Chapter 9: Conclusions

Reading is an act of interiority, pure and simple.  Its object is not the mere consumption of information….Rather, reading is the occasion of the encounter with the self….The book is the best think human beings have done yet.

­-James Carroll

               At this point in our blogging journey, I have reached the end of Maryanne Wolf’s study on the story and science of the reading brain, Proust and the Squid, and subsequently, I have reached the end of my blogging experience…for now.  Who knows where this outlet for my thoughts may take me in the future, but for time being, I’m taking a break.

               Chapter 9 of the text is simply titled Conclusions and is Wolf’s way of wrapping up her thoughts.  The entirety of the chapter is her rehashing the main points presented earlier throughout the text and a plethora of hypothetical questions presented to the reader in an effort to spark critical thinking and discussions.  I will save you, the reader from going over the points that you have already been through before, and I would like to take the opportunity to address the text as I had experienced it.

               For me, Proust and the Squid has been an internal battle of Rachel vs. Jeremy.  During the highly scientific brain chapters, I could not determine what the most important information to include was.  This could have been largely due to the fact that it was during these chapters that I did not fully understand what was going on.  I was Jeremy.  In the chapters on the history of reading development and the alphabetic principle and Socrates, I felt as if everything was important.  I was Rachel.  So to you the reader of this blog, I apologize.  My thoughts came off sporadic at times without clear direction while I attempted to filter through the information.

               In the scope of this course, it makes sense to me now looking back on my struggles.  I had difficulty sending information through the secondary Discourse that I had created for this text into the secondary Discourse that was created many years ago as I learned to write to present information and to convey meaning.  I was waging a war with an inconsiderate text with whom I was trying to make meaning within the parameters of the course’s framing questions.  The information that I have retained from Proust and the Squid has already changed how I view my students as they progress through the beginning stages of reading.

               Will I remember a year from now what I read and reflected upon?  More than likely the answer is no.  What I will take away from this experience is a better understanding for how the brain compensates for what it lacks.  The connections the brain makes to complete a circuit so that we are able to read, is utterly mind blowing (pun intended?) when one looks at the fact that the human brain was never meant to read.

               On Monday of this week, the final week of summer school, we began a brief yet vital Science unit on Healthy Science.  During the anticipatory set, we sorted ourselves in ways that we were different, hair color, hair length, who could whistle, who couldn’t.  We then sorted ourselves into ways that we were similar, two eyes, two legs, ten fingers.  One classification we did not discuss was the one brain we carry in our heads.  We all have one.  It’s in the same place.  But everyone’s brain is as different as the noses on our faces.  Our connection speeds are different.  The areas of our brain that allow for successful reading are strengthened in different ways.  We decode at different speeds.  Passages ignite emotions in us in different ways.  As educators, we must always be acutely aware that our students are different in more ways than we can see.  It is our job to foster the strengths and support the weaknesses and always remember that each child needs us in a different way, every day.

               Thank you for taking the time to read through this blog.  It’s been real.  It’s been fun.  It’s been real fun.  Good luck in all your endeavors.

Until next time…