Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Cobwebs?
Have you ever had the weird sensation that you cannot understand ANYTHING? for example, if you have to re-read the same paragraph over and over and STILL cannot BEGIN to comprehend it? I've heard this sensation called "cobwebs in your brain" or something like that. But that title for it sure sound spooky. Its REALLY annoying and i thing it comes from a bit too much stress or reading something very complicated for a long period of time. What do you think "cobwebs" come from and how do you make them GO AWAY?
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A zen koan?
ReplyDeletewhats a zen koan?
ReplyDeletenevermind i found out. google is AMAZING.
ReplyDeleteTHAT HAPPENS TO ME ALL THE TIME. In reference to your statement about the material being too complicated, I completely agree. I remember sitting in my AP Human Geography class screaming "What is this?!" (in my head,of course). As far as "cobwebs" being triggered by stress, I suppose that is plausible for some people, for stress effects everyone differently. But there is a difference between not being able to comprehend a statement and the statement just not registering in your mind. Which are you referring to? If it is the case of the latter, I believe that is attributed to just plain lack of concentration or distraction. The only cure is to try, try again.
ReplyDeleteWell, currently I don't know exactly WHAT the problem is, but I'm guessing stress. It depends, like you said. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteResearch suggests that intelligence is derived more from habits of mind than from innate gifts. Yes, innate intelligence makes a difference, but overall intelligence is more what we do, day in and day out, than who we are.
ReplyDeleteQuiana suggests perseverance -- a habit of mind. Hanging in there and making another effort at understanding, WANTING to understand, breaking things down, reading aloud, writing, ANNOTATING...all of these habits make us smarter, but only if we actually practice them.
Reading dense material is probably half of what we do in class; 45% of your AP score is reading comprehension, and the style and complexity of the texts you encounter are going to push you to the limit. The smartest kids in class are going to be confused sometimes. And there's no Google to bail you out of a pickle. You have to be a reader, and you have to be reading and thinking at a college level.
If you think what we are reading NOW is hard, just wait. This is summer reading. I chose it, in part, because I don't think it's too hard. It's accessible. It's not easy, but I don't think you should be breaking a sweat.
And I cannot comment on your stress situation because obviously I don't know what you are going through. However, stress is just part of the equation. There is never a time in life when stress is not a factor. We have to learn to manage it, because it's not going away.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I encounter kids who want to understand, who try very hard to understand, but they simply don't have that much reading under their belts to begin with. Knowledge builds on knowledge. Some people come into this AP class, having read 100s of books, with a passion and a desire for knowledge. They have a dense forest of background knowledge, so building more is natural. They read the paper, they read magazines, they read books, they read instruction manuals, they read and write blogs -- they're just very verbal people. Often, they will have an interesting obsession, like manga or film noir, international finance or robotics. They have large, flexible vocabularies. They have a sense for syntactical complexity and an ear for language. These kids have much more to draw from, obviously, than kids who don't read beyond what they have been assigned, and who largely are mired in pop culture.
ReplyDeleteThese are general statements, not directed at anyone in particular. I'm simply stating a fact: reading dense, complex material is a huge part of the class.
Thanks. Im sure i can figure out the books with a bit more practice with concetration. I've always had a problem with it. I'll try my hardest to get a good grade in your class this year.
ReplyDelete