Posts Tagged ‘Reading’

• Previewing edited books

  Date: 2009.10.07 | Category: Learning Skills Exercises, Unit SSK12 | Response: 0

  Learning Skills Exercise
  Unit: SSK12
  Week: 1 (in Week 6)
  Date: 07 October 2009
  Exercise: Exercise 16 – Previewing edited books

  Activity 1: Previewing the edited book
  The title of the edited book:
  A spectator’s guide to worldviews: Ten ways of understanding life
  The book is clearly about worldviews. The word spectator suggests that it is an overview of ten different worldviews by which we might understand the world and life.
  What might those ten worldviews be? And how does seeing world through their respective lenses change our understanding of life?

  The editor:
  Simon Smart
  The editor is unknown to me from the front cover. He is not someone I have come across before.
  From the about the authors section (Smart 2007, 253) we learn that “Simon Smart taught History and English for ten years before moving to Vancouver for theological study. He is a full-time writer for Anglican Youthworks…”

  The date:
  Published 2007
  This is important because it shows how up to date the content should be. It also helps us contextualise its authors to what time and place they are writing from.

  Table of contents:
  There is a table of contents, which indicates a very structured book, clearly laying out the ten themes (or worldviews) that are detailed by the various authors. Unfortunately all of the authors are unknown to me. It appears that all chapters have been compiled and published together.

  Preface, foreword or introduction:
  There is an introduction written by the editor. Smart (2007, 5-17) details what a worldview is; briefly covers how they shape our understanding of life; provides a history of worldviews; and explains why he thinks it is important to think about worldviews, which indicates the purpose of the book. Another important feature of the book which contextualises its content is that it is written for a Christian audience and all its authors are Christian.

  Section or parts:
  There is an introduction to each chapter, while there is no conclusion as such, each chapter is concluded by a small section subtitled “Contact and departure from Christianity”. Each chapter is accompanied by a selection of thought provoking questions.

  Conclusion:
  There is no conclusion in the strictest sense of the word. The book is wrapped by an introducing narrative and a concluding narrative.

  Index:
  There is no index for this book.

  The readings:
  The readings have been put together especially for this publication. They are clearly targeted at a Christian audience. They have been written in a Basic English and an easy to understand style.

  Activity 2: An interesting reading
  Utilitarianism
  I chose this reading as my interesting reading because I know very little about it and so it interests me to find out more.
  The essence of utilitarianism is expressed in the idea (Cameron 2007, 86), “I’ll do whatever it takes to make more happiness in the world”.
  The utilitarian weighs the consequences of their decisions to determine what is right in that moment. What is right is what will produce happiness for the greatest number of people when all is weighed up.

  Activity 3: A familiar reading
  The Christian worldview
  I have selected this as my familiar reading because I am most intimate with this worldview. I was a Christian from the age of 13 years through to 28 years (it’s hard to say when period ended because it was a gradual process of dissolution and deconstruction). For many of my post high school years I have read many books of this type from a Christian perspective. Even one of my favourite philosophers, James Sire, is a Christian.

  Activity 4: A difficult reading
  Feminism
  Although I grew up in a family with 5 sisters and raised by my mother, who for most of my life was a single parent, and in a world that had already triumphantly overcome many of the birth pangs of the Women’s Liberation Movement, and although my own worldview is greatly influenced by many elements of the feminist movement. I chose this reading as a difficult reading because despite all that is written above I am not a woman and therefore I feel I am unable to wholly identify.
  Feminism had two major waves. The first wave, which is considered a retroactive term, was just prior and leading up to WW1, its central campaign was female suffrage. The second wave came in the 1960’s, also known as the women’s liberation movement, the one I am more familiar with, “placed issues around sex, pregnancy and childbirth as crucial to the welfare of women. These issues were seen as important as the fight for equal rights and opportunities in the workforce” (Fisher and Smart 2007, 154-155).

  Activity 5: Reflection
  I believe previewing books (especially ones required for study) is an extremely beneficial practice. I must admit I haven’t done much of this in the past, mostly I would read the back cover, flick through the pages and maybe reading some of its contents. It is rewarding and insightful to systematically preview the contents of a book. It gives you a far better understanding of the value of the book and it helps you to understand where to look in the book when you need to look something up.

  Smart, Simon. ed. 2007. A spectator’s guide to worldviews: Ten ways of understanding life. South Sydney: Blue Bottle Books.

  Cameron, Andrew. 2007. Whatever it takes: Utilitarianism. In A spectator’s guide to worldviews: Ten ways of understanding life. ed. Simon Smart, 86. South Sydney: Blue Bottle Books.

  Fisher, Mary and Michele Smart. 2007. Sleeping with the enemy: Feminism. In A spectator’s guide to worldviews: Ten ways of understanding life. ed. Simon Smart, 154-155. South Sydney: Blue Bottle Books.

• Previewing a book

  Date: 2009.09.06 | Category: Learning Skills Exercises, Unit SSK12 | Response: 0

  Learning Skills Exercise
  Unit: SSK12
  Week: 1
  Date: 06 September 2009
  Exercise: Exercise 15 – Previewing a book

  Activity 1: Finding out what books are about
  A Guide to Learning Independently
  This book is design to help the student adjust to university learning. It gives technique that the student can you to be a successful independent leaner. Skills such as: reading; writing, including essay writing, learning by evaluation; etc…. The authors claim that the book isn’t just a collection of techniques, but rather the book helps the student discover who they are as a learner and encourages the readers to learn how the techniques can work for them.

  Marshall, L. & F. Rowland. 2006. A Guide To Learning Independently. 4^th ed. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Education Australia

  A Learning Companion
  A Learning Companion is a learning guide design to help the student develop effective and efficient learning skills. It is a collection of exercises that the student can complete in order to foster life long learning skills that can hopefully used for the duration of their studies. Exercises cover such topics as: Learning how to learn; reading; and writing essays, amongst others. The book’s hope is to be a learners’ companion.

  Marshall, L. 2006. A Learning Companion: Your Guide To Practising Independent Learning. 4^th ed. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Education Australia

  In my attempt to get to know the two unit texts I read the back cover first, then I overviewed the table of contents, before quickly reading over the Preface or the Introduction. I found the back cover to summarise the book’s contents clearly and concisely. The table of contents also gives an excellent overall understanding of the information covered. If I had more time than 5 minutes to preview the books, the introduction would be the best part of the book to find the most information.

  Activity 2: Previewing a book

  No written entry required

  Activity 3:

  <Activity 3 summary goes here>

  Activity 4: Reflection
  It was good to do the quick preview exercise at the start of this exercise. It reinforced to me the importance of previewing text, especially in the context of tertiary study. Although it is not uncommon for me to preview my books by reading the back cover and index, I am reminded of the value of thoroughly reading the introduction in order to get a big picture understanding to the book.

  I never was a strong reader and even now, although I tend to read a lot of books, I don’t read them very fast. One of my biggest challenges is going to be whether I am able to improve my reading ability, especially in the area of reading rate variation. I may find it difficult to learn to read at any other rate than the snail’s pace I am used to.

  <Write more…>