Paying closer attention to detail reaps rewards

This semester, I wanted to challenge my upper-level students to move outside of their comfort zones. In a series of assignments, my students have been asked to read differently. At first, they looked at me quizzically. “What do you mean by ‘differently’?” was the question on the faces staring back at me from the majority of the class. How can we read differently? It’s just words on the page, right?
 

But here’s the thing – how often do we actually take the time to pay close attention to those words on the page? How often do we dwell within the words? More frequently than I care to admit, I find myself skimming – getting to the main point of the news article, looking for the key details – because, after all, I’m doing the majority of my reading and keeping up with the world around me while also juggling my twins and their needs.
 

This is the lesson I attempt to drive home to my English majors – as they read poetry: it requires attention. It’s not meant to be read just once or skimmed; it requires a deeper engagement. So, to teach those skills, new assignments were created.
 

There’s an art gallery on my campus. For their first exercise, students were required to go not once, not twice, but three times to visit the gallery and spend time with an art object of their choosing. For 20 minutes, they were asked to observe their object and interpret it. And for another 20 minutes, they were asked to write about what they noticed. With each visit, they spent 20 minutes observing and 20 minutes critically reflecting, using prompted questions. 
 

For their next exercise, they were given a recitation of a poem. After listening to it once, they were told to disconnect from the world of technology – leave behind the internet and apps, text messages and phone calls – and go for a 20-minute walk, choosing a path or itinerary that was unfamiliar to them. At the end of the walk, they were to find a place to sit down and record their interpretation of the poem they had listened to previously.
 

In both instances, my students were forced to read differently, to encounter the same work of art over a period of time and see it differently each time. Many students noted that, over time,  the finer details came into focus; things they had missed started to change their initial impressions. The more time they spent with the artwork, the deeper their interpretations became. Similarly, the distance created by the walk impressed images and poetic rhythms upon their minds.

 

Alone with their thoughts, phrases and ideas circulated as they unconsciously found associations between the recitation and their immediate surroundings.
Initially, they admitted, they were resistant. They thought the assignments absurd. How would these experiences open new ways of encountering not only literature but the world around them?
 

After dutifully fulfilling the assignments, however, they’re singing a different tune. They’re noticing things that they hadn’t before. They’re paying closer attention to the details. They’re looking past the surface-level content to engage more deeply with the texts. 
 

My hope is that they transfer these skills to the wider world, that they immerse themselves in ideas and thoughts in ways that previously only received cursory glances. In doing so, they’re forging new connections and new ways of seeing the world around them. In doing so, they’re paying closer attention.
 

Dr. Heather Bozant Witcher can be reached at [email protected].