The Bedford Reader: A Critical Analysis

Writing, and literacy in general, is one of the founding cornerstones of modern society. It is difficult to find any sort of occupation that doesn’t require at least some basic writing skills. From business managers to lawyers to doctors, despite their notoriously bad handwriting, all require intimate knowledge of writing skills. Yet, teaching critical writing skills is not the cure-all to solving the problems that the public education system faces in producing students better prepared to tackle the challenges of the world as Peg Tyre portrays it as in The Writing Revolution. Critical writing skills, despite its current underemphasis in the classroom, should not be the only focus of the public school system’s curriculum as Peg Tyre suggests in The Writing Revolution, because critical writing skills do not prepare students adequately enough for the standards of the real world which require more technical skills, critical writing skills only teaches a small subset of underlying critical thinking skills, and critical writing skills education, as presented by Peg Tyre, is formulaically based which can result in long-term inability to further student’s critical writing skills despite initial success.

Students are required to take English all four years of high school to improve and develop skills for higher education. We read different types of literature to learn morals and explore new ideas. With writing assignments of résumés, formal letters, and essays, students establish a foundation for future responsibilities in college or a job field. Vocabulary expansion is woven throughout everyday tasks in the English classroom; word choice is crucial to our professional and educational futures. Accumulated writing and reading skills are used in preparation for standardized testing, such as the SAT and ACT. English class improves the confidence in students with reading, writing, and speaking skills. In four years of English, written literature greatly impacts one’s learning experience.

When I first entered english composition 1101, I expected this course to be manageable. As an outstanding english student at Clarke Central high school, I believed that I had enough knowledge to excel in this course with no challenges. Dr. Catherine Rogers was able to knock me off of my high horse and make me realize that I has a lot more to learn about reading and writing. She is very comprehensive and analytical, which caused her to give me a c average on my midterm assignments. I put the blame on myself because I believe that I should have been more open to Dr. Rogers’ methods with pre-writing and revision. Now I think highly of reading and writing.

Moving forward, Seyler informs us of the traits for critical reader/thinker: focusing on the facts, being analytic, being open-minded, questioning/ being skeptical, being creative, and trying to be intellectually active. Seyler also writes that denotative is dictionary definition and connotation is based off of the context. Also, Seyler describes

Instead of grammar books, my college professor recommends Mercer Street, a collection of essays written by New York University students. As seen in Mercer Street, students wrote eloquent essays by incorporating secondary sources and concise language. Throughout my freshman year of college, I want to improve my reading skills by analyzing essays in Mercer Street and forming my own thoughts on the subject. Additionally, I want to be able to enhance my writing skills by forming a well-written thesis to strengthen my argument. Even though the short phrases from “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” transforms into long written works as seen in the Mercer Street, college will help me form new ideas to incorporate in my

The most essential parts of active reading are always focusing on an article and thinking more than just passively read, striving to enter into a dialogue with the editors. First, briefly look over the article and read the main points of it, at the same time the readers can also write down their ideas about the topic. These two steps are significant because the readers will be more spirited than usual, so that they can catch the editors’ central idea better and have a deeper understanding of it. Next, make marginal notes or comments. The example of a student’s notes on a poem well shows that take notes can help the readers recall where important points are discussed. Not only can they summarize the article and give assent, but also they can ask questions about it. Finally, the readers are encouraged to keep a reading journal of an essay or chapter in a reader’s own words because this can stimulate one’s own thinking. The given examples are two students’ journals, which show their critical thinking on a poem and their ideas combined with their specific

When it comes to critical thinking, reading and writing are two factors that deal with the critical thinking process. A few key aspects of critical reading and writing are identifying the tone in ones writing, how to throughly read and annotate a text, and the revision process. In the essay, “The Maker’s Eye”, Donald Murray explains how the attitude of a writer, listening to what readers have to say and how to edit your own writing makes your work better when critically thinking in college. These aspects of critical thinking, reading and writing make will keep the reader interested and make the writing easier to translate when read.

Our 2nd goal in composition 1 dealt with critical reading strategies. One way I did this was the reading logs we kept for our books we read. For the book “Anthem”, I wrote down quotes and was then able to use or reference them for my paper “Broken Chains”. Another way I did this was making outlines for my papers. For the argumentative essay, I made an outline which gave me the ability to stay organized with my thoughts while I was typing. The third way I did was writing down main points about what I read or watched. When we did the Career Research Paper I wrote a couple paragraphs down about each source to use in my paper to insure that I was using accurate and relevant information.

    To begin, the reading selection was a great piece for me to help recall all the past knowledge I have on writing. Throughout the years I have taken multiple English and writing courses that have exemplified most of what corresponded with the book. However,

According to the College Board, “The aim of [the AP Language and Composition course] is to help students develop the ability to read critically and evaluate sources so that they can write from and in response to those sources. Students should learn to interrogate a text, not only to discern what it is saying but also to understand how and why it proposes what it does.” Students are strongly encouraged to take notes on their reading while they are reading (active reading), and read the text more than once. It is highly suggested that students purchase the novel to allow direct annotation in the book (for tips on annotating, click HERE and HERE). Students who are unable to gain access to the book via the library, online, through other means, must contact Mrs. Wright, Mr. Ziebarth, or Ms. LaFramboise no later than May 22, 2015.

On pages 100-106 of ‘Writing in Action’ Shuqiao Song, the author of this section, talks about reading critically and gives guidelines on how to do it. The author starts off with guidelines for previewing the text, which should be done before reading the text, these guidelines include, finding the context, finding out about the author or creator, paying attention to the subject matter, and analyzing if the title, medium, genre, and design are appropriate and used in an effective manner. The author provides specific information about each of these guidelines and then an example of a preview for an assigned text is given. Next the author gives guidelines on how to read and annotate, which should be done during the first reading of a text, these

Critical pedagogy, influenced by Paulo Freire and Michael Apple, sees students become participants in their learning, where topics are relatable and relevant to their lives. Critical literacy refers to the use of text and other communication to challenge the rules governing the societal norms of everyday life (Luke, 2012, p.5). Asking students to interrogate a text and question the use of language, allows them to form a critical observation about what the author wants the readers to know, for example, when studying Australian First Contact, allowing students to draw conclusions about the treatment of Indigenous people from a text which glosses over the details, ensures students look at the topic from multiple angles and apply their sociocultural knowledge to the discussion. The introduction of multimodal tools into literacy teaching, acknowledges that a

Reading information about active reading and having to summarize was new to me. In my English classes reading and having to write was always an issue for me. I found active reading very complicated because I have never used active reading before now with this assignment this will be my first. I have wrote other essays before but not in this way. This was my first experience and I found it not as complicated anymore. Writing in this way I believe helped me to write this short essay and I know, this will help me in the future to come. Also more often I’ll try to use active reading in my everyday life to advance speaking and writing.

According to (Critical literacy practices, 2011) “critical reading” is a type of literacy practice that is learning practice in which students analyze and critique language and power relationships within written texts. Many college freshmen are not prepared for critical reading, yet a lot of higher education organizations and levels do not require individual critical reading courses. Even though critical reading is an often-cited neutral topic in some different colleges structured reading courses. In many different colleges, at times, there is little to no research that exists that may also describe how composition instructors teach critical reading strategies. No matter the subject or the age of the reader. An overall reading goal for critical readers includes reading an article to comprehend information based on what was stated within the text. While readers read to gain understanding from the text, the readers also use additional information at times such as factual ideas, prior knowledge, and also context clues to understand the difficult text. There are many ways to become a “critical reader” which includes different types of reading strategies.

This course has expanded my knowledge and view of reading and writing vastly. Following each paper, reading, and class discussion I learned more about myself as a student, and the world as a whole. I have found the books Rules for Writers and Ways of Reading thoroughly helpful throughout the course. This class entails a variety of aspects of the problem-posing concept of education; it truly involves the students and teaches them to think, read, and write individualistically, analytically, and clearly.