De Roia- Post day 2

Cheryl De Roia

Reading Reflection 6/24

Subjects Matter- Every Teacher’s Guide to Content-Area Reading by Harvey Daniels and Steven Zemelman

Chapter 4-6 (pages 49-165)

These chapters of the book really hooked me in and gave many new insights as to things I could do in my classroom. Again, discussing the idea of using a textbook, the authors write “Are kids actually working, thinking, and engaged with the text we assign- or are they just imitating a sentient life form while remaining functionally unconscious?” (152). I will fully admit that in my classroom, 100% of the kids are not actively engaging and using the text 100% of the time. Do I wish they were? Sure, but I haven’t done a good enough job through planning co-teaching lessons to guarantee that were true. I love this book because not only does it tell the reader the mistake, it shows the reader how the correct way looks in practice and then gives many formulas (worksheets) for bringing the reader into the text. I have been sitting in my chair wondering if the staff at my school would welcome or even use some of these text engagement strategies. And if so, who would it be? Chapter 5 gives “24 essential strategies to promote the thinking students need for learning effectively from what they read” (99). Some are ones I have used prior including brainstorming, KWL, and double-entry journals. There are others that I haven’t used before such as sketching my way through the text, written conversation, and coding the text. In coding the text, students use a specific set of codes such as checks or stars to record mental responses to their reading. According the authors, the reason we use coding is “if students are not accustomed to thinking actively as they read, the needs to make conscious efforts to do so…symbols help students remember a strategy, notice when their thinking has followed it, and then very briefly note the spot in the text where that thinking occurred.” I keep thinking of the classroom where the kids ask why we are doing something. I love that this books gives a clear why and example so that I can share that with the kids.

Protocol

Today we used the “Last Word” protocol in our group. We read independently and then on an index card we copied down a phrase or passage that spoke to us and wrote a response to it on the back of the card. When sharing our card, we were not allowed to speak but instead listened to others comment. We then got the last word on the passage as we read what we wrote about the passage or commented on another person’s comment.

This strategy was effective but since we had lots to say, we ran out of time. I could see it being better used with a smaller set of text and not our long three chapters we covered. Within the strategy there is a listening element while students wait to take their turn to speak. It could present a problem early on as students become accustomed to this process. I found it hard to be silent when someone said something that excited me.

Reading Strategies

While reading today I mostly paced myself to determine if I needed to skim or if I could spend more time digesting the text. I noticed that when I ran across familiar strategies, I quickly looked over them to make sure I have been doing them correctly and then I moved on to non-familiar strategies. Due to a time constraint I feel that I spent less time thinking about how I could use the strategies and more time just absorbing what the strategies are. I did underline important passages or sentences that spoke to me, which made it really easy to go back and find text to use during our group book study.