Six steps to follow in the Grammar Stage, to read to set the foundations, from Susan Wise Bauer (The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had):
- Plan to read the work more than once.
- Mark interesting/confusing passages. Turn down corners of difficult sections, jot down questions in the margin.
- Before beginning, read the title page, the back, the table of contents.
- At the end of each chapter or section, write down a sentence or two to summarize (don’t worry about details, this comes later).
- As you read, jot down questions in your reading journal.
- Assemble summary questions into informal outline, then give the book a brief title and extensive subtitle.
I haven’t actually properly started my reading project yet, because I’m still waiting for my books to arrive. Next week, I hope.
Why didn’t I just borrow the books from the library? Well, Bauer’s method requires me to write all over the books I read, so a library book isn’t really going to work. And, even if I wanted to borrow them, my local libraries don’t have the editions Bauer’s recommended, anyway. She also thinks building up your own collection of these titles is a good thing, so that you can:
Underline in your books, jot notes in the margins, and turn the corners of your pages down. Public education is a beautiful dream, but public classrooms too often train students not to mark, write in, disfigure, or in any way make books permanently their own. You’re a grownup now, so buy your own books if you possibly can. The lists recommend affordable paper- back editions whenever available.
If you know that you can turn down the corner of a confusing page and keep reading, or write a question in the margin and continue on, you’ll find it easier to keep going on the first reading. If you have to use library books, invest in adhesive-backed notes (such as Post-its) and use them to mark pages that you’ll want to return to; scribble your notes and questions on them. Bits of paper tend to fall out, though, and any good book will soon look like a papery porcupine. Defacing your book is much more efficient. (p.43)
I suspect I’m going to have a problem with “defacing” my books. I’ve never really been one to write in a book. Do you write in your books?
One Comment
Con, I occasionally write some notes in pencil in the few spare sheets that are usually at the back of most paperbacks. I’d usually only do this if I’m going to review something.
I note page numbers and use underlining for a phrase or a little bracket to mark out paragraphs of interest, so I’m not actually defacing the text as such.
Or at least keeping the defacing to a minimum.
Then if I’m lending the book out I get out an eraser :DD