Reviewing the Textbook Strategies: Reflection Blog #2
REED502
Chadrick Shoales
Strategies Available to Teachers
There are several strategies available to teachers which help them approach and address student reading skills. The text, Reading Strategies for the Content Areas, by Sue Beers, lists a number of those strategies. Some of those strategies look appealing to me because they relate to my current position. I will try out some of these strategies in my classroom in order to improve reading skills. Beers (2003) stated that “when you provide students with a clear understanding of the strategies and the opportunity to use the reading tools that support them, you will be successful in helping good readers become independent strategic readers” (p. 26). I want to select the strategies and reading tools which help students to be able to have a better chance with MSA testing in regards to strategic reading.
The Textbook Strategies
The text, Reading Strategies for the Content Areas, by Sue Beers, offers eight independent reading strategies as well as suggestions of how students can use each strategy independently. Beers (2003) stated that “once we expect that students will read and process the material using reading strategies, we will no longer be frustrated by their reading ability, and they will gain independence in the content area” (p. 20). The goal of every teacher teaching reading is that student can be capable of reading and comprehending texts on their own. When this happens, teachers can be more flexible and creative with their lesson planning, rather than just preparing students how to read to have a chance at comprehending the MSA tests, specifically the benchmarks. Beers book mentions the following eight reading strategies:
• Independent strategic readers have strategies to use when encountering new words.
• Independent strategic readers connect new knowledge to existing knowledge to make personal meaning.
• Independent strategic readers think ahead to what might be coming in the reading.
• Independent strategic readers continually evaluate their own understanding of what they have read.
• Independent strategic readers create images of what they are reading.
• Independent strategic readers periodically summarize what they have read and learned.
• Independent strategic readers use textual cues, visual, and text organization to increase their understanding.
• Independent strategic readers have a plan for how to approach the reading task. (p. 20-25)
Once again, in addition to these reading strategies, suggestions of how students can use each strategy independently were also included in Beers book. Some strategies, suggestions, and ideas are more suitable to some teachers than others depending on the teacher, the teaching situation, and the students.
Strategies I Will Try and Why I Selected Them
Of the eight strategies, I plan to try to have my independent strategic reading students create images of what they are reading, use textual cues, visuals, and text organization to increase their understanding, and to have a plan for how to approach the reading task. As an artist I prefer books with several images and I am a visual learner. My students are visual learners as well. Creating images of what are being read using text clues, visuals, and text organizers is something I can easily incorporate into my art classroom or my afterschool program. If my 1st graders are having trouble processing the sequence of events in a story, I can have them brainstorm what the events by drawing pictures. They can sequence those pictures in order of the way they think that they happened. I also could let my art students highlight keywords as I read an art article to them in class to increase understanding of the main points of the text. Boyer (2008) stated that a school used visual clues and “students quickly asserted their understanding of the text and were more willing to participate” (p. 22). My students can also look at the pictures in a story or text and find clues and ideas to what the story is about. Beers (2003) stated that students can “recognize that pictures in the text are there to help provide clues to the reading” (p. 25). By simply viewing works of art, and creating stories from them, this can also help students analyze pictures in the books that they read. Every reading task should include a plan. I would have students brainstorming not only what they are going to do in a piece of artwork in art class, but also brainstorming a plan to find an answer in a reading task. Part of that plan would begin with looking at the words in a text. Beers states that a teacher can “review vocabulary that is important to the content” (p. 25). If students underline the vocabulary words that they know in a reading, they can start decoding what the text is about. Once they have an idea of what the text is about, they can have a better chance of making sense of an article independently.
References
Beers, S., Howell, L. (2003). Reading Strategies for the Content Areas. Alexandria:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Boyer, S. (Spring 2008). Graphic Novels to the Rescue. Education Forum: Toronto,
34(2), 21-23. Retrieved February 21, 2010, from ProQuest Host Research Database.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Reflective Journal Entry #1
Chadrick Shoales
REED 501: Teaching Reading in the Content Areas I
Reflective Journal Entry #1
02/06/10
Becoming a Teacher
When I was younger, I always wanted to get a job that had something to do with art or music. I loved to play guitar and I loved listening to music. I knew I wasn’t good enough to start a band and live off of some music career and I also knew that becoming a disc jockey would not be for me. I had been told by my art teacher in high school I should consider teaching art or music. My parents are both teachers. My mom is a 3rd grade teacher and my father is a instrumental music teacher. He teaches jazz band, marching band, concert band, etc. I didn’t want to do exactly what my dad did, but I liked the idea of being a teacher. I chose being an art teacher because it fit my want to do something art related. I also knew that it would be a job that I would be good at performing. The job included time off, job stability, benefits, and also a comfortable lifestyle.
My Beliefs and Philosophy about Teaching
The world of teaching is one of the most important professions. We are responsible for the future of the next few generations. Teachers must dedicate their lives to their job and be constantly devoted to creating meaningful and fun lessons for their students. Every lesson I create I relate my personal life to the material. When I travel, I take pictures just for my students. I let them know who I am and what my interests are. All the material I come up with in my class is interesting. I would never teach something I wouldn’t want to do at that age. When I was younger, I didn’t like to do any writing with my art and I only liked doing lessons that were new and innovative. I try to include reading and writing in all of my lessons but disguising it to seem like something fun. I do this by the use of altered text visual journals, creating lyrics, and lastly presenting PowerPoint’s with several visuals enhanced by texts which they read along with as I teach.
Growing Up in Two Different Worlds
My students are being raised in Baltimore city; a city filled with crime, poverty, violence, etc. I was raised in a suburban small town area where everyone knows your name. I graduated with less than 40 kids in my senior class. There was no crime, violence, or poverty. I was not exposed to have the things I have seen outside of the small town I was raised in. My transition to Baltimore started when I moved out of that small town area and into Buffalo, NY. Over the past six years, I have been exposed to urban city settings. This exposure allowed me to be able to relate more with my students. I like the music they listen to and the styles they are familiar with. I impact my students because they give me a chance. I get that chance because they respect me and see I try to relate with them. The teachers that impacted me most as a child were the ones that motivated me to do my best, but also, the ones I had the most in common with. Those teachers were the arts teachers, music teachers, and gym teachers. There was also a history teacher that impacted me because he told such deep stories that made it more interesting to learn. In college, teachers that used visuals and PowerPoint’s impacted me most. I modeled myself after those teachers that had appositive influence on me. They set a good example of the model teacher I was to become. I try to project this model image onto my students so therefore they can someday set a good example themselves.
My Transition to Baltimore
I moved to Baltimore solely for a teaching job in the art classroom. I had a great substitute teaching job in Buffalo, but I wanted my own classroom. I went to a teacher recruitment fair in Buffalo and took the 2nd job offer that was given to me. The salary was most pleasing to me. I took the chance without ever seeing Baltimore before. I lucked out with a great situation. I love my principal, the students, and the staff I work with. The entire work environment is communicative, supportive, and fun to work with. The students love me and I love teaching them. I have no intention of leaving Baltimore city any time soon. I am an easy plane ride away to Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester whenever I want to see my friends and family. I have no family in Baltimore; however I have made several very close friends. I am currently in a wonderful relationship with my girlfriend. Everything is working for me currently from my living situation, to my job, to my personal life.
REED 501: Teaching Reading in the Content Areas I
Reflective Journal Entry #1
02/06/10
Becoming a Teacher
When I was younger, I always wanted to get a job that had something to do with art or music. I loved to play guitar and I loved listening to music. I knew I wasn’t good enough to start a band and live off of some music career and I also knew that becoming a disc jockey would not be for me. I had been told by my art teacher in high school I should consider teaching art or music. My parents are both teachers. My mom is a 3rd grade teacher and my father is a instrumental music teacher. He teaches jazz band, marching band, concert band, etc. I didn’t want to do exactly what my dad did, but I liked the idea of being a teacher. I chose being an art teacher because it fit my want to do something art related. I also knew that it would be a job that I would be good at performing. The job included time off, job stability, benefits, and also a comfortable lifestyle.
My Beliefs and Philosophy about Teaching
The world of teaching is one of the most important professions. We are responsible for the future of the next few generations. Teachers must dedicate their lives to their job and be constantly devoted to creating meaningful and fun lessons for their students. Every lesson I create I relate my personal life to the material. When I travel, I take pictures just for my students. I let them know who I am and what my interests are. All the material I come up with in my class is interesting. I would never teach something I wouldn’t want to do at that age. When I was younger, I didn’t like to do any writing with my art and I only liked doing lessons that were new and innovative. I try to include reading and writing in all of my lessons but disguising it to seem like something fun. I do this by the use of altered text visual journals, creating lyrics, and lastly presenting PowerPoint’s with several visuals enhanced by texts which they read along with as I teach.
Growing Up in Two Different Worlds
My students are being raised in Baltimore city; a city filled with crime, poverty, violence, etc. I was raised in a suburban small town area where everyone knows your name. I graduated with less than 40 kids in my senior class. There was no crime, violence, or poverty. I was not exposed to have the things I have seen outside of the small town I was raised in. My transition to Baltimore started when I moved out of that small town area and into Buffalo, NY. Over the past six years, I have been exposed to urban city settings. This exposure allowed me to be able to relate more with my students. I like the music they listen to and the styles they are familiar with. I impact my students because they give me a chance. I get that chance because they respect me and see I try to relate with them. The teachers that impacted me most as a child were the ones that motivated me to do my best, but also, the ones I had the most in common with. Those teachers were the arts teachers, music teachers, and gym teachers. There was also a history teacher that impacted me because he told such deep stories that made it more interesting to learn. In college, teachers that used visuals and PowerPoint’s impacted me most. I modeled myself after those teachers that had appositive influence on me. They set a good example of the model teacher I was to become. I try to project this model image onto my students so therefore they can someday set a good example themselves.
My Transition to Baltimore
I moved to Baltimore solely for a teaching job in the art classroom. I had a great substitute teaching job in Buffalo, but I wanted my own classroom. I went to a teacher recruitment fair in Buffalo and took the 2nd job offer that was given to me. The salary was most pleasing to me. I took the chance without ever seeing Baltimore before. I lucked out with a great situation. I love my principal, the students, and the staff I work with. The entire work environment is communicative, supportive, and fun to work with. The students love me and I love teaching them. I have no intention of leaving Baltimore city any time soon. I am an easy plane ride away to Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester whenever I want to see my friends and family. I have no family in Baltimore; however I have made several very close friends. I am currently in a wonderful relationship with my girlfriend. Everything is working for me currently from my living situation, to my job, to my personal life.
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