To be honest, I was struggling to sit down and do this first assignment. The mere thought of delving into reading and writing with the knowledge that public eyes and comments awaited me was paralyzing. Although imposter syndrome had been discussed by others, it wasn’t something I truly connected with until now.
That\u2019s because when it comes to reading, writing, note-taking, and the like, I’ve often been labeled as “challenged” or slower than average. In elementary school, I attended “special classes” a couple of times each week with a small group of kids needing extra help developing these critical skills. Interestingly, I didn’t realize I had a problem until my early adolescence when the impact on my relationship with reading, note-taking, and writing essays became apparent.
In middle school, I adopted the story that I wasn’t a good reader or writer, leading to a dislike for both. Due to my earlier challenges, I read slowly and struggled with pronunciation. I remember being extremely anxious every time we\u2019d read in class. I would jump a line or two ahead to work out the words and correct any glitches before it was my turn to read aloud. This adopted narrative soon solidified into a firm belief, shaping an identity I never questioned.
For years, I avoided anything related to reading and writing, despite a love for stories and a deep longing to share my voice. However, while in college I discovered I didn’t hate reading but that it was just I needed to find books that excited me. Once I did, I yearned to read as much as I could, yet was met with frustration at how long it would take me to read and write reflections. I decided to take a speed reading class.This was the first time I looked at reading as a skill that could be developed. While this class was a huge eye opener, I still had a long way to go, especially when it came to reading comprehension and writing.
Despite lots of opportunities to continue reading and writing, I was never truly taught how to read, take notes, or write. Most of my reading fell into the category of elementary reading. Despite skimming skills, I lacked a system for deeper understanding and content retention, which I aim to address in this doctoral program.
What I loved about “How to Read” was the invitation to return to the deeper why behind everything I read, using it to determine how best to read and what to read. Considering systematic skimming versus superficial reading when deciding if a book is worth deeper exploration was empowering as well, especially as I navigate overwhelm this semester.
Looking ahead, I’m eager to translate insights from this week’s materials into a \u201csecond-brain\u201d system for capturing thoughts and making connections that are cohesive and revisitable. Previously my highlights and notes would be stored all over the place, making it nearly impossible to find and use them again efficiently or effectively.
While I know there will be a learning curve as I step into new ways of operating, I\u2019m excited to commit to a digital \u201cslip-box\u201d system for this first semester, utilizing Obsidian and Readwise to enable me to organize my thoughts more clearly.
Overall, a big part of what attracted me to this program was that we would be taught how to think, read, and write like doctoral students. I hope to use the tools, support, and structure of this program to develop a written voice and establish an identity as a writer.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To be honest, I was struggling to sit down and do this first assignment. The mere thought of delving into reading and writing with the knowledge that public eyes and comments awaited me was paralyzing. Although imposter syndrome had been discussed by others, it wasn’t something I truly connected with until now. That\u2019s because when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1033,2967],"class_list":["post-34781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adler-and-van-doren","tag-dlgp03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34781"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34800,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34781\/revisions\/34800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}