Subjects Matter Ch. 12 Recommendations from Reading Research

In this chapter there was an immense amount of crucial information. But of these ten tips on what to read and how to read, two main ideas stood out me.

The first is the line, “Frustratingly, though, while choice is a major factor in students’ potential engagement, both the classroom opportunities for choice and access to a variety of books are very limited in most schools” (299). This felt like the biggest obstacle in many of the ideas from the past few chapters. For example, in a balanced-reading diet students should have more choice, in inquiry units students should fuel the inquiry and not to aid good readers, students should choose the book. What this makes me wonder is do we have the time, structure and resources in our education system to allow this much student choice? If not, is it something I can change to make sure I do have it in my classroom, my team and my school? How do we prepare our lessons and work with our school and local libraries to make sure students are doing more work than the teacher but that they have the proper support and resources necessary? Additionally, beyond just resources how do we ensure that in a typical high school where a teacher may have 100 students a day, every one of them is reading or involved in something they chose? I’m thinking this is something in an ELA class that could be solved using jigsaws, literature circles and independent reading. Are there any other ideas to allow more choice and still meet requirements?

The second thing that stood out to me in this chapter is something I’ve been hearing a lot about this year; teacher read-alouds. I love this idea primarily because it’s something I don’t remember ever happening in school past the age of- well as soon as the class could read.  While this chapter gave some great research behind why it’s helpful for readers to hear it and see a model, I’ve also been learning this idea of modeling in depth in my “Writing in Secondary Schools” class. This idea that we often show students finished models, a final essay, perfect reading, the successful science lab; but we rarely show them how we’ve failed along the way. And the fact is, by showing them mistakes, or simply processes and work we go through along the way, we create safe spaces- we actually model LEARNING. The very thing we want to happen. Learning is not the finished product, it is not the excellent reader- not that we don’t want both of these things in our classrooms- but learning is the process we take to get to the goals.  If we’re expecting our students to be life-long learners not life-long experts, then we must show them how and when we learn. This includes at the chapter mentioned, talking about what we’re reading. How great does that sound to go into your class and start a day off by taking a few minutes to tell your students about the article on foreign affairs you just read from NPR, or the scientific discovery just mentioned in TIME, or the culturally relevant historical novel. If we love our contents, if we chose them for a reason, are we still involved in them and are we showing our students we are?

 

Subjects Matter Ch. 10,11 Inquiry Units and Help for Struggling Readers

This chapter on inquiry units seemed so fitting after the discussion we had in class Tuesday with Mr. Laplante.  He specifically mentioned how the trend in 21^st Century education is collaboration and communication. Inquiry units create opportunities for students to be involved in both of those. I especially like the key points of authentic activities, and student choice.

       This is also in line with what I’ve been learning in my middle level class about literacy in the content and especially writing assignment and how to make sure students are engaged in activities that are most closely related to real –life activities in that field. Additionally, this idea of student choice is something that we’ve seen over and over again in the promotion of RAFT assignments. One thing that they pointed out here which hasn’t been discussed in great detail in class, is giving the choice of final assessment. Allowing students to take the information they’ve gathered and use output which is most comfortable or challenging for them or most appropriate for the content they are learning.

         I have one idea I’m struggling with or at least wondering about from this chapter.  They reiterated more than once the idea of planning the unit of study or topic and then aligning it with the standards which will apply.  This feels backwards to everything we’ve been learning about setting the intention of the lesson first, looking at the standards first and then creating the activity. I’m wondering why they decided to plan the unit then apply the standards and if there’s a way to pick the standards you want to focus on first then plan the unit.  I’m also thinking in terms of UbD, is planning the topic first the same thing as building backwards from the big idea down? Or would you need an enduring concept, then the topics, then the standards? These are some of the technical planning pieces I’m trying to place in my head still.

From the chapter on struggling readers, this idea of not being able to create the mental picture while reading is what stands out to me the most. I am an avid reader and when I reflect on things I did not enjoy reading in the past (and the list is pretty short) more times than not it was because I could not create those mental images because I was missing something which would’ve allowed me to engage with the text. This may have been attention span, prior knowledge, motivation and personal enjoyment of the topic, or the reading level was not the right one for me. Imaging is a tool I recently covered in my SPED class that I think is really important o explicitly teach and for me personally was something I almost overlooked.  Taking the time as a during reading activity to stop and teach students to physically draw what is happening, or turn and describe it to their partner.  I also heard of an example in my SPED class where the teacher drew a picture for what they read that day and then each day as they finished the text the students added significant pieces until they had a book mural. If we do these activities and explicitly teach how to visualize the reading, eventually it will become second nature for our students and will be another tool we’ve allowed them access to be able to make reading materials easier.

                                                       

                In addition other tools such as front-loading the text and giving any prior knowledge they may need before they even enter the text can afford them success right from the beginning.  Advance organizers are another way that we can grab their attention, activate prior knowledge students already have, and make connections which will help students have a “file” to put the new material in as they read.

               I’m wondering about this idea that reaching struggling students works best if you can build trust with them first, and show them this experience will be different from all their previous ones. How and when is it appropriate to have these conversations to get to know why are students are struggling or have lost their confidence in their literacy of our particular content? I’m wondering how to push just enough to get to the specific problem but not so much the student feels threatened. I’m also wondering how much should be done up front at the beginning of a school year as you get to know your students and how much of this is something that will fluctuate and change and be a cyclical process that we work on throughout the year.

Subjects Matter Ch. 8,9 Independent Reading Workshop in Content Area and Content-Area Bookclubs

Both of these chapters resonated really deeply with me. I think even in ELA classes, we can sometimes overlook the power of student choice and using book clubs or literature circles as part of our lessons. When I was in ninth grade, my teacher modeled a really great example of this in our class. She had us do two rounds of "book clubs." For one book, she chose the book we would all read as a class and she also asked parents and any other adults we wanted to invite to join us. They read the book with us then after certain sections, we would come together during class time and have the adults come to the school to have discussions based on the book. This reminded me of and article I read about literature circles in my middle school class. One of the things that stood out the most for one of the students in that article was having adults involved. That's something that stood out in my experience as well. It makes the students feel respected, brings different aspects to the conversation, and feels more like a real-life setting. The second time we had a book club she let us bring in some choices of books we really loved and then as a class we chose amongst a few. Again, it was a more real-life setting when we were able to choose the book we enjoyed and had adults read the same books with us, even ones that wouldn't be considered "great literature" in adults' eyes. One of the books we chose was: 







 

But having our choices respected and being able to read any selection we chose for one lesson then being able to have discussions in school about these book brought more validity to our literacy in and English classroom and connected learning to what we were already involved in outside of school.

One thing these chapters and my own experience has left me thinking about is the questions of a balanced reading diet in both independent reading and group reading activities. Why not do a literature circle using an article from National Geographic? Or each literature circle could have an article from a different content area which all relate to the same larger topic. Also, why not have students bring in their own idea daily or weekly of articles they've seen online, books they've read, magazines, graphic novels etc. Teaching is a career built on connection, why not use the materials our students are accessing to tap into their journey towards life-long reading?

Subjects Matter Ch. 7 Building a Community of Learners

In this chapter, there were 5 specific strategies in order to create a good environment for learning. They are:

1.       Make the classroom a place where students trust the teacher and believe it’s safe to take risks.

2.       Organize learning so that students work together and help one another.

3.       Provide students choices and opportunities to take responsibility in the classroom.

4.       Connect learning with students’ lives and the larger issues around them.

5.       Read aloud from engaging and powerful writing in their fields so kids can fall in love with ideas.

        

 

What the whole chapter really seemed to be saying however was that we need to foster good citizens. That even beyond the content we may relay, it’s the attitudes we engender that will ensure our students success no matter what diverse course they embark on after our class. We need to model, expect and explicitly teach qualities like respect, empathy, passion confidence. If they learn nothing else in our class, but our students walk away with qualities like these then we’ve still given them a chance to be successful. No matter what they choose, technical careers, college graduates, stay-at home moms, musicians, artists, etc., in order to go the farthest and get the most out of life it’s these qualities that you need in yourself and towards others to gain the most accomplishments. For me, this is the reason I became a teacher, to help students be their best self and help their peers in doing the same. In helping each child succeed based on their own ambition and journey through life, the content was just an added bonus. 

Subject Matters Ch. 6 How to Use a Textbook

 I really enjoyed this chapter, specifically I enjoyed three points from it. I enjoyed that they said textbooks should not be the only text you use, the emphasis on the teacher’s selection and the activity Star Search Guide-O-Rama. One of the points I addressed in my textbook analysis, was this warning to not use the entire textbook and only that to teach students. I think textbook usually have a great way of organizing themes and information, they give you access to quick, easy texts and information and can be beneficial to use. However, I also think relying too heavily on textbooks can make the learning passive for both teachers and students. This is a dangerous pattern to fall into and can lean to coverage versus deep learning. Another concept that was important is related to this one, that of what to cover and what to leave out. This just emphasized to me the reality of what it means to be the filters for our students.

 

We cannot possibly cover everything they could ever learn in a school year, but are we giving them access to enough of a variety that they’re aware what else is out there? Additionally, are we assigning independent readings and projects which lead students down individual roads of learning that we wouldn’t necessarily have time to cover? And also, when we are providing the material, do we have solid evidence backing our choice for that assignment? Even if that solid evidence is students need to learn through play and so we assign an exploratory assignment. Whatever it may be, we need to know why we chose that to cover. The last point I really loved from this chapter was the Star Search Guide-O-Rama as a during reading strategy. The idea of having stopping point for the students, and putting your thoughts, connections and questions seems fun. Almost like a scavenger hunt of good-reading skills. You could even incorporate a portion where students have to respond with their own questions, understandings and connections therefore creating a dialogue even when doing independent work.

Subjects Matter Ch. 5: Tools for Thinking: Reading Strategies Across the Curriculum

In this chapter, I really liked how they started my reiterating the idea of the Gradual Release Model because if the strategies mentioned don’t lead to independent readers, than they’re not actually all that helpful.

For the rest of the chapter, I then focused on making connections to where I’ve seen the activities used, what other classes have supported this idea or my own history as a student.  Here are the top 7 activities that stuck out to me.

The first was the front loading with images activity. In my SED 445 class, we discussed an activity similar to this. In the D&Z activity, they suggested giving students images which help add background knowledge and discuss it. In an ELA class, something we could do further with our students came from SED 445 we can give students an image and let them write about it. This could be a writer’s notebook piece which does not get handed in but they will share later with the class or in small groups.  You could even give images of characters that have performed in plays you will be reading and have them write from that character’s perspective based solely on their outer appearance and costume. This would help the students form their own opinions and mindset necessary for the text you will be reading.  This strengthens students writing skills and allows them to do more writing while also helping them become better readers.

Another important technique which I included in my hypothetical image activity is turn and talk. In Subjects Matter, they mention three different form of this tool: turn and talk, tweet the text and written conversation. Turn and talk is more conventional and always a helpful skill, talking about a topic immediately after you’ve read it helps you make sense and solidify it more quickly helping keep it in long term memory. I especially love the idea of tweet and text and written conversations. When I was in school, I talked a lot! The only times I was ever in trouble was for talking to my friends or writing notes. What if we could let students use these methods which they already use in their daily life to bring their thinking to the next level? Writing notes in groups allows everyone to share with less pressure of hgaing to share in front of the whole class. It also allows you to explore ideas and learn from others. I think this would work especially well if the groups had mixed reading levels or academic levels that way stronger students are modeling for weaker students and weaker students have a safe place to work on reading skills. Text and tweet also brings a whole new meaning to learning. Having to summarize the most important point is always a valuable tool for smart readers, being able to post it on social media is an also a valuable tool for smart citizens. It allows our students to practice bringing in their knowledge to all areas of their life not just in school setting bridging gaps of where and how they learn. It opens up conversations with students about what, how, when and where to post safely and intelligently.

The next tools I liked were post-it notes and annotating the text. In my MLED class we are asked to hand in our “book notes” every so often with the actual book and markings we make as we read. I’m wondering if we could give students copied of our own texts with our book notes, have this be an explicit lesson and then hold students responsible for their own book notes.  If students can see how to visually be an active reader, hopefully these thought processes will become automatic.

Exit/admit slips are another feature I really enjoy. I don’t recall using these in any classes before college. But since I’ve used them in my college courses I’ve noticed that when I fill out my exit slips I often have to refer back to the notes from that class. I’m thinking that in much the same way having pointed questions and thoughts referring to the text will force students to take a few moments to go back and review what they have just read therefore solidifying the information further in their memory.

Subjects Matter Ch. 4: Toward a Balanced Diet of Reading

 

In chapter 4 Of Subjects Matter, one main thing stuck out to me. Examples of ELA classrooms and their applications were cited much less than the other subject areas. Here’s what this made me think while reading it, balancing reading content is much more important in an ELA classroom then they explicitly say, and secondly that a large part of the ELA teacher’s task may be reading that supports the other content areas.

I think the reason they don’t give many specific examples of ELA scenarios is because generally our content has an easier time seeing the importance of reading outside of a textbook. However, even though that is true I think most importantly we need to be careful of assigning just novels, and of the diversity of the authors and stories we share. In my own experience in ELA classes I remember reading novel after novel or literature except from textbooks but I don’t remember doing much non-fiction reading at all- which probably led to my future misery when asked to read non-fiction. I think the text makes a strong point that our other sources need to be closer to real-life reading materials. Why aren’t we sharing newspaper articles, reviews in magazines, letters and government documents even in our ELA classrooms. This is where we can spend our time focusing on how to read these different texts as well.

 

 

With this in mind, as ELA teachers we can be huge assets for the other teachers and our students. If we can use materials that supplement what they are learning in other classrooms, we are increasing connections and repetition of materials, presenting in different ways and strengthen our students’ reading and writing skills. It’s a win-win-win for everyone involved.

The next idea that stood out to me for my classroom in particular is choice in addition to variety. The first step is building a large classroom library which shelves a variety of different genres, fiction, and non-fiction, poetry, written from multiple perspectives.  But what about allowing more student choice in “assigned” classroom readings? I was thinking of the idea of jigsaws what if you took a theme which the students were studying in their science or history; class chose a few different books written in many different styles which related to that theme in some way, had students read different texts that they chose from your selections and did literature circles? This activity would support different reading levels, interests, other content areas, and variation within the ELA classroom without taking up an entire unit on one single text.