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Featured Post: Is annotation an important skill students

should learn?
Why is it so important? Does it really benefit students? Click here to find out
what educators from all over have to say about annotation.

Is annotation an important skill students should learn?

I bet you’re all wondering “why is she going to be talking about annotations
today?” Well I'll tell you why it's because a couple days ago I was in conversation with
some educators and they had a lot to say when I brought up the topic of annotation.
When I asked “What do you think of annotations?” They didn't hesitate to answer
that they thought it’s helpful and an essential part when it comes to learning.

First and foremost let me introduce you all to these amazing scholars. The first
people I met at this get together were Michele L. Simpson and Sherrie L. Nist; they
both teach in the division of developmental studies at the University of Georgia. They
held a study to analyze the common errors students make when annotating. Two
other educators joined us when they heard what we were starting to discuss. They
are Marilyn G. Eanet and Anthony V. Manzo. They both teach at the University of
Missouri; Manzo is a professor and Eanet is a lecturer as well as a doctoral candidate.
High school teacher Carol Porter-O’Donnell joins in, and adds to the conversation
about several activities and tools she uses to help students learn how to purposefully
mark up what they read. Matthew D. Brown, also a teacher, asks his students to enter
into conversation with texts they read, to connect personally to make meaning. From
the University of Salford, Manchester we have Elaine C. Ball she examines
handwritten annotation and its many features. The last two people who joined our
convo were Melanie Ramdarshan Bold and Kiri L. Wagstaff. Bold works in the
department of information studies at the University College London and Wagstaff
works at the San Jose State University. They bring up how annotation is changing
due to the advancement of technology.

It all started when I asked what they noticed in students when it comes to
annotation. Educators Michele L. Simpson and Sherrie L. Nist said college freshmen
typically use memorizing, rereading, and “looking over” to read and study text.
Rather than stimulate active learning, these activities tend to encourage passivity. I
then realized that I do this and asked what they recommend students do to
stimulate active learning. They then shared with us that they’ve developed and
refined a textbook annotation strategy that does more than just highlighting and
underlining important ideas. Educators Marilyn G. Eanet and Anthony V. Manzo
agree; they believe that readers read at their own pace, finish with an inchoate lump
of meaning unformed by language, and go on to other activities. They suggest that
it's not until we as a reader try to communicate the ideas of the passage to ourselves
and others that we conceptualize it. They go on to say how reading teachers teach
students how to establish purpose, read, answer questions but it isn't working so the
authors introduce a new strategy called REAP. REAP helps students learn to write
annotations and be more concise with them. Scholar Elaine C. Ball jumps into the
conversation and says that she's so glad that we’re all on the same page. She says
there are many upsides to annotation and there are many ways to annotate. Ball
proceeds and says that annotation helps students interpret their text, and students
who annotate see a difference in their reading comprehension. However, annotation
can be a bit time consuming. We continued to talk all night until the gathering was
over.

All of the educators I spoke to were so passionate about this topic. They're all
so wise in their field. I personally never really liked annotating. I felt like I wasn’t really
learning anything through it. But after listening to all of these intellectual people I’ve
realized how I might have been doing it wrong this entire time and how it really is
important because it helps you take time with the reading and actually learn
something from it rather than just reading to read you know. They made me rethink
the way I annotate and made me want to start annotating again even if it's just
reading a book for fun.

Comments:
Grillgamer123
Should we continue to annotate if our readings are online?

Scholars Melanie Ramdarshan Bold and Kiri L. Wagstaff

We understand how you feel like you shouldn’t even bother doing annotations,
especially when they are online because it is too time consuming. But annotating
has been done for centuries and it has proven to help many individuals with learning.
Even with the advancements in technology we highly recommend annotating. We
have been working on a study for marginalia and learn that even with the
 advancement of technology it is still possible to take notes on your device and help
with active learning.

Prof3883
Hello, what is an activity I can use to help my students consider ideas when
annotating?

Teacher Carol Porter-O’Donnell

Many students have developed the habit of reading without pausing to consider the
ideas. By reading aloud and having students annotate, the teacher can force this
pausing, and students can begin to see the benefits. This is especially helpful when
students are first learning annotation skills. You can also use a dialectical journal in
which the students record a quote, phrase, or word with a page number in the first
column and in the second column they record their reactions or interpretations of it.

Student2023
Hello, what is the refined textbook annotation strategy that educators Simpson and
Nist developed?

Educators Michelle L. Simpson and Sherrie L. Nist

What we have created to improve students' annotations is called the Seven basic
processes. The student should write brief summaries in the text margins using their
own words, enumerated multiple ideas in organized fashion (causes, effects,
characteristics, etc.), noted examples of concepts in the margin by writing EX, put key
information on graphs and charts with the text when appropriate, jotted down
possible test questions, noted puzzling or confusing ideas with question marks in
margin and selectively underlined key words or phrases.
 Bibliography

Simpson, Michele L., and Sherrie L. Nist. “Textbook Annotation: An Effective and Efficient
Study Strategy for College Students.” Journal of Reading, vol. 34, no. 2, 1990, pp. 122–29.
JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40032053.

Eanet, Marilyn G., and Anthony V. Manzo. “REAP - A Strategy for Improving
Reading/Writing/Study Skills.” Journal of Reading, vol. 19, no. 8, 1976, pp. 647–52. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40032892.

Carol Porter-O’Donnell. “Beyond the Yellow Highlighter: Teaching Annotation Skills to

Improve Reading Comprehension.” The English Journal, vol. 93, no. 5, 2004, pp. 82–89.
JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/4128941

Brown, Matthew D. “I’ll Have Mine Annotated, Please: Helping Students Make Connections
with Texts.” The English Journal, vol. 96, no. 4, 2007, pp. 73–78. JSTOR,
https://doi.org/10.2307/30047169.

Ball, Elaine C. "Annotation an effective device for student feedback: A critical review of the
literature." Nurse education in practice 10.3 (2010): 138-143.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2009.05.003

Bold, Melanie Ramdarshan, and Kiri L. Wagstaff. "Marginalia in the digital age: Are digital
reading devices meeting the needs of today's readers?." Library & Information Science Research
39.1 (2017): 16-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2017.01.004