Get Emotional with Your Reading

By Doug Buehl,
Madison East High School teacher
Member, Wisconsin State Reading Association

December 2003

The face of a massive stone statue suddenly shifts, producing a gloomy opening. Through this fissure, a hideous slithering form emerges. The basilisk, a serpent with fangs dripping with venom, begins to uncoil its lethal, tree trunk-sized body. Inexorably, with piercing evil eyes, the snake advances for the kill.

What would you be feeling, if this were happening to you? What was Harry Potter feeling?

Exciting fiction can put us on the edge of our chairs; it can rile up our emotions and place us vicariously in the midst of the action. In the climactic scene described above, from J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” Harry confronts his nemesis Lord Voldemort and the murderous basilisk. And what was Harry feeling as this scene unfolds?

Certainly, our imaginations as readers are a great help. When we consider how we would feel if we were facing such a predicament, we can empathize with a character in a story. But, in addition, authors help us gauge the emotions of a passage through their use of well-chosen language. Thus Rowling guides us through this scene by referring to Harry with phrases such as “horror-struck,” “fear spreading up his numb legs,” “trembled,” running “blindly sideways,” and so forth. An author’s choice of words provides readers with cues that help us access the emotions of a text.

Tracking the emotional content of a text is a particularly effective comprehension strategy, especially when feelings in a passage are implied rather than directly stated. Developing sensitivity to emotional sub-currents in prose can spark inferential thinking, as we grapple with what an author may be trying to tell us.

The Strategy
Emotion Coding is an extension of text coding that can be used for both fiction and nonfiction texts. Previous columns have described a number of possible codes that students may use while reading: R – this reminds me of something I already know; V – I can see this as a visual image; Q – a question I am wondering about; I – an inference I am making; * – something very important; and ? – something that confuses me.

Step 1: After students become practiced with using text coding as a strategy, introduce “E” as a code for emotional content. Model coding for emotions by using a short text on an overhead transparency. Think aloud as you notice segments that indicate feelings or elicit feelings on the part of the reader. For example, an excerpt from a National Geographic magazine article on grizzly bears provides an opportunity to identify emotional content in a passage.

I will mark an “E” next to this section on the reintroduction of grizzlies. The author describes people living in the Yellowstone area as “nervous” about the growth of the grizzly population. I infer this nervousness might be explained by the statistics on human attacks: grizzlies on average injure seven people and kill two each year.

The next paragraph describes how a rancher saw a grizzly near his home and now he won’t let his children go outdoors by themselves. I infer that he is afraid that his children could be threatened.

I will also mark an “E” next to this section, where sheep ranchers are concerned that the bears will invade their grazing range. They refer to the bears as predators and talk about their property rights – they feel they have a right to protect their property.

Finally, I will mark this quote that talks about “disfigurements” and “dismemberings.” These are highly emotional terms, and the speaker vividly compares grizzlies in his”backyard” with “convicted, child-molesting repeat sex offenders.” He talks about bear advocates with considerable anger, but I infer that he might also be fearful.

The above think-aloud demonstrates how to highlight emotional aspects in a text. Once emotional aspects have been coded, discussion can proceed to important questions suggested by the presence of these feelings: Why do grizzly bears evoke such strong reactions? How should these feelings be factored into issues like protecting endangered species and reintroducing dangerous animals into wild areas? Should people feel the way they do about grizzlies? To what extent is the substantial growth of the human population in this area a major contributor to conflict with grizzlies? Can humans co-exist with dangerous wild animals?

Step 2: Students may now be asked to “emotion code” a new selection. If they are reading a text that can be written upon, they proceed to place an “E” in the margin next to any segment in which they detect emotional nuances. As an alternative, for texts that cannot be marked, supply each student with several small sticky notes.
A third option is a variation of two column notes. Have students draw a line down the center of a sheet of notebook paper. On the left side – labeled “Statements That Show Emotion” – students record phrases or sentences that contain emotional content. On the right side – “What These Emotions Tell Us” – students write their thinking about what these emotions might mean.

Step 3: Students should also be encouraged to track their own emotional responses to their reading. Writers sometimes seek to trigger a certain reaction from their readers. In addition, as students use their imaginations to connect to a text, they may identify with circumstances that evoke feeling. Emotion Coding can be subdivided to “AE” for “Author Emotions,” to indicate feelings suggested by the author, and “ME” for “My Emotions,” to acknowledge feelings experienced by the reader that were prompted by a text.

Step 4: Emotion Coding is a particularly powerful strategy for fiction. Attending to emotional indicators helps readers tap into a number of key facets of prose literature: How do the various characters feel about each other? Why do they feel the way they do? How does the author want readers to feel about various characters or actions? How would you feel if the events of the story were happening to you?

Posted November 24, 2003