Blog #3

When you read something for the second or third time, you are already familiar with the material, so you are understanding it rather than simply reading it. The first time that I read through a passage, I am focusing on the meaning of the words and how they fit together to make coherent sentences. I am also focusing on the message as I do this, but it is not my main focus. I do not tend to have a complete understanding of the text along with the message that the text is trying to deliver on my first read-through. As I read through the text for the second time, I begin to make connections between the language and the meaning. Not only the meaning of the phrases and how they connect, but the meaning of the text as a whole. I tend to rethink arguments that are presented at the start of a text when I already know how a text ends. This will determine how I read the rest of the text for the second time, as my initial response to the original arguments have changed. All in all, I believe that re-reading text continues to challenge my views of what the words mean, and what the author is trying to tell me. In all of my classes, I re-read material over and over in order to have my own best understanding of how the work is supposed to effect me and how I am supposed to understand the work.