Similarities Between 'Freewriting And' Four Ways Of Reading

Literacy is one of the most important things in the world today. If you want to be successful, you must be literate. As someone who writes and reads every day, I can understand how meaningful both “Freewriting” by Peter Elbow and “Four Ways of Reading” by Donald Hall can be beneficial to anyone who is literate. In order to help further advance the students in my class with their writing ability, our professor has been making us free write for ten minuets at the beginning of the class period. As someone who writes for fun during her free time, writing is something that I can do almost without thinking. I believe that the quote from “Freewriting” sums up my ‘voice’ of writing in an excellent way. Elbow (1973) stated, “It’s your only source of power. You better get back into no matter what you think of it. If you keep writing in it, it may change into something you like better. But if you abandon it, you’ll likely never have a voice
Reading is comprehension and the ability to look at something in a different way. In order to read in an efficient way, you have to fully devote yourself to the literature and put your mind into it. For me, it is quite difficult to comprehend reading materials. I can comprehend the literature if I enjoy the subject; otherwise I find it hard to concentrate. I would describe my relationship with reading as Donald Hall described it in “Four Ways of Reading”. “Too many intellectuals read in order to reduce images to abstractions. With a philosopher one reads slowly, as if it were literature, but much time must be spent with the eyes turned away from the pages, reflecting on the text” (1969, pg. 107). I believe that my problem with reading is I have a difficult time reflecting upon what I read. I need to read slowly then reflect on what I am reading. Reading is a timely process and something you have to put time aside for. Young people today need to begin doing