1. Choose a piece of reading you have in your backpack or bag--registration instructions, a textbook, a school newspaper, a syllabus, whatever--the more "everyday" the better. Work with a partner on a close reading of this piece. Analyze it from every perspective and try to read "too much" into it. Is the writer of the text you chose detached, friendly, condescending, involved? How can you tell? What words does the writer use to evoke a particular tone of voice? Who is the writer's audience? What is the focus of the piece? Play around with the piece, making it flowery, dramatic, funny, or sad. Reflect on, poke fun at, or argue with what the writer says. Record your responses to the reading in the margins, between the lines, or on a separate piece of paper.
4. Use your reading journal or daybook to "converse" with an author you admire. Imagine how he or she might respond to your questions and jot down answers you think the writer would give. Then stage ba mock interview with [a] writing partner. Play thew role of the writer and have your partner interview you. Answer your interviewer's questions from the perspective of thew writer. Switch roles.
5. Brainstorm a list of favorite childhood books, stories, poems, or nursery rhymes, what you remember about them, through reading them or having them read to you. How old were you? Where were you? Were you alone or did you have sisters and brothers with you? Then free write about your childhood reading experiences and see where it takes you.
10. Bumper stickers, billboards, slogans, even the wording on baseball caps "tell" on the people who write them, post them, wear them. Sometimes they are full of humor and contradictions. A bulletin board in front of a church, for instance, announces the morning sermon: "Jesus Walks on Water." "In Search of Jesus," the board laments that evening. In your daily treks around campus and town, get into the habit of reading signs and jotting them down in your daybook. Read them for surprises, insights and humor. Read them for how they sound and how they work together, for what they say as well as what they don't (but should) say about the people that display them.
12. Go walking at dusk just before nightfall. Glance into the lighted windows of houses and think of what you see as snapshots. Read as many details as you can. Notice the father in the kitchen chopping vegetables for dinner, the woman reading a book in the armchair next door, the bluish light of a television in the window across the street. Listen for conversations and attune your nose to smells. When you get back home, make a detailed list of what you saw, smelled, and heard.
20. Read a poem aloud in small chunks, covering up the unread portion as you go and pausing after each bit to write a response in your daybook or reading journal. Respond honestly, thoughtfully, and specifically to every chunk you hear. Does an image move you or make you laugh? Can you interpret the poet's voice or mood by the words he or she uses? Does the poem make sense to you as you read and consider more of it? How do you respond to the sound and rhythm of the poem? In what direction do you think the poem is taking you? Savor each line and when you finish, read the entire poem aloud and write a final response.
Murray, Donald. M. Write to Learn. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College, 1998.
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