will have something similar in my classrooms when I become a teacher. I really enjoy doing the blogs every week because, not only does it help me make sense of the book we are reading and what we have discussed in class, but it also helps me wrap up all my thoughts for that week’s topics.