Throughout this semester in English 110, we have read and annotated many pieces. I usually read through pieces twice. I read through the writing and get my bearings and start to understand the piece. I then go back, reread and annotate. When I actively read, I am simply reading to understand the text. I used active reading in English 110 when we read material in class. Critical reading is more in depth, I use critical reading when I need to do more than just understand the text. I used critical reading in all of our texts that we used in our essays.

Susan Gilroy writes about annotating, she says “Mark up the margins of your text with words and phrases: ideas that occur to you, notes about things that seem important to you, reminders of how issues in a text may connect with class discussion or course themes. . .” I think that Gilroy does a great job writing about annotations. I connected with her text and felt that many of the ideas she had about annotating, I use. While I annotate, I think deeply about the words that the author is using. I ask questions and write my opinion on specific things that I see in the text. After critically reading and annotating a text by Jonah Lehrer, I found that I responded to the text in many ways. I highlighted words I didn’t know, I left comments and questions in the margins. There have been many times in this class where I actively read, for example when we wrote blogs about readings. I feel as though it important to know how to both actively and critically read. I think that each form of reading is important. I have learned from both critical and active reading.

Learning outcome three for English 110 is, “employ techniques of active reading, critical reading, and informal reading response for inquiry, learning, and thinking.” I feel as though throughout this class we have been able to employ these techniques in our work and others. Reading allows us to learn and think. I believe that in this course I have been able to strengthen my reading techniques.