Sunday, September 8, 2013

Metacognition on How I Annotate

 I'm really not the best at the full process of annotation. I can write analyses and reflections on texts, but the process of marking up something makes me uncomfortable. For this reason, I typically just avoid writing on the text altogether, and stick to typing side notes out, typically on my phone. However, even then, fully written out annotation just isn't a big part of my process. I do do a lot of mental annotation and reflection, which is why I'm capable of writing out analyses of texts later on. Of course, it's entirely possible that that's just a big cop-out. I really don't know for sure, but I've been making more of an effort to write out more of my thoughts on the things I read.
  
This idea leads into how I would get inexperienced writes to annotate. Part of the thing that kept/keeps me from annotating is a fear of standards. I have a tendency to lock up with anxiety when asked to produce content. I hold it up to unrealistic standards, and then fail to produce anything whatsoever. For this reason, I would work to explain and encourage students to understand that annotations aren't supposed to be essays, they're supposed to be reflections and their own thoughts. If they're terrible pieces of writing, it means nothing negative.

I don't think I'd actually want students to bring their annotations to class for anything, however. Perhaps as a final portfolio, just to prove they did them. But by grading them and placing standards on them, it discourages the students from producing the work, a piece of work which in this case exists exclusively for the sake of self-reflection.

No comments:

Post a Comment