Introduction
Introduction
This paper is an invitation to educators to use unrolled paper scrolls ( Middlebrook , 1994- 2007c ; 2015 ; Rhead , 2019 ) and textmapping ( Middlebrook , 1994-2007a ; 1994-2007b ; Abegglen et al , 2019 ; 2019b ; 2020 ) in their classrooms and future research , and it provides the rationale for doing so . It also provides some very basic instructions for getting started with using scrolls in the classroom .
To be sure , the idea of using scrolls in modern classrooms defies convention – held hostage by the modern belief that the scroll is merely a relic from the past , But then so is the book . Both forms , book and roll , are ancient : both have remained unchanged for millennia – some 2,000 years for the book , and 5,000 years for the scroll . Of course , this is not to deny that modern books look and feel different than ancient ones . Certainly , the insides have changed : the materials , the content , and the typography ( Crystal , 1987 , p . 90 ) have seen countless changes ( de Hamel , 1992 ; de Hamel , 2018 ; Diringer , 1982 ; Martin , 1994 ), in ways minor and significant . There are many differences between ancient books and modern ones . But the basic forms – book and roll – have not changed for millennia : The book , whether bound or digital , is implicit in its construction – literally infolded ( Global Language , 2001-22 ) such that all of its content , save the two facing pages that it is opened to , is always completely hidden from view . The scroll is the opposite : it is explicit in its construction – literally unrolled and wide-open to understanding ( ibid ). The book ' s implicitness and the scroll ' s explicitness determine the affordances provided by each . The argument offered here is that the form we don ' t currently use – the scroll – might , in fact , be the one that better affords comprehension of modern texts and thus better affords us the opportunity to become well read .
People often ask how I came to this work . My answer is simple : I was driven to it . I have always struggled with reading and writing . I did as a student ; I still do today . In my case , the struggles
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