Monday, February 24, 2014 Intro to active viewing/reading/course

Today, I introduced the course itself. The notes you took were as follows:

A30: Canadian Literatuve for a Canadian Focus:

* What makes us Canadian?
* How are we impacted by Canadian Themes?
* How does Canada's history, ethnicity, regionalism (size),and  geography impact us as a nation?
* How do other view us? Are we worthy of praise or do we need to examine and learn from our mistakes?
* How do we learn about our history: about ourselves as a nation?

We then watched a video on the history of Canada (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_dr0ZVRvR0&safe=active) which was just over eight minutes in length. The video discussed the history of the country from the first settlers up into the 1970s. I explained to students that active viewing involves note-taking and then showed them how I managed to get three pages of notes while viewing the video.
We then discussed what the history is not showing us by what it is showing us (a very pro Anglo / British perspective; a lack of Aboriginal or female perspective, and a minimizing Francophone perspective). From this, I explained that oral traditions, which existed as a form of communication prior to arrival of Europeans, were impacted by smallpox and then were not entirely adapted in their original form. As a result, much of what we know about Aboriginals in the initial years after European advancement come from a European perspective, meaning that other minorities have been left out.

I then went over how to read actively. I have pasted these notes below:

How to Read Actively (Abridged)

(During and a bit of After)

 

1.      Analyze the title (before your read). Write down in one or two words what it might mean.

2.      Count the number of paragraphs (this is a “before” activity but, oh well). Put the numbers beside them.

3.      Read the first paragraph

a.       If it is an essay

                                                              i.      Highlight the thesis (or main points)

                                                            ii.      Highlight and define unknown words, allusions, phrases (allusions are references to historical times, books plays, people, etc that the writer would expect the reader to be familiar with).

                                                          iii.      Paraphrase the paragraph (in one or two words!!!!!!!)

4.      Read and do steps for ALL paragraphs.

5.      Summarize work at the end (three sentences only!)

6.      Determine topic and purpose.

7.      Come up with fruitful questions.

HOMEWORK: Actively read the text I presented to you (without a title) that starts with the sentence: "It has been said that 'Canada is the only country in the world that knows how to live without an identity." You must have this done for tomorrow's class so we can discuss it.