A teaching sequence to encourage reading engagement

Abstract

"As a content specialist in my discipline, philosophy, an interest in reading comes naturally. Although I don’t always have the time to do so, I know that every time I immerse myself in a piece of reading—whether philosophical, scientific or literary—it gives me pleasure and nourishes me intellectually. In philosophy faculties, books are highly valued. It’s part of our disciplinary culture. Our students are no exception to this praise of books; all but a few believe that reading is essential. And yet, many don’t read unless they have to, especially in school. That’s why I think it’s essential to make an effort to inspire and encourage my students’ engagement to reading, particularly in philosophy, which through its great works offers unique opportunities to think for oneself about fundamental issues. But how can we make them more engaged and autonomous in their required reading of the works? How can we strike a balance between guiding them and developing their autonomy?

These are the questions that have guided my teaching practice over the past decade.

This article is intended to give an account of the culmination of experiments in this direction in my classes. I present a sequence of teaching and pedagogical activities that seem to me to respond to the observations I’ve made over the last few years." -- AQPC