Throwback Thursdays :: How to Mark a Book

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I first read Adler's piece, How to Mark a Book, during one of my early graduate classes at CSUSB. My favorite professor, Dr. Brenda Glascott (aka Ms. AWESOME to all us grad students -- Hi, Dr. Awesome!!), had us read this text. 

It changed my reading life.

Until that fateful afternoon in 2008 I didn't know -- silly me! -- there's a process to critical reading. I used to read by highlighting and marking the pages and jotting down aha! but I never read with a purpose. I didn't know how to read with a purpose. Until that moment. It was a game-changer. 

I now include this seminal text in all of my English classes, both AP Language & Composition and my on-level English 12. Some get it while others feel bothered by its "busyness". That's okay because for those few students who desire to read critically so that they can apply the new knowledge into their lives, this text changes how they digest the author's ideas. In many ways, this text helps my seniors learn the process of reading and of gaining more awareness/knowledge/intelligence/[fill in the blank]. And in Adler's words himself, "The sign of intelligence in reading is the ability to read different things differently according to their worth." Amen, Adler, amen.