As a former high school students and a current college student, I can completely relate with not being able to understand readings. I love reading, I love English, and I love learning; but it is extremely hard for me to comprehend what I am reading and learning about. I was home schooled and I pretty much had to just read the textbook and answer the questions that came after the reading and that is how I "learned." Do I remember most of what I read about? Probably not. It wasn't until I took a writing class at a local home school group where I actually can remember the subjects that I studied. I will never forget the poor morals of Lady Macbeth and the near insanity of Macbeth himself. I will always remember the topics of greed, money, and Jewish stereotypes that we discussed in The Merchant of Venice. I think a huge part of the success of that teacher was that she put many of the dimensions of understanding to use: dwelling, exploring, discussing, creating, and feeling whatever the reading brought about.
The most helpful dimension of understanding for me would be to explore-- this is such a powerful tool. It helps me to remember the reading or story if I am able to relate it to many other things. Another reason the explore dimension is so important is because it makes whatever the subject being studied become real. If one can relate the story to real things in the world, one can learn much more than just the story of a book.
I cannot wait to use some of the techniques suggested in this book. The Dimension of Understanding is a great way to lay out all of the different ways of connecting with students of different learning styles.
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