Read/Write/Think

What does “reading”* mean to you?

• Reading means to understand words so you can apprehend the text and ideas that you need to know.
• Writing means to record your thoughts and ideas.
• Thinking means to try and comprehend what is happening around you.

Why do we read?

• We read to learn ideas and obtain new information, though many people read to entertain themselves with what they are reading. Truly I only read when I have to because I do not enjoy reading.
• We write to share our thoughts and ideas with others or, to have an account of what we were thinking at the moment. Most of the time I do not like writing unless I enjoy the topic I am writing.
• We think because as humans we are curious in nature, and we like to solve problems.

What do you do when you read?

• When I read, I try to get lost in the story, so I don't even know that I am reading. Other times I am constantly thinking about how the event(s) in the book connect to my life, and I am thinking about why people do certain things in the book I am reading.
• When I write, I think about who my audience is, so I can decide how I am going to write my paper. Also, I always fix my mistakes right away if I spelled a word wrong I can’t keep writing because it bugs me too much.
• When I think, I constantly make connections to other things or ideas that I have seen or read before.

When you get confused with a piece of reading, what do you do?

• When I get confused when I am reading, I go back and read the part that I am confused on 2-3 times and if I still don't understand I read the whole paragraph again. I reread the paragraph again to see if there is any background information that I missed that would help me understand the text that confuses me.
• When I get confused with what I am writing about, I go back and read what I have just written. If it does not make any sense, I delete everything from where it does not make sense and restart. If I can tell where it doesn’t make any sense, I just try to fix it from that point.
• When I get confused on what I am thinking about, or I lose my train of thought, I try and think of what led me to think of what I had forgotten or what I had seen that would have made me think of my lost thought. If I can’t figure it out, I become aggravated will think about it for the rest of the day

When it comes to reading, what is hard for you to do?

• When I am reading, it is hard for me to stop and annotate what I am thinking. It is hard for me to annotate because I would rather just keep reading the book uninterrupted because it is hard for me to get reinterested in the book.
• When I am writing, it is hard for me to have well-structured sentences and paragraphs.
• When I think, it is hard for me to stay focused on the topic at hand. Many times when I am listening to someone or reading something, if something catches my attention, I will start thinking about it, which will lead me to think about something else, etc..

How do you know when you are successful?

• I know when I am successful when I completely understand the text that I am reading and understand what the author is trying to get through to me.
• I know I am successful writing when others read my writing, and they understand the message that I am trying to convey to them.
• I know I am successful thinking when I understand everything I need/want to know.

What is your role as a reader?

• My role as a reader is always to try to understand what the author is trying to tell me and for me to learn more knowledge from the text I am reading.
• My role as a writer is to try to make my writing as understandable as possible.
• My role as a thinker is to identify problems and try to solve them with innovative thoughts or ideas .