Learning:
The Journey of a Lifetime
A Cloud Chamber of the Mind

February 2006 Education Notebook

An Example of a "Learning Process" Journal (using the 2 colored box format)

HSC English Study Guide for Cloudstreet.

8:15 PM I purchased this book earlier today while browsing in the store. I was intrigued with some of the notes and diagrams and thought I would like to have a closer look to see if I could pick up some good ideas about reading novels.

This is probably the single best book that I have seen that provides a detailed analysis of a novel. I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in the analysis of a novel.

Armstrong provides a quote by the author Tim Winton: "I notice a lot of school kids who send me letters now don't talk about the story anymore, they talk about the text. I write back saying, 'look, just get it right, this is a story, this is not a text.' " [p. 11]

It reinforces a quote often made by a friend and colleague, Larry Miller: "Is it a good yarn?"

It also brought to mind a personal concern I have about many Faculty of Education courses: Does the course help a person to become a teacher or does it help the person become a professional "expert"? However I don't mean this as a simple dichotomy - the real issue is always more complex.

Armstrong's book, and I assume, the school curriculum, is about the process of conducting a critical study of a novel. In my mind this is quite different than the process of enjoying the story. I consider Armstrong's book to be a superb example of helping one understand, by example, how to conduct a critical study. But it does beg the question, who wants to do this? A quick answer would be English teachers and professors.

For me, a more interesting question is one of how to assist a person to enjoy a novel. The approaches I have been playing with during the last few years, sometimes under the name of "slow reading", tries to illustrate a few possibilities:

• Try to write a very short paragraph, perhaps only a sentence, that summarizes the story line.
• Try to prepare simple character profiles, often only a sentence or two, that I can refer to while reading the story.
• Write a sentence or two for each chapter about the development of the plot.
• Identify and copy special sentences that "jump off the page" for whatever reason.
• Write a short summary paragraph.

8:40 PM