Annotating!!!

I had always heard that annotating pieces of literature is an excellent thing to do because it helps you understand the piece in depth, that it gives you a better understanding of what the author is trying to communicate through their work. I’ve always heard that but never really played too much attention to it.  Like the teachers said, it was optional. I wouldn’t get points for doing it nor get points taken off if I didn’t.  Because it wasn’t mandatory I wouldn’t annotate.  Why would I do extra work if I didn’t benefit from it?  What I didn’t realize was that annotating these pieces of literature would actually benefit immensely.

In my English 11 class last year at times it was required to annotate, but usually just the main ideas and vocabulary words, which usually would be words the majority of the class didn’t know its meaning.  Now in ERW annotating is a requirement.  In the packets Ms.Fletch gives us we are asked to go over each short story and find the key points, words we don’t understand, or just things that stand out to us.  We’re asked to give our opinions on certain ideas and declare weather we agree or not.  At first when Ms.Fletch told us we would be required to annotate in depth I was a bit mad. Not like oh my mad but just annoyed that I would have to do extra work, but yet again ERW is not easy class.  Before I choose to enroll in it, I was told it would be a course that would require time and dedication.  Therefore I put my whininess aside and did as I was told.

Now that I’m used to annotate the stories I have grown to like this method.  Like Ms.Flecther said, it really does help us understand the stories in depth and unravel their hidden messages. This method has really help me improved on reading and comprehending the authors’ message; especially right now that we’re in the Ethos, Pathos, and Logos theme.  I have never really been able to depict an article and explain why it’s ethos or logos, but now how we break down every little detail I can see which each paragraph and the whole article is trying to convey.  So even though I thought annotating was going to be a drag, I have come to appreciate it.