Reflective Essay On Close Reading

This quarter I learned that I was terrible at close reading. However, more importantly I learned that close reading is not merely reading the text before you, but also involves digesting the text and questioning why the author used a certain rhetorical strategy or featured a certain detail. I learned to be more focused on on the reading and what message is being conveyed and how it is being conveyed. This is the first year I have heard the term close reading. In past years, my teachers implied they want us to close read but it was never explicitly said and was not taught very well. However, this year I am actually starting close read more and it has allowed me to have a great understanding and great appreciation of the text.

This quarter I have learned more literary terminology than I ever had before. …show more content…
For example, while analyzing the Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr., I wasn 't able to recognize the classical oration within the text until the you, the teacher, pointed it out to me. I was to understand what the purpose of each paragraph was, however I wasn 't able to divide the piece as a whole correctly. I feel like this weakness that I 've had since the beginning of the year is really holding me back from completely understanding the literature. Additionally, I feel like not being able to divide the paragraphs correctly is not allowing me to fully understanding why the author utilizes her in a certain rhetorical strategies or certain detail. I feel in order to become better at noticing the big picture and recognizing what overall strategies he or she are using in the text, I need to become very familiar with the different types of strategies and structural terminology, and then I need to read more texts on my own and practice finding the divides. Additionally, I think if I actively read, then I will become better at understanding the