My Analyzation Of My Metacognative Content Area Reading Process

Throughout my careful reading of my self-chosen text, I have employed the strategies listed on our assignment prompt sheet, including making predictions, visualizing, making connections, identifying problems, and using fix-ups.
However, I also used additional strategies such as looking up unfamiliar words, making inferences, clarifying, and questioning the text, simultaneously, keeping the Daniels and Zemelman text in mind.
Keeping our goals in mind, I have organized each of my reflections into three parts, the first, a direct quote from the text; the second, my reflection; and the third, the strategies which I have used. The following is the reading guide I have created in the process.


1.
Text:
“Take care to chop the onion fine. To keep from crying when you chop it (which is so annoying!), I suggest you place a little bit on your head” (5).
Reflection:
When the text states ‘I suggest you place a little bit on your head,’ do they mean a little bit of chopped onion? (The prior sentence suggests that it is the chopped onion which the narrator is referring to.)
Strategies:
Here, I am confused, so I am questioning the text. Then I use a context clue found in the prior sentence to come to a conclusion.

2.
Text:
“Since there was no such thing as powdered milk in those days, and they couldn’t find a wet nurse anywhere, they were in a panic to satisfy the infant’s hunger” (6).
Reflection:
Since the quote states the words ‘those days,’ I am assuming that this event took place long ago, or at least before powdered milk was invented.
Strategies:
Here I made an assumption/inference based on key words found in the sentence.

3.
Text:
“Likewise for Tita the joy of living was wrapped up in the delights of food” (7).
Reflection:
I predict that food will be a central theme in this story.
Strategies:
I made this prediction because the author associates and makes a connection between ‘the joy of living’ and ‘the delights of food.’

4.
Text:
“While Tita was singing and waving her wet hands in time, showering drops of water down on the griddle so they would ‘dance,’ Rosaura was cowering in the corner, stunned by the display. Gertrudis, on the other hand, found this game enticing, and she threw herself into it with the enthusiasm she always showed where, rhythm, movement, or music were involved” (8).
Reflection:
Who are the two girls mentioned in this passage, ‘Rosaura’ and ‘Gertrudis’? (I believe they are Tita’s two sisters, because I looked back at the text, re-read and looked for clues. The prior sentence states, “Tita managed to convince them to join her in watching the dazzling display made by dancing water drops dribbled on a red hot griddle.” In order to figure out who ‘them’ is referring to, I went further back in the text. The sentence before that sentence stated “Her sisters were just the opposite: to them, Tita’s world seemed full of unknown dangers, and they were terrified of it.” I can now conclude that ‘Rosaura’ and ‘Gertrudis’ are Tita’s two sisters.)
Strategies:
I began by questioning the text where I became lost and confused. I resolved/ fixed-up the issue by going back and re-reading the text in order to clarify what I was reading.

5.
Text:
“All the women in the family had to participate: Mama Elena; her daughters, Gertrudis, Rosaura, and Tita; Nacha, the cook; and Chencha, the maid” (9).
Reflection:
Based on this portion of text, I would infer that this family considers the cook and the maid to be a part of their family.
Strategies:
Here I have made a text based inference. I base this inference on the fact that the text states that “All the women in the family had to participate,” and proceeds to list not only the actually female family members, but also the cook and the maid.

6.
Text:
“When it was all finished, they went to their bedrooms to read, say their prayers, and go to sleep” (10).
Reflection:
Based on this passage in text, I would infer that this family is religious.
Strategies:
Here I have made a text based inference. I base this inference on the fact that the text states that they would all “say their prayers” before they would go to sleep.

7.
Text:
“Tita knew that discussion was not one of the forms of communication permitted in Mama Elena’s household, but even so, for the first time in her life, she intended to protest her mother’s ruling” (11).
Reflection:
I predict that Tita will eventually go against her mother’s wishes later in the story.
Strategies:
Here I have made a prediction concerning what will happen later in the text. I base this prediction on the fact that this is the first time Tita has ever ‘intended to protest her mother’s ruling,’ which suggests that she feels very passionately about this particular issue.

8.
Text:
“What passed for communication between them resumed when Mama Elena, who was inspecting the clothes each of the women had been sewing, discovered that Tita’s creation, which was the most perfect, had not been basted before it was sewed” (12).
Reflection:
I picture a designated sewing room, where each of the five women, sitting in a row, at individual tables, are diligently sewing away at their creations, while Mama Elena, both hands behind her back, walks by and stops at each and every one of their stations in order to critique their work like a drill instructor.
Strategies:
Here I am visualizing what I imagine is going on in this scene of the text based on a combination of descriptions in the text and what I have seen before in real life, on television, and in movies.

9.
Text:
“Mama Elena took comfort in the hope that she had finally managed to subdue her youngest daughter” (13).
Reflection:
What does the word subdue mean? I think I will have to look up the definition of the word subdue. (Subdue means to conquer and bring into subjection.)
Strategies:
Here I had to look up the meaning of a word in order to clarify and understand the intention of the text.

10.
Text:
“Tita knew Chencha sometimes exaggerated and distorted things, so she held her aching heart in check” (14).
Reflection:
Based on this passage, it seems as if Tita may be in love with Pedro, or at the least have some type of feelings for him.
Strategies:
Here I have made another inference based on both the text and my prior knowledge. The text states that Tita ‘held her aching heart in check’ at the idea that her mother had offered her older sister in substitution of Tita. Based on my prior knowledge about love and feelings, Tita’s heart would not ‘ache’ at this idea, unless she cared for Pedro.

11.
Text:
“That overpowering chill lasted a long time, and she could find no respite, not even when Nacha told her what she had overheard as she escorted Don Pascual Muzquiz and his son to the ranch’s gate” (15).
Reflection:
What does the word respite mean? I think I will have to look up the definition of the word respite. (Respite means a delay or cessation for a time, esp. of anything distressing or trying; an interval of relief: to toil without respite.)
Strategies:
Here I had to look up the meaning of a word in order to clarify and understand the intention of the text.

12.
Text:
“A deep flush suffused her face and no matter how she tried she could not find a place for her eyes to rest” (16).
Reflection:
What does the word suffused mean? I think I will have to look up the definition of the word suffused. (Suffuse means to overspread with or as with a liquid, color, etc.)
Strategies:
Here I had to look up the meaning of a word in order to clarify and understand the intention of the text.

13.
Text:
“Tita’s fear of her mother was enough to make her forget about Pedro for a moment, and she applied herself to convincing Paquita, any way she could, that she was thinking clearly, that her mind was alert” (17).
Reflection:
Why is Tita so afraid of her mother? Maybe I’ll need to read on in order to find out.
Strategies:
Here I am questioning the text in order to better understand the text and the characters within the text.

14.
Text:
“I know this declaration is presumptuous, and it’s quite sudden, but it’s so hard to get near you that I decided to tell you tonight” (18).
Reflection:
What does the word presumptuous mean? I think I will have to look up the definition of the word presumptuous. (Presumptuous means unwarrantedly or impertinently bold; forward.)
Strategies:
Here I had to look up the meaning of a word in order to understand the intention of the text.

15.
Text:
“It wasn’t decent to desire your sister’s future husband” (18-19).
Reflection:
This is a confirmation of what I originally speculated earlier in the text (that Tita may be in love with Pedro). Tita is in love with Pedro. She clearly‘desire[s] [her] sister’s future husband’ as demonstrated by the text.
Strategies:
By using a fix-up method, which, in this case, is reading on and by making a connection between this passage and the passage I had read earlier, I was able to clarify one aspect of the text.

16.
Text:
“This preserving technique had been employed on the ranch since time immemorial to ensure a supply of this nourishing and indispensable food throughout the winter” (25).
Reflection:
What does the word immemorial mean? I think I will have to look up the definition of the word immemorial. (Immemorial means extending back beyond memory, record, or knowledge: from time immemorial.)
Strategies:
Here I had to look up the meaning of a word. This helped clarify the intention of the text.

17.
Text:
“If you want them to keep for more than a year, place the eggs in an earthenware crock and cover them with a ten-percent lime solution” (26).
Reflection:
This is probably similar to how they preserve some types of food in order to store them at the supermarket while they sit on shelves waiting to be sold.
Strategies:
Here I am making a connection to my prior knowledge of this subject.

18.
Text:
“‘I won’t stand for disobedience,’ Mama Elena told her, ‘nor am I going to allow you to ruin your sister’s wedding, with your acting like a victim. You’re in charge of all the preparations starting now, and don’t ever let me catch you with a single tear or even a long face, do you hear?’” (27).
Reflection:
I picture Mama Elena standing over Tita in a very intimidating way, delivering this dialogue in a very hostile tone, with a very cold expression on her face.
Strategies:
Here I am visualizing the events based on the description in the text. I am attempting to put myself in the scene.

19.
Text:
“In a frenzy Tita beat, beat, beat the cake batter, as if she wanted to complete her martyrdom once and for all” (27-28).
Reflection:
What does the word martyrdom mean? I think I will have to look up the definition of the word martyrdom. (Martyrdom means suffering endured for sake of a cause.)
Strategies:
Here I had to look up the meaning of a word. This helped clarify the intention of the text.

20.
Text:
“Nacha stopped Tita’s stirring because she felt that Tita was on the verge of a nervous collapse; though she didn’t know the word for Tita’s condition, she was wise enough to realize that Tita could not go on” (29).
Reflection:
In the next part I think that Tita may have some type of psychological breakdown, possibly slip into a state of serious depression.
Strategies:
Here I am making a prediction concerning what may happen next in the story. I base this prediction on the text’s description of what Nacha was witnessing happen to Tita.