“Marigolds” – Eugenia Collier
English 10 Honors
Mr. Ramlow
Reading Strategies
What is an “Expert Reader”?
When experts read difficult texts, they read slowly and reread often. They
struggle with the text to make it comprehensible. They hold confusing passages in
mental suspension, having faith that later parts of the essay will clarify earlier parts.
They “nutshell” passages as they proceed, often writing gist statements in the margins.
They read a difficult text a second and a third time, considering first readings as
approximations or rough drafts. They interact with the text by asking questions,
expressing disagreement, linking the text with other reading or with personal
experience. The bigger the fish they go after, the greater the struggle in reeling it in.
In contrast,…students imagine that expert readers are “speed readers”…students
push themselves to read faster instead of slower. If they do not understand the text on
[the] first reading, they assume that it is the teacher’s job to explain the text to them.
John C. Bean
Engaging Ideas, 134
Reading Strategies to Become a Better Reader
1. Use the dictionary to look up words you don’t know.
2. Learn to write “What it Does” and “What it Says” statements in the margins
3. Work the text in terms of identifying difficult passages or unfamiliar sayings.
4. Slow down.
5. Carry on a dialogue with the writer. Ask questions of them - maybe it will be
answered later on in the text.
Lets look at the first paragraph of “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What are the two main subjects of the first paragraph?
Is time or place designated? If so, how do they impact the mood of the story so far?
How would you describe the writer’s style?
What does the phrase “incongruency of memory” mean?
Why is the mind like an abstract painting?