READING CHECKS (Covid Edition)

For students in Dr. Harold William Halbert's MCCC Courses
Published 18 January 2021.

One of the most challenging aspects of college is dealing with the assigned readings, particularly in an English class where the subject is usually a text of some kind. In my classes, students are required to mark their texts as they read in order to retain the information better for upcoming exams and for potential use in upcoming papers.

WHY MARK THE TEXTS?

Marking texts helps people to process and retain the information and ideas in the texts. At it's most basic level, the act of choosing to mark a specific word, phrase, line, or paragraph engages the brain's ability to think about the text in a different manner than simply reading: it slows down the processing of information because you have to think about what to and how to mark a specific passage. It can create a record that draws attention to a fact or idea when you flip through the completed text, and it can document your ongoing understanding of the text's plots and themes as you discover them during the act of reading. It can also create physical memories about the location of key ideas you marked for some folks, while the margins can serve as a place to record dictionary definitions you might need to look up, personal reactions ("Ha!" "Not true," "WTF," etc.), key facts, your theories about the text's meaning, and connections to other pages in the text. It gives you notes to review rather for tests and papers rather than you having to reread the book again, being a long-term time saver.

A more in-depth discussion of marking texts appears in "How to Really Read This Book" in the "Course Materials."

HOW SHOULD I MARKTHE TEXTS?

There is no single way to mark a text. People do it a number of ways:

• Underlining key words, phrases, or lines
• Highlighting text
• Marginal notes
• Symbols/color that you define a specific meaning for
• Summaries at the beginning or end of chapters
• Arrows across pages to connect ideas
• Page number references to similar ideas elsewhere in the book
• etc.

You can mark directly on the text itself, use "Post-it" notes as a writing surface if you don't own the book, or take notes manually on a separate piece of paper (make sure that you use page numbers in your notes and have a lot of notes, not just two or three lines about a novel or longer text).

The key is to make sure that you do not go more than a page or two without making some kind of mark , particularly towards the end of a section or text.

HOW DO I PROVE I MARKED THE TEXTS WHEN WE AREN'T MEETING IN PERSON?

In a regular face-to-face course, I would line everyone up and physically inspect your marks at the start of each class, but that process is exponentially more difficult when we meet online. Instead, I want you to use your phones to make a short video for each of the reading checks we will have. Here's how to do it:

1. For each reading check, you need to show the marked texts listed on the Daily Assignments prior to the due date for that particular reading check. You do not have to include any readings due on the day of the reading check (except for the final one). Do not include any readings already submitted for a prior reading check.
2. Keep a copy of the Daily Assignments handy so you know which texts you should include in the video for this reading check. Please present the marked texts in the order they appear on the Daily Assignments.
3. Use bookmarks or tabs to indicate where each reading starts prior to filming: it will make the process faster for you and for me as the viewer.
4. Place the book on a flat, well-lit surface.
5. Make a test video of the first page to ensure that your voice can be heard and that the marks are visible to the camera. Make adjustments to correct if the sound is poor or the marks unclear. Then delete the test video from your phone to make sure you don't accidentally upload the wrong file.
6. When you begin your video, arrange the first reading so that the first required page is visible. You should have two pages in frame.
7. Start by stating your name clearly, identifying which English class you are in by the course number, and then name the first author whose text(s) you are about to show.
8. Hold the camera still over the two-page spread for a second, then flip the page, show the next pages, and so on until all the pages for that author have been shown.
9. Announce the next author, show the first page, and flip through the text, pausing for only one second on each page. Repeat for any other authors.
10. Create a personal online dropbox (using a service like Dropbox.com or Google Drive). Use a free service.
11. Upload your video to the dropbox and copy the link to your video.
12. In Blackboard, go to our course dropbox section and submit the link to the specific reading check slot you just recorder (Reading Check #2, Reading Check #1, etc.).
13. You can delete the video once the grade is posted for that reading check.

• If you don't have a reading, just state you didn't do it.
• If you only did part of the reading, show that part and state that you didn't finish it. You'll get partial credit.
• Preparing for the video by using bookmarks to show where in the textbook each reading is located will speed this up for both of us.

HOW WILL MARKING THE TEXTS HELP ME IN THIS CLASS SPECIFICALLY?

Beyond helping you to simply understand the text better and to retain the information in general, marking your texts will help you in this class in four main ways:

• It will help you to retain ideas from prior readings to help you understand other readings in the course.
• It will help you to generate both ideas for and quotable content for your two major papers and exam essays.
• It will help you to complete the two quotation assignments in which you attempt to persuade me to use your favorite quotes on the exams for the identification sections.
• It will help you to find some point to discuss during class when we talk about the texts.

HOW WILL MARKING TEXTS AFFECT MY GRADE?

Each night's reading is worth five points unless otherwise noted on the Daily Assignments. I will watch your videos and then give you a grade based on the completeness of each night. Missing one or two readings a semester probably will not negatively affect your grade, but more than that will hurt your grade and leave you with little to talk about during class discussion.