This question was an interesting one when I first read it. I do not think I have ever thought about what I considered to be important prior to this. It was something that comes so subconsciously that I never really thought to much about it. There are a few things moments in my life where I really had to revamp my thought process when it came to determining what was important in texts.
When I was in the seventh grade I transferred to a much better school than the one I was attending prior. On one of the first days of schools I remember my History teacher went over ways of underlying and note-taking that would help with comprehending the text. I remember we started out by listening to a book on tape. As we listened we read along in our text and underlined and circled what we thought was important. One thing that I noticed was that at first I was pretty much underlining everything. The teacher then had us talk about what we had underlined and I noticed that I was not the only one with that problem. She gave us tips on how to underline and what was important.
Another memory that I have of revamping the way I read texts was when I was a junior in high school. I somehow was placed in the English class with the hardest teacher. He was so detail oriented and had extremely high expectations. Up until this point when I read books I would always underline, but in this class I realized that I needed to do something more. The class really stressed participation and I was not the best at that. This is when I started to write things in the margins as I would read. Anything that I found either related to another book, or was significant in someway I would star at the top of the page. I did that because it was then easier to find when I got to class. Then I would always write something in the margins to remind me of the point I wanted to make during class discussions.
When I read something, especially when it is for a class, I take a long time. I really think about the text and make notes about what I want to discuss in the next class.
Jayne, you are lucky to have had a teacher who taught you how to differentiate what was important in reading early on, I wish I was taught that. I also wish I had gotten into the habit of taking notes in the margins early in my educational career, it seems like a really good strategy but is something I would have a hard time starting at this point in my educational career.
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