3/3/13
Readability Text
Chapter 5 Reading:
Planning Instruction for Content Literacy (p.124-51)
While setting forth the organizing principle, the text
describes military planning, and how one must think through objectives and
activities, which I presume most teachers understand. However, the next couple
parts that are stated to plan are not as obvious, but are extremely important.
These are unintended consequences, as well as strategic alternatives in case
something goes wrong. When I did my lesson last semester in Field Experience II,
I did not do enough planning in these particular areas. I was working through a
problem with the students, and I prompted the students to work on parts of the problem
together and then come back together. There were some groups that were stumped,
and I wish I had planned out questions to ask the students to spark their
thought process in the correct direction, without giving it away. I was getting
tongue-tied trying to not simply do the problem for them, but to be the
catalyst to their own discovery. Thus, it is so important to formulate numerous
ways to instruct the material, and further explanations or questions for
particular students that may not understand the method of instruction that you
thought would be best. It is important to anticipate where students may become
confused, or of various ways to explain the material. All students learn in
such a variety of ways, and we must remember that and plan accordingly.
Prior to this course, I would’ve never thought about
instructing students how to read a mathematics textbook, which is bad to think
I would assume that all students would just know how to effectively utilize the
text. Thus, I thought that the Strategy Awareness and Explanation section was
particularly informative for me. In my instruction, I hope to provide the
information and practice for my students to be successful working independently
on their homework exercises. However, I believe that guiding oneself through
the textbook exercises can be a wonderful reinforcement of concepts. As well as
providing organized structure through examples, with important terms
highlighted, and so forth. However, unless time is set forth to demonstrate and
guide students through using the text, as well as practicing it, students will
not believe that it is something they should do, or will not know how to capitalize on the resources they
have to learn. It is also important to assess which students are having
difficulties using the text and give them further support to be successful.
The text also touches on providing the reasons or
applications of why, how, and when certain strategies are used. It is extremely
important for students to constantly know why the material or the activity is
important. Keeping the lesson in context, or giving it application, can often
be forgotten in mathematics. Students don’t know where Pythagorean’s Theorem or
logarithms will be useful in the real world. However, carpenters and chemists
use these mathematical tools and this needs to be told to students, as well as
why certain reading strategies are useful and important.
In the portion of reading regarding the before, during,
and after activities, I found it intriguing that they used a mathematics
example. The text describes how students often lost sight of the connection
between literacy and mathematics. Therefore, the teacher applied this B-D-A
reading method in her ratio/proportion lesson. She had the students apply the
idea of proportion to creating a house. They began with writing on their admit
slips how they would describe proportion to ones little brother. Then they had
to read the text section and create their own dream home with their group using
their conceptions of scale drawings. This could be extremely interesting as
long as the students know how to effectively tackle the text at hand,
otherwise, the students could possibly decide to skip that part. Lastly, one
cannot forget the refection of what was important in that reading. This allows
concepts to bridge together, and have a nice closure.
Chapter 9 Reading:
Writing Across the Curriculum
I am definitely convinced by the consensus that writing improves
thinking and facilitates learning. Since high school, I have always used
writing as a method of studying. I would rewrite my notes, or read the text and
take further notes. Unfortunately, it would often help me with memorization of
content, instead of creating deep understanding of concepts. However, I can
remember one distinct example of a teacher that used a significant amount of
writing to learn, and I learned so
much about history that year. This history teacher at my high school gave only
essay tests. He gave the most intriguing lectures, without any Power Points or
guided notes, and then we really had to absorb, and write down the content in
our own words. We were forced to think and write throughout his classes. Then
for the tests, we were given three prompts ahead of time to research, and study
from what we had learned in class, and then we drew one on the day of the test.
I used a massive amount of writing to learn in that course and I have never
explored history in such an in depth manner in my life. We truly explored
concepts and came to elaborate understandings.
“It is also one of the most effective ways for students to
understand something they have read” (Vacca, 284). This again reinforces how
writing can be a wonderful tool of enhancing and clarifying the meaning,
resulting in higher amount of retention. Writing to learn can also help with
creating connections with prior knowledge that allows there to be a deeper
understanding of reading or material. On page 307, there is an example of how
math journals were integrated in the classroom, and how they aided in deeper
understandings of material. Students would do warm-up problems, or review
concepts from the day before in their journals. Then at the end of the class
they would write what they learned that day, summarize a theorem, or say where
they’re having troubles. As it was used consistently, the students became more positive
toward the journals, and really began to like them. The students even began to
individualize their journals by decorating them, or using abbreviations. It is
often overlooked, but I really want to challenge myself to utilize writing to
learn activities on a regular basis in my classroom.
There is always the challenge with
students that are struggling readers and writers that may not enjoy the idea of
journaling, especially in math class. Thus, it is beneficial to read the RTI
box, which gave a few suggestions on how to provide support for struggling
readers and learners. One suggestion was to modify the requirements of a
particular writing assignment, or divide the writing prompts so they can focus
on a single idea or concept. This breakdown into manageable steps is beneficial
for students as they can still be held to high standards, but tackle the
assignment in a more advantageous way for them. I would consider this if we
were taking on a larger writing assignment; however, in my mathematics classes
I believe that I would use more informal writing. This way, students could more
easily make it there own and write at the level that is appropriate for them as
they are explaining their reasoning. I worry about being able to differentiate
effectively, and as I am taking this class, it is making me more aware that
there are people to consult about reading levels in order to learn how to make
the material approachable and manageable for all students. This gives me
confidence and reassurance.
Favorite WTLs thus
far: Exit Slips/ Math Journals (writing out problem solving, writing
understanding of a theorem, writing what one learned that day, writing
frustrations/confusions), writing break to reflect on concept, brainstorming of
what one thinks something is about) /KWL/Drawing and Illustrating
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