Reading #10 - Reading Research

I finished reading an entire textbook for what, I think, is the first time. I have to admit, this chapter was the worst read in the entire book. Its purpose was to show the research which backs all the cognitive strategies for teaching reading D+Z detailed throughout the text. Because this chapter spends a lot of time citing the research supporting D+Z's book, there was not any new material. Still, the chapter serves as a good summary of the reading strategies and types of readings students should be doing in school.

Though it is not their forte, D+Z only mentioning the other non-cognitive approaches to teaching reading was a little disappointing. I think I would have gotten more out of the chapter if D+Z had put more focus on those approaches, if only to reveal their shortcomings.

One part of the chapter I found particularly puzzling was where D+Z wrote, "Content-area teachers who fear that student choice may lead to nothing but trashy novels and fashion magazines can put away their concern." They then said we can understand this by comparing teen choices to adult choices and listed the top five sellers on Amazon. Three of the five books WERE trashy romance (sex) novels! While Gone Girl is a decent book in the thriller/crime genre, only No Easy Day represented anything non-fiction. I wonder if this part was a holdover from an earlier edition of D+Z's book, when the Amazon top five of 200X was less terrible. Did this confuse anyone else? Was this an unfortunate coincidence when the book was updated?

Reading #9 - Helping Struggling Readers

Chapter eleven of D+Z did not contain many new concepts. Think-alouds to model good reading strategies had been brought up before and we discussed it in the first day of class. Forging supportive relationships and using non-challenging material is common sense for a student struggling with reading. The real trick is finding a way to make those relationships with over a hundred students each year and getting through all the content you have to get through. Little things, like greeting students as they come into class, are a nice starting point for building those relationships.

The most helpful parts of the chapter were the strategies for helping kids read that had not been discussed before. Self-monitoring is another one of those automatic things you tend to take for granted as you read. If something is confusing the first time you read it, you go back and re-read instead of plowing ahead. It makes sense that a struggling reader would not be doing much self-monitoring if things are often too challenging and they do not want to constantly ask for help. The annotating and summarizing tools could be very helpful for the students who do not self-monitor, as it will force them to check their understanding while reading.

I had not thought about providing readings in more than one form except for the possibility of a student with a disability. I have never listened to an audiobook, since I enjoy actually reading novels, but I can definitely see how it could be helpful for a struggling reader, especially if they can follow along with the text. If it would help, it also would not be too much trouble to make my own audio recording of a reading that does not already have one. Building engagement is perhaps the best idea in the chapter for creating enthusiasm for reading. It can be tricky with some topics, as I imagine many students find a lot of historical topics dry. The anecdote about the hunger banquet was a neat, but I was disappointed D+Z did not say what the students were reading.

Finally, I just wanted to comment on the bit about the movie theatre. I did not make the connections D+Z said at all. I have never been to a movie theatre with a window! Do they even have movie theatres with windows anymore or only in big cities? Most places sell tickets at same place they sell concessions because there is no sense in employing a ticket seller and someone selling concessions. Additionally, you force customers to go up to the concession counter where the theatre makes all its money. A separate window is just poor business. It is not the 90's anymore and movie theatres need all the help they can get.

Reading # 8 – Book Clubs and Inquiry Units

While reading Chapter 9 in D & Z, I found myself increasingly agreeing with the classroom book club idea. I had given some thought to having students read content-related novels/non-fiction, and the chapter gave some solid methods of implementation. Daniels and Zemelman say the readings can be article or short story based, and starting out should be as students become prepared for the responsibility of longer readings, but I would want the kids to read good, longer stories. The only concern I have is that I have not read very many interesting historical books. I have unfortunately spent much of my time reading (or neglecting to read) textbooks or monographs. Textbooks are generally awful, and most monographs are painful to get through. They are not the kinds of books high school students would choose, and choosing is important. I will have to get recommendations, find, and read a ton books.

The way of having students create a rubric for themselves was somewhat funny to read, since Dr. Kraus did that exact process with us in 406. I like the idea of having students democratically decide on things, and would extend it to more than rubrics.

The student film featured the damsel on train tracks cliche.

The inquiry units covered in chapter 10 are perfect for social studies/history. I have already witnessed my cooperating teacher do two inquiry units, one in her Honors American History and the other in her American studies class. On my first visit, I caught one of the “going public” presentations from a group in the Honors American history class. It was clear the presentation was about entertainment in the 1920’s (silent films, etc.), but I had no context for what I was witnessing. Afterward my cooperating teacher gave me all the instructional materials, a considerable stack of them, the students received for the project. This changed my perspective on the performance completely. I did not realize the whole performance was the work of only five students (just a part of the performance was a silent film with green-screened backgrounds), who were maybe interested in drama or filmmaking but not necessarily actively participating in those activities.

I think the inquiry unit is my favorite type of lesson we have looked at. The only drawback is how time consuming they can be. When I had that big pile of instructional material in my hand, I asked my cooperating teacher how much time the unit took. She told me that the project takes five weeks start to finish, though some other material is covered during those weeks, and she has to make up time afterward. She said it was worth it, and I agree, as I am sure those kids will remember their performance. Many of her units seem to be of the inquiry variety, but others are less involved and take less time. Does anyone have ideas for constructing shorter inquiry units?

Reading #7 - Reading Workshops and Pre/During/Post Reading activities

In reading chapter 8 from Daniels and Zemelman, I thought a lot about nice it would be for my students to enjoy reading. When I was in high school, I did not enjoy many assigned readings. There were never any options in the English classes, just what was assigned. Some of the ELA people might hate me, but the one that stuck out as unreadable was The Great Gatsby. I remember thinking the story was like a soap opera. It might be worthy of another try, my opinion might have changed over the years.

Reading workshops seem like a huge time sink, but one class period every other week seems reasonable. If kids end up liking reading because they get to read some things they find interesting in class, it is completely justified. The trick will be assembling a large classroom library with plenty of options. I like the idea of having one on one conferences with students to see what they are thinking about what they are reading. I think the conferences could be a good relationship builder with students if done properly. The whole idea of classroom reading brings to mind a little anecdote. Most of my 12^th grade English class was a terrible joke. The original teacher left early on and an unprepared substitute replaced her for the remainder of the year. Rather than sit through the awfulness, I went through the small collection of books in the room, found The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and read that instead of paying attention to whatever went on in the class. One day I came into class and the book had disappeared from the shelf, annoying me a great deal. I suppose I did want reading workshops, even though I did not know what they were at the time. Because of the book’s disappearance, I started playing Game Boy Advance in the class instead of reading.

Chapter 5 contained many strategies for reading. The chapter was not the best read, as it is clearly meant to be used as reference material (hence the gray page edges). Some seemed easy to use with clear benefits, like frontloading with images, RAFT, and turn and talk, but some of the others I would need try with students. I am not someone who takes notes, highlights, or marks up pages in books I read so things like the post-it response notes seem bothersome to me. Others might find it beneficial so it is worth trying.

Reading #6: Textbook Reading Strategy and Building Classroom Community

Nope.

While I don’t particularly like textbooks, I can certainly see value in them. They condense a lot of information into one book and can be useful reference materials. These two Daniels and Zimelman chapters were a little dry and fit into that textbook reference category. That said, chapter 6 contained a number of useful textbook reading strategies, some I was familiar with while others were new. Dr. Kraus modelled jigsawing in 406. He also introduced the idea of flipping the classroom. I have been in courses that eliminated the textbook, done vocabulary-word-sort types of exercises, and was definitely introduced to SQ3R at some point but it never took (I never needed it). The “check out the textbook” exercise was new, but it is a once per year thing and I suspect most high school students
are fairly familiar with the structure of textbooks. There is surely some value in doing it, but it is not nearly as valuable as the two I like most, jigsawing or the guide-o-rama.

I like the guide-o-rama because it is so simple, yet I never had a teacher use it nor had it occurred to me before. The guide can help focus student’s attention in the right places and get them to ask questions of the text. Constructing the guide when I read the text myself seems like an easy task and, if the guide can help students, it is worth doing. I also like the potential for writing guides that are entertaining to read.

Definitely not.

Jigsawing is perhaps my favorite classroom reading strategy because of how effective it can be, and I just saw it executed perfectly on Wednesday. During an observation, it was clear the students were having some difficulties with a short story reading. Large portions of it were written in a phonetically spelled dialect, which read unlike any English the kids had ever encountered before. Having anticipated the difficulties, the teacher had cut a copy of the reading into about 30 sections and distributed them to the students, making sure every student had some of the difficult dialect portion.

Close enough.

Then, while working in groups, they were asked to summarize the part (or parts) of the story they had each received. After some time, they went around the room in order and, nearly flawlessly, collectively retold the story in their own words. The students were able to annotate their copies of the story with the class’ summaries and everyone was able to understand a story which had overwhelmed some students.

I also wanted to touch upon the content of chapter 7. The strategies in this chapter mostly boil down to:

1       1. Give students a small amount agency in the classroom.

2       2. Provide opportunities/activities for students to be social.

3       3. Provide time for reading in the class.

Many of the concepts in chapter 7 seem like things we want to be doing in classrooms, but are the first things to get cut for time. This is unfortunate because learning social skills and learning to like (if not love) reading are probably more valuable than some content knowledge. The one idea which caught my attention was the “passion projects” implemented by the seventh-grade teacher. I have long thought about implementing something similar; something which allows the student nearly unlimited agency in what they learn about. I doubt I would want to sacrifice every Friday for it, and I would want there to be some minor connection to social studies/history (even if it is superficial), but both myself and my students would enjoy seeing the products of such a project far more than a paper.