Reading & Writing in the Disciplines by David Rothman and Jilani Warsi
Summary
TLDRThe transcript emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between reading and writing, highlighting that both are fundamentally about engaging with ideas. It underscores the importance of clear communication in writing and the necessity of reading to fuel the creative process. The discussion advocates for an integrative approach in education, where students are encouraged to not only comprehend texts but also respond to them, fostering a deeper understanding and personal investment in the material. The conversation also touches on the value of summary and response writing in college classes and the significance of students developing their own voice alongside critical reading skills.
Takeaways
- 📚 Reading and writing are both about processing ideas, with reading being the intake and writing being the output.
- 💡 Writing is about expressing ideas clearly in a one-way communication, without the immediate feedback present in spoken interactions.
- 🔗 The link between reading and writing is strong, as reading provides the ideas that writing expresses.
- 📈 Prolific writers are often also compulsive readers, indicating that reading fuels the ideas for writing.
- 📝 The classroom should integrate reading and writing to help students understand their interconnectedness.
- 📑 Traditional reading classes often miss opportunities for deeper engagement by stopping at comprehension questions.
- 📝 Summary and response writing are becoming more prevalent in education, as they require students to engage with the text on a deeper level.
- 🎓 College writing often involves summary and response, making it crucial for students to develop these skills early.
- 📋 Summary writing is a powerful tool for assessing reading comprehension, as it requires understanding of the original text.
- 🤔 Encouraging students to add their own voice to summaries and responses helps them take ownership of their writing and ideas.
- 📖 Writing assignments can motivate deeper reading and reflection, as students are more likely to engage with material they know they will write about.
Q & A
Why are reading and writing considered integrated skills?
-Reading and writing are integrated because they both involve processing and expressing ideas. Reading is about receiving ideas, while writing is about producing them. Both skills require a deep engagement with content, and strong writers often develop their ideas from what they read.
What is the significance of clear communication in writing?
-Clear communication in writing is essential because writing is a one-way form of communication. The reader cannot ask for clarification, so the writer must ensure their ideas are expressed precisely and clearly to avoid misunderstandings.
Why is it important for students to engage in both reading and writing in the classroom?
-Engaging in both reading and writing helps students take ownership of ideas and enhance comprehension. Writing about what they read allows students to express their own viewpoints, making the learning experience more interactive and reflective.
How do traditional reading classes miss opportunities for deeper engagement?
-Traditional reading classes often rely on comprehension questions, which don't encourage students to take ownership of the ideas in the text. Instead of just answering questions, students could benefit from summarizing and responding to the reading material, allowing for more personal engagement and critical thinking.
What role does summary and response writing play in college-level assignments?
-Summary and response writing is a fundamental skill in college, especially in early-level classes. It allows students to demonstrate understanding of the material and incorporate their own perspectives, helping them develop critical thinking and analytical skills.
Why is summary writing considered a good test of reading comprehension?
-Summary writing tests reading comprehension because it requires students to identify and clearly express the main ideas and supporting details of a text. If the summary is inaccurate, it shows that the student did not fully understand the original material.
How can writing assignments motivate deeper reading?
-Writing assignments motivate deeper reading because students know they will need to use the ideas from the reading in their writing. This encourages them to pay closer attention to the text and engage with it actively, rather than passively answering multiple-choice questions.
Why do students often struggle with bringing their own voice into response papers?
-Students often feel intimidated by the expertise of the authors they read, believing that only experts have the right to express strong opinions. This mindset can prevent them from adding their own voice to response papers, even when instructors encourage personal reflection.
What is the purpose of integrating group discussions in reading and writing assignments?
-Group discussions help students generate ideas and deepen their understanding of the text. By discussing the material with peers, they can explore different perspectives, which makes their writing assignments more thoughtful and reflective.
How did the instructor address the issue of students summarizing instead of responding in writing assignments?
-The instructor addressed this issue by explaining to the class that a response paper is not meant to be a summary. The students were told that the instructor already knew the content of the text and was interested in hearing their personal reactions and reflections, encouraging them to find and express their own voice.
Outlines
📚 The Integration of Reading and Writing
This paragraph discusses the interconnected nature of reading and writing, emphasizing that both are fundamentally about the exchange of ideas. Reading is described as the intake of ideas, while writing is the expression of them. The speaker stresses the importance of clarity in writing to ensure effective one-way communication with the reader. The paragraph also highlights the correlation between reading and writing, suggesting that prolific writers are often avid readers, drawing ideas from their extensive reading. The speaker advocates for an integrative approach in the classroom to help students recognize the link between these skills and to develop their ability to respond to texts through summary and response writing. This approach is seen as more organic and natural, encouraging students to take ownership of the ideas they encounter in their readings.
💭 Encouraging Student Voice in Writing
The second paragraph continues the discussion on the importance of integrating reading and writing by focusing on the need to encourage students to find their own voice in their writing. The speaker challenges the notion that only experts should contribute to discussions, arguing that students should be given the opportunity to reflect on and respond to the ideas they read about. The paragraph describes an integrative approach to teaching where reading materials are used as a springboard for group discussions and writing assignments that require students to synthesize ideas and express their own thoughts. The speaker shares an example of using an autobiography in the classroom and how a writing assignment prompted students to go beyond summarizing to reflect and connect the content to their own experiences. This approach not only motivates students to engage more deeply with the reading material but also helps them develop their writing skills by finding their unique voice.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Reading
💡Writing
💡Ideas
💡Integration
💡Compulsive Readers
💡Summary Writing
💡Response Writing
💡Active Reading
💡Comprehension Questions
💡Own Voice
Highlights
Reading and writing are integrated because both are about ideas.
Writing is a one-way communication, where clarity is essential because the reader cannot ask questions.
Most prolific writers are also compulsive readers because they gather ideas from reading.
Integrating reading and writing in the classroom helps students realize their connection.
Traditional reading classrooms often focus on comprehension questions, missing opportunities for deeper engagement.
Summary and response writing is becoming more common in college classes.
Summary writing tests reading comprehension effectively because it shows understanding of the main ideas.
Summarization is essential for students to hone before college writing assignments.
Students should feel empowered to express their voice in writing, not just summarize experts.
Group discussions in reading sessions help students formulate their own ideas for writing.
Writing assignments motivate deeper reading and active engagement with texts.
A Cambodian woman’s autobiography used in the classroom highlights her journey from prostitution to activism.
Students are encouraged to provide original reflections, not just summaries, in response papers.
Giving students the opportunity to respond helps them find their voice in writing.
Reflection papers help students improve their writing skills by connecting with the material on a personal level.
Transcripts
reading is input writing is output but
they're both about ideas okay in one
year receiving ideas and the other
you're producing ideas but they are
integrated because no matter what you
are writing a research paper long paper
a short paper a summary a report a
reflection paper you know a response
paper they're all about ideas writing in
particular is about saying what you mean
and saying it in a very clear way
because it's a one-way communication the
reader is not there to ask you excuse me
I didn't follow this paragraph what did
you mean by that that happens in a
speech and you say excuse me I beg your
pardon I'm sorry I'm sorry I didn't get
you you don't have that luxury when you
write and and reading is the same we're
reading whatever you're reading is
written by somebody so that's also the
art of writing is right there some some
author who was expressing his or her
ideas main idea supported my details in
all there you will also notice that most
prolific writers also happened to be
compulsive readers okay and it's not a
coincidence there's a reason why where
do you get ideas from not from a vacuum
you have to read you have to read
research papers you have to read the
newspaper you have to keep yourself
informed so all of these things you know
give us more reason to integrate these
two skills in the classroom when they
teach and for the students to realize
that there's a definite link between
reading and writing they don't exist in
isolation
we are by nature reactive creatures we
we react to stimulus to stimuli and you
know in traditional reading classrooms
you would have often uh you'd have a
reading you'd have liked pre reading
questions to discuss and then you do the
reading and then after the reading you
might answer some multiple-choice
questions but it just seemed just
complete you're you're you're not taking
any ownership of any of the ideas in the
reading you're just showing that you
understood the reading by answering you
know these comprehension questions it's
it's a waste of a wonderful opportunity
because you've invested a certain amount
of time trying to engage the reader in
the content and then you just leave it
there with a few you know comprehension
questions so why not continue by
reacting to the text in a number of
different ways through summary and
through response and so that's what
we're seeing more and more the trend
towards summary response writing and I
think there's no coincidence that most
of college writing is summary response
writing
most college writing in the 100 level
classes and to hundreds and and and
Beyond really involve summary and
response writing you're taking a
psychology class you'll be asked to read
an article or a a bunch of articles and
to compare them you'll be asked to give
a summary and perhaps to give a response
to bring in your own POV so that's the
type of writing that you do across the
curriculum so it's very important that
students have this opportunity in
developmental classes to hone this skill
there could be nothing more integrated
than writing a summary I recently served
at the university level I was served on
a reading council the University wants
to develop a new prototype of a reading
test multiple-choice we talked about
summary writing which is summative
assessment that's you know it's
performance is observables they're in
writing on paper and you can see if the
student got the main idea and supporting
detailed immediate details or not I was
shot by some of the responses and
reaction I got from these reading
experts another saying but isn't that
writing summaries writing isn't it and I
said they are very conveniently
overlooking the fact that a summary is
such a good test of your reading
comprehension how do you write a summary
without understanding the original text
so if you are way off it's clear that
you are a weak reader you did not
comprehend what you read and so that's
even you know more power to the students
and the faculty to teach them the art of
summarization and I want to add to that
you know I love what you're saying about
summary writing because it seems to be
the key it really is the key because
that's what they're doing in their in
their college classes but you know also
to add the response part because I think
a lot of our students feel like okay I
can summarize what the experts said in
the article but they feel intimidated to
bring in their own voice because they
are the developmental reader televised
writer and the person who wrote the
article is the expert and this is
something that we want to we want to
dispel this myth that only the experts
should have a voice on it
think on a matter so giving them a
chance to summarize as as professor
works he said but also giving them the
chance to read their own voice to
reflect talk about what what is what is
this what this person said what does
this remind me of how can i connect it
to something else I've experienced or
read and then they're taking sort of
back to the idea of taking ownership of
their writing and and that's why it's so
important to integrate reading of
writing because here you're reacting to
someone else's ideas you're showing you
understand someone else's ideas but
you're bringing in your POV and that
works beautiful with an integrative
approach yeah it's more organic it's
very natural it's not artificial right
you're not creating something from a
vacuum the reading materials are there
they're reading hands-on you know group
discussions you break them up into small
groups they're reading you give them a
set of questions they have to answer to
there's a lot of discussion and then
whatever ideas they get out of those
sessions small sessions now there's a
writing assignment and there they can
relate to it well we talked about it I
learned this of that they have a list of
things new ideas and they try to just
synthesize and put it together and try
to give it their own voice so writing
assignment also serves as a motivator
for the for doing a deeper reading
because when a student knows that
they're going to have to compare two
readings in a writing assignment that's
coming up and you know the same week or
the next week there's another there's
another motivator to pay attention to
the ideas in the reading as we call
active reading um I don't think you know
having a set of eight or ten multiple
choice questions always serves as a
motivator
whereas writing usually does we're using
an autobiography of a woman a Cambodian
woman who was very tragic sad and very
intense because she was sold into
prostitution at the age of six and now
she is an international celebrity she
has a foundation and nonprofit
organization Somali mom org and she
helps young young girls in Cambodia in
to start a new life she has her own
Center she goes and and rescues them
from the brothels and then she teaches
them life skills he is sewing or making
a quilt she's been to the u.s. also so
we're reading the autobiography
together a study guide this is another
defining moment if you will for me as a
teacher I give them a short writing
assignment and we they have to write a
response paper okay and I want to hear
their voice there are independent
thoughts like okay what did you think or
how do you feel about this can you
relate to these experiences and what I
end up getting from them
because they're weak writers of course
is a summary of the chapter so only want
this am I gonna that's why I accept you
know what we need to talk about this so
I addressed the whole class and it was
very interesting because you know even
though you had given clear instructions
you think they would have their voice
and they said well we just thought you
wanted to respond so yeah but when I say
a response paper I'm not asking for a
summary and and and why are you telling
me something that I already know I have
read this autobiography I put together
the study guide I'm interested in your
voice and something has to be said about
that from a cycle psychological
perspective students by doing that so
now they have made that you know leap
rather than it's just summarizing or
reading and regurgitating they know that
a reflection has to be original has to
be there thought they may relate to some
of the issues of themes in the
autobiography but they have to find
their own voice and that helps them
improve their writing skill so I'm
getting those papers and it has been
great since then
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