Active critical reading involves diving deeply into a text and engaging with the author in a thoughtful and analytical manner. When tasked with annotating and reading a text, I try to skim quickly through the introduction to get an idea of the thesis of the author to better prepare for what I’m about to read. When annotating, I focus on what the author’s purpose is for what they are writing, underlining key points, asking questions, commentating on how some information is presented, and talking points I’d like to discuss in class. When evaluating the author and their discussion, I try to find what evidence they are using and evaluate it. My evaluation of the author’s evidence is what I bring to discuss in class. I want to consider all possible perspectives even if I don’t agree with some. I look for probable bias as well, so I’m able to fully know if the information is true. When discussing in class, we try to bring together over-arching themes, discuss main ideas, and relate the text to our own knowledge and experiences. Annotating texts critically and discussing them allows the reader to consider relationships that they may not have thought of originally from reading the text straight through. You look deeply at a text when annotating to ask questions that could be brought up in discussions, to further an idea with your peers to have a better understanding of the author and their views. Over the semester there have been many annotations and journals where we needed to gather information from the text to discuss critically what we learned and the effects the information may have.
Here Are some of the Annotations I’ve Done:
And a Relevant Journal Article showing my evaluation of a text:
01/29/24 Journal 4:
One passage from Sherry Turkle’s Empathy Diaries that I found ways very interesting was on page 345 in paragraph 3. I think that this passage is very interesting because it is not only from a school dean interested in the wellness of her students but also from a little girl who lacked any emotional availability for a fellow student. The dean talks about her student lacking any empathy for a classmate and how most of her students are the same. They don’t know how to react to emotions and can’t determine them; they aren’t developing socially, they act underage, and can’t relate to one another. I partially agree with what is being stated by the dean, I’ve volunteered and watched over younger children multiple times and they never can seem to understand their emotions and others too. They are so focused on themselves and their electronics that they end up almost emotionally unavailable. I feel that if we can’t raise our kids with proper emotional wellbeing it can cause a huge problem in the future when generations aren’t able to talk to one another.
Additionally, on page 146 paragraph 2, there is a passage that talks about the evolution of computers and the programs they can bring to people. It tells of a false companionship, that computers can give us while not having to depend on friendship or intimacy. Computers allow people to have fake relationships without the development of empathy. I’m conflicted about how I feel regarding this point of view. I feel that if computers are used for emotional development then I would agree with what Turkle says, but most people don’t do this and you can’t blame the computers for it. I think that most people use computer software to have a bigger connection with their friends through things like gaming and it allows others to have more connections with them. I feel that children who are raised off of technology create a dependency on them, but when they are used to create connections with friends, children can develop meaningful relationships. As a child, we weren’t constantly on electronics, but we used them to socialize with others but it wasn’t a solitary thing. We played online games like Fireboy and Watergirl, Minecraft, Mario games, Wii sports, and Nintendo games and they were never something that we as children became dependent on and that we withdrew from our emotions. I don’t think that it is the computer’s fault for children’s emotional withdrawal but the parents who allow their children to be on their electronics for all hours of the day. If parents can find a balance between electronics and socially stimulating settings for children, they will be able to develop their emotions in a more stable way.
