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CASD 1717 – Fall 2024

Why do we read? How do we read?

Reading is our own interpretation. Each time we read or reread, we are creating our own interpretation. Just as we do when we tell our own stories.

Reading critically is a conversation between you and the author.

Watch: 3 Short Videos

In this course, we are considering reading as an aspect of storytelling. Take a look at these two TED talks about the importance of stories to us as human beings.

Lisa Cron. “Wired for Story” TedxFurmanU/CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International
Jonathan Gottschall. “The Storytelling Animal” TEDxFurmanU/CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International

What do you think? Does anything in particular resonate with you from any of the three videos?

Go Back to the Guiding Questions
So why Read Aloud?

Comments

19 responses to “Why Read?”

  1. Ariana Loyfman Avatar
    Ariana Loyfman

    Something that resonated with me in the TEDTALK video by Lisa Cron is the idea that stories can make us feel and that to understand others we have to feel their emotions which storytelling allows us to experience. Stories entertain us and bring us joy while also allowing us to feel, learn, and understand.

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  2. Anifat Abumislimova Avatar
    Anifat Abumislimova

    The three videos show us how important stories are in our lives. The first video explains that reading stories can help us understand ourselves and others. The second video is about how storytelling is powerful because the stories touch our feelings and emotions which allow us to learn and experience. The third video is about how all people are naturally storytelling animals, and storytelling helps us think and act. So, I like all three videos because they show us how storytelling helps us learn, connect, and understand each other better.

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    1. Shiraz Biggie Avatar
      Shiraz Biggie

      I like your summation of all of these and how they interrelate.

      Reply
  3. Sofia Buttaro Avatar
    Sofia Buttaro

    Based on these three videos, Lisa’s TED Talk stood out to me the most. Something that resonated with me as soon as she said it was how stories are always hiding in plain sight. We never see that because we don’t realize how often we use them. We often think of stories as entertainment so we tend to forget its importance in our daily lives. Stories allow us to experience different situations that we haven’t yet faced, in order to teach us what it would really feel like. This connects to the fact that we want to get stuck in stories so we can make the real world around us go away for a little, so we can experience the world of THAT story.

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    1. Shiraz Biggie Avatar
      Shiraz Biggie

      Yes! Try to keep count one day of how many stories you actually tell in any given day.

      Reply
  4. Victoria Lucenti Avatar
    Victoria Lucenti

    In Jonathan Gottschall’s TED Talk, something that particularly resonated with me was his mention of the neuroscience of a story, and the way our brains function while spectating and participating within the storyline of one. While he mentions that after hundreds of years of watching films, current viewers have become somewhat spectators as to the new types of stories being disputed during present time, due to familiar concepts that have been used within storylines for those hundreds of years within films. This specifically resonated with me because of how fascinating it is to recognize the reality of how our brains function while watching a movie with a familiar concept, as one may already know the kind of scenes that may occur, and the little details behind films such as “lights flickering”, “fake blood”, and etc, that causes our brains to spectate what will happen, and acknowledging what is real and fake. Alongside this, Gottschall’s mention of our brains participating within the storyline as one may still react to a scary scene, sad scene, angry scene, and so forth, it is also fascinating to understand how our brains continue to separate between spectating and participating while watching these particular scenes upon various films after watching familiar concepts throughout our own lifetimes.

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    1. Shiraz Biggie Avatar
      Shiraz Biggie

      Yes! The neuroscience is really fascinating. As we go through the semester, you’ll see that I’ll often talk about and give feedback related to trying to figure out what emotions you as the reader of a text want to try to elicit in your audience to help you shape how you read.

      Reply
  5. Kaylee Pontone Avatar
    Kaylee Pontone

    The first video talking about how reading is always an act of empathy resonated deeply with me because that’s exactly why I want to work with literature/love reading so much! I think I can always tell when someone is a reader because they are kinder/have more empathy for this exact reasoning he used.

    Reply
  6. Michelle Cortes Rodriguez Avatar
    Michelle Cortes Rodriguez

    I enjoyed watching the three videos each gave me a better understanding of the word reading and storytelling. But , the one that stood out to me was the second video because she mentions how emotions take a big part .

    Reply
  7. Selina Chen Avatar
    Selina Chen

    All three of the videos spoke about the importance of stories but the one that resonated with me was Lisa Cron’s “Wired For Story”. She mentioned how stories “silently guides our every action” and triggers our feelings and emotions. I feel like I never really thought of storytelling from that perspective and it was interesting to listen to Lisa talk more about it.

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    1. Shiraz Biggie Avatar
      Shiraz Biggie

      I also like that quote. We are often very unaware of how the narratives that we encounter shape the choices we make in our lives. Advertisers often think about the stories they tell with a mind to this. “You don’t think you need this now, but next time you’re trying to clean up a spill you’ll remember that you paper towels break because they aren’t ours.”

      Reply
  8. Briana Claxton Avatar
    Briana Claxton

    Lisa Cron Ted Talk resonated with me is that stories help you learn things and how the actions guide us in our lives. It can help navigate our own lives and i believed that storytelling would of just help us learn to communicate in how we see the world.

    Reply
  9. Kateryna Senkovych Avatar
    Kateryna Senkovych

    Out of the three videos, Lisa Cron’s Ted Talk resonated with me the most. I agree with her that when we read stories, we are so easily able to get lost in them and a lot of those stories could teach us some valuable life lessons. Every time I read a book, especially if it is a fictional book, I feel like I become the main character and I try to feel what the character feels and I try to imagine what I would do if I were in her or his place. Hearing and reading different stories also influences how we think about ourselves and the world. It could be positive or negative, depending on how you choose to take in the information in the story.

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  10. Nitzan Naim Avatar
    Nitzan Naim

    I really enjoyed all three videos. All were able to put in words ideas about storytelling that make so much sense to me and really emphasize the importance of storytelling. The concept of storytelling is much bigger than just one thing and can be discussed from so many different angles, as the stories we engage with (written, commercial, movies, and all kinds of stories) truly shape our perspectives and identities. I chose a quote that resonated with me the most from each video:

    1. How and Why We Read: Crash Course English Literature #1
    “But we privilege reading and writing because they allow us to communicate directly and transparently with people who live very far away from us, and they also allow us to kind of hear the voices of the dead. I mean, I don’t want to get all liberal artsy on you, but I want to make this clear: for me, stories are about communication” (00:45-:00:57).

    2. Wired for story: Lisa Cron at TEDxFurmanU
    “Turns out the only way to get people to really understand has very little to do with objectively outlining the facts and making detailed analytic arguments. The only way to convince anyone of anything is hardwired into the architecture of the brain, and there’s no overriding it: it’s story, it’s Roseanne, it’s tequila Mockingbird, it’s cleaning product commercials. We think in story because story provides a context for the facts so we can make sense of them” (6:56-7:26).

    3. The storytelling animal: Jonathan Gottschall at TEDxFurmanU
    In the last video, I didn’t choose a quote as what was especially thought-provoking was the question the speaker asked his students in class. “Why do we care so much about the fake struggles of fake people?” It’s a thought-provoking question because, logically, I know these are “fake” people and “fake” situations, but I still feel deeply connected to them. Gottschall says the students usually respond by saying it’s about escapism—that we enjoy stories to leave behind our real-world struggles temporarily, which I agree with, and that is exactly what I feel every time I go to the movies or start a new book. But Gotschall explains that research shows it’s more than that: stories shape us profoundly. He gives the example of the “Will and Grace effect,” which emphasizes how important it is to be exposed to diverse stories and characters. The research highlights that stories aren’t just an escape. They actively develop our beliefs and behaviors. It made me realize that our connection to “fake” people and scenarios is powerful because these narratives help shape how we think and act in the real world.

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  11. Mahnoor Avatar
    Mahnoor

    The concept of how reading changes and shapes our perspectives resonated with me. The videos really helped me understand how much the stories and shows that we interact with shape the way that we as humans act. From a young age, the stories that we read to children to the things we watch as adults, we often copy and build an understanding of the world with this information. The videos also highlight how the play on words and how grammar as we know it shapes our thinking, as well as how everyday experiences allow us to use our imagination to create stories with our experiences. 

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  12. Vanessa Lara Avatar
    Vanessa Lara

    The 2nd video stands out to me the most because it made me realize how storytelling is significant in our lives. The connection she stated about commercials or about trying to get someone to understand our point of view makes a difference when we connect with the story that is being told. Learning to understand things with emotion. I don’t think I ever noticed we’re all storytellers.

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  13. Emma Avatar
    Emma

    It showed how really listening and understanding a story can allow us to have different perspectives on things. Stories and experiences can be shared in so many different ways.

    Reply
  14. Amy Khait Avatar
    Amy Khait

    These ted talks helped me understand how stories can be told and the affect that it can have on others. It shows how powerful story telling can be. Lisa’s talk resonated with me because I agree with the fact that stories can teach us a lot about life and ourselves. In addition, it can evoke our emotions. Storytelling can help us see ourselves and the world differently. It can surely be a unique experience.

    Reply
  15. Jaylyn Calles Avatar
    Jaylyn Calles

    Out of all of the three stories the one that I was able to connect to the most was Lisa Cron ted talk video. I agreed with all of the point she stated and was making throughout her video she expressed storytelling is a way of expressing your emotions and the only way to convince someone of something is by convincing the way they feel about it as well. Throughout the years books have changed my perspective and outlook on life just by changing the way I feel about something.

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