You can read a book, but you can also read a room.
You can read someone’s body language.
You can read the subtext of an email (Per our previous discussion, see attachment = Are you really so useless that I have to send this to you for a third time?) or the actual motivation behind a social media post – an important skill since so many influencers are ignoring FTC disclosure guidelines. Just sayin’.
Careful readers are reading all the time, looking to glean the message behind the message.
Yesterday, I mentioned over on TikTok that literary analysis has seeds that are planted all around our students – from obsessively re-reading a text from a crush to searching for Easter eggs in Taylor Swift lyrics to figuring out the “right” place to sit at lunch today. All of this is textual analysis. Commenter Figgitus reminded me that classrooms – and all of the people we see around campus every day – are “texts,” too:
Pointing this out to students might help build their enthusiasm for digging into our literary texts. Rather than asking them to read each other, a risky move that could quickly descend into chaos and hurt feelings, I prefer the idea of teaching them to read people and places by using visual texts/fine art in bite-size warm-ups, like this:
What do you think? What other “texts” could we use to practice students’ analysis skills?
Want more of my work? Fine art analysis bell-ringer materials are here:
https://laurarandazzo.com/product/fine-art-analysis-bundle-art-supplements-critical-thinking-bell-ringers-ccss/
Literary analysis writing materials are here:
https://laurarandazzo.com/product/literary-analysis-essay-introduction-to-lit-analysis-essay-writing-ccss/
“Deconstruct an argument” rhetorical analysis lessons are here:
https://laurarandazzo.com/product/real-world-rhetoric-bundle-argument-analysis-of-modern-essays-critical-thinking/
Header image licensed via CanvaPro.