manikin ’ s name ? What colour is her hair ?
The third point of discussion revolves around three short questions and allows us to revisit the previous conversation about scanning a text for specific information . With students often conscious about the time commitment needed to read and understand a text ( Kimberley and Thursby , 2020 ; Morley , 2020 ; Shahabudin , 2011 ), this part of the activity directs students to think about the purpose of academic reading ( Rhead , 2019 ).
Usually , responses to the first two questions are found quite quickly but the third has students guessing the answer or wondering if they have missed the information . The truth is that the answer to the third question is not in the text , but asked in order to stimulate a conversation about what is being sought from the material being read . Whilst the absence of a piece of information does not necessarily render a text unusable , it is important to encourage students to think about what they are looking for within a particular text . Through only mining texts for specific ideas or themes , students risk not “ applying a critical lens ” ( Nguyen and Henderson , 2020 , p . 3 ) to the material , which in turn , will have an impact on written outcomes . One of the ways to mitigate this is to try to impress upon students the importance of reading throughout the course in order to broaden their knowledge and understanding of the subject ( Rhead , 2019 ).
In addition , the third question allows us to think about assumptions that are made by the reader . Often , the guessed answer to the third question is ‘ blonde ’ and yet there is nothing in the text alluding to this – in fact , the image at the top of the webpage shows the miller ’ s daughter to have a whisper of dark hair under a lightcoloured scarf . Having already discussed the idea of connections to the reading ( Question 1 ), it is important to acknowledge that any pre-conceptions might influence the reader ’ s interpretation of the material .
Question 4 : What is the moral or lesson of this story ?
By asking students about the moral or lesson of the story , we can begin to think about the message that the author is conveying in their text . Following the conversation about details in Question 3 , this brings the discussion back to the idea of considering an overview of the text , albeit in a more focused and concise manner .
The students ’ responses to this question are always quite varied . Some suggest that Rumpelstiltskin is a tale of caution about making promises that cannot be kept , whilst others believe it to be a lesson on the perils of arrogance or trickery , or a commentary on social issues such as poverty . The purpose of asking students to find a moral or lesson in the fairy tale is to reflect the action of finding the author ’ s argument within an academic text . In academic material , the author ’ s argument may be a specific point or claim , or an idea that is constructed and sustained throughout the text ( Turner , 1999 ). Whilst there is no one ‘ right ’ answer when discussing the fairy tale , an argument is often more clearly stated in the abstract and introduction of an academic text and helping students to locate this information can break down the complexity of academic materials .
Question 5 : What are your reflections on this text ?
The final question asks students to offer a personal response to the story . The question is divided into two parts : what ‘ resonates ’ with the reader and what ‘ irks ’ them . ( The answer to the former is sometimes the same as the latter !) As Nguyen and Henderson ( 2020 ) note , a common issue that arises in students ’ academic work is a tendency to be descriptive rather than critical , and through discussing the students ’ reflections on Rumpelstiltskin , we can start to consider critical thinking and how this can be demonstrated in assignments . Rather than describing the story , this question encourages students to react to it .
Some of the responses to this question mirror responses to other questions , including anger at the poverty of the miller , disgust at the king ’ s greed , and despair for the situation of the powerless miller ’ s daughter . When students have shared their reflections on Rumpelstiltskin ,
Paper # 1 13