I finished the text. I have to admit I ran through the words as fast as I could to get to the end. I didn’t think too much about the final text. The words just flew by. I was in anticipation of the ending. When I read fiction I love to go in fast forward towards the end of the story. I try to get a “readers” adrenaline rush. I’ll save all my metacognitive processes for later, after the end. Too anxious to get to the ending. It exhilarates. I get to block out everything going around me. I can’t wait to get to the ending. The “who done it” is the best part. I can’t wait to get to the punch line. Exactly why was this short story called “Who Am I This Time” Well know I know!
The story was about actors being actors and living both their acting lives and real lives as actors. Don’t we all do that? How many different rolls do we play in life and have a wide range of acting leeway. I’m not saying we live our lives as phonies or are deceitful but we have a lot of opportunity to play many parts and many roles in life to many people.
Now, at the end is when all my metacognitive processes kick in. Lets see, I’ll start with predicting. Of course I knew the two lead characters of the play (Helen and Harry) were getting caught between their acting world and their real world attraction for each other. They couldn’t separate the two. I make connections with my own personal relationships driven by drama and emotion and real life settings. I got visions of the “Graduate” when in the last scene of the movie we see Benjamin and Elaine sitting in the back of the bus with those smiles on their faces. What were those smiles about?
It’s like they just got something they wanted but don’t know what to do with it, just like Helen and Harry. I can’t help to think be careful for what you wish for. I had no time for fixups, unless I didn’t understand the ending. I had no problems. I flew over the words so fast it didn’t matter if the words were my words or the words from the book. This is when I become the story and the story becomes me. I didn’t have to think that hard. Isn’t reading fun, when it doesn’t require a test. Maybe that’s why students don’t like to read. Maybe some where along the way we invaded and infringed on their imagination. We are always telling them how to read.
I loved this post. I am totally with you when you say that toward the end of the text you go into "fast forward" mode. I do that too. If a book is 300 pages it may take me a week to get to page 200, but once I do, I'll have to polish off those last 100 pages in a couple of hours. It really does feel like a rush of adrenaline. You get caught up in the whirlwind of a story.
ReplyDeleteI think this is part of the reason why I had a hard time with the scholarly text you chose, as well as most scholarly texts that don't pertain to literature, film, or some sort of storytelling. Not that I don't enjoy them, but it's hard to "get the sails up." Scholarly texts are often disjointed, each section starting over again with a brief summary paragraph and re-explanation of the previous parts. There isn't a momentum to hold on to. There's no rush when you finish a text like that. I find that these straightforward, quantitative texts are made much more interesting when they allow room for the qualitative--researcher observations, testimonials, etc. In other words, allowing more room for connections to be made between the reader and the text.