Task 1: Jetton, T. L., & Shanahan, C (2012). Adolescent Literacy in the academic
disciplines. Ch. 1 & 2 pp. 1-68 (Essential
Question A)
Pre-Posting -- Reviewing what you read on Learning from Text: Adolescent Literacy
from the Past Decade & The Challenge of Reading Disciplinary, Chapters 1
& 2, think about the theoretical underpinnings for each chapter’s concepts
AND think about how the role that written and oral texts need to play in the
learning of your specific discipline. (Disciplinary
literacy is perhaps in many respects a reconceptualization of what it means to
teach an academic subject. Disciplines
are organized ways of thinking about the world, and learning within a
discipline involves more than becoming merely knowledgeable. Learning must also encompass how scientists,
mathematicians, historians, and others read, write, and think. This is the difference between covering a
subject and teaching a discipline.)
I
strongly recommend having the readings read by Tuesday, November 5
Postings: Reading your reflections and interactions about the
readings is the only direct way I have of assessing the quality of your
understanding of — and engagement with — the assigned readings. See the
expectations that follow for the more directed kinds of responses you would
make according to the role you are assigned for this week.
Roles:
There
are 4-5 people in each conversation group. You only respond to those in your own
group.
Day 3 (Second online meeting
day)
Group
|
Initiators
|
Summarizers
|
Responders
|
Illuminators
|
1
|
Kathleen
Brinton
|
Yimu
Zhou
|
Audrey
Bjerum
|
Andrew
Johnson
Megan
Petersen
|
2
|
Sara
DeBoer
|
Rachael
Bird
|
Danielle
Cattrysse
|
David
Hamilton
|
3
|
Christopher
Yost
|
Joseph
Nowariak
|
Kathleen
Holloran
|
Kaitlin Stein
|
Initiators start the conversation.
They must do the reading immediately and get their entries in during the first
day or two so others have material to respond to. Grading will be based on the
quality of questions, speculations, and thought-provoking prompts that
will get people really considering the ideas presented in the
content. You must include your own responses to the ideas as well.
If another Initiator has already posted his/her ideas, the next Initiator to
post must enter new ideas. In other words, don't repeat what's already posted.
Initiators
posts are due: Wednesday, November 6 before 5:00 PM
Responders directly
address and extend the ideas that the Initiators have thrown out for
consideration as well as adding your own unique responses to the readings. It
is not enough to say, "I agree", or "That was a nice idea."
Responders need to enlarge the conversation, make connections to their own
experiences, and draw from other material in the readings to expand on
the conversation. Responders need to get their ideas in at least 48 hours
before the due date so the Summarizers can do their work (below).
Responders
and Illuminators posts are due:
Friday,
November 8 before 5:00
Illuminators teach,
guide, edify, and enlighten. They take their own and other people's ideas
beyond surface statements to broader and deeper ground. They pull from other
sources, such as pertinent internet sites, they have encountered to shed light
on questions or confusions. They clarify. Illuminators add their contributions
after the Initiators, before or after the Responders, and before the
Summarizers (i.e., before the last day).
Friday,
November 8 before 5:00
Summarizers pull
together and consolidate all the key ideas from the group. They are the last to
make their entries, probably best done in the evening of the deadline day.
Every participant (except fellow
Summarizers) should be named, and the
contributions of each acknowledged in the summary. Summarizers should be
organized and concise. Capture the essence. (If there are any group members who
have not submitted by 8:00 p.m. of the deadline day, you do not have to wait
for them — just summarize those who have submitted up to that time.)
Summarizers
posts are due:
Sunday,
November 10 before 5:00.
Respond to another member in our group. This response is due: Sunday, November 10, 11:59 PM
This weeks reading really took everything we have previously read about a step further by putting more light on why students are having lower reading scores as they get older. Right off the bat in chapter 1, we learn that reading scores of 12th graders are lower than they were in 1992 with basic level dropping from 80% to 74% and proficient level readers dropping from 40% to 38%. We learned that secondary teachers aren't prepared to teach literacy strategies for comprehension of content-specific texts that we have previously read about. When that is combined with the fact that secondary textbooks are more difficult to read because of the fact that they are structured so differently and have more grammatical features, even between content areas, than the "commonsense" readings on things familiar to them from lower grade levels, we can see why the students struggle comprehending the texts. We have already learned about strategies teachers can implement to help students, but why are current teachers not taking initiative and helping students learn to comprehend the different textbook structures we use in our various disciplines? Also, what can we do as teachers in all of our disciplines to make reading these texts more engaging and interesting? We have all said in week 1 how much effort it takes to dive into some of the textbooks we have read for classes, have you witnessed any strategies in your field experiences?
ReplyDeleteIn my field experience so far, I have learned a lot about literacy in my academic discipline of physical education. Taking from the social studies example on page 9 in our reading, we put vocabulary specific to our unit on the white board for the students to see and we then discuss synonyms for them or what they think the definition is while explaining the rules of a sport/activity so they can see what the words mean. For example, in a recent tennis unit, "volley", "serve", and "out" can serve as many examples in language outside of tennis. I just used one example of serve or it can apply to a waitress at a restaurant and comparing that to how it relates to serving in tennis, students learn those definitions. These discussions are one of the better ways of helping students understand terms in physical education since we don't have textbooks or any reading assignments. It helps explain rules, have students hear how other students understand things, as well as helps the teacher know if the students "get it". What do each of you do in your own disciplines?
For those that involve reading online versus print text, do you or any of your teachers take the time to teach the students how to connect information from various links and to understand what is credible and what isn't? What about how websites are typically set up and how to navigate them? Is it assumed that in this day and age the students will know how to work their way around websites?
Lastly, in our reading, Grisham reported that the strategies used most frequently by teachers are the ones that teachers found easiest to implement into their classroom. Is this laziness by the teachers? All they really understand for strategies? Do you agree with this finding and why or why not?
Chris,
ReplyDeleteGreat Questions! I was thinking about the first question on how to make reading more engaging and less work. In our book they give us multiple reading strategies to use for our students. And these strategies can help students find the most important word, sentence or statement. One I would apply to dance would be probable passage on p. 26. This could be a way to engage all readers. Students are already taking what they know and determining if these words fit in the passage and justifying how they fit. I a lot of the strategies have a group discussion involved which for students might be more fun then just sitting and reading.
In dance, I use verbal, written and physical modeling to help students understand the vocabulary or literacy in dance. I ask a lot of questions to check for understanding. For example, when I was teaching I taught the composition of a phrase. This phrase had a reverting canon, group relationships, level and direction changes, needed to be accurate, etc. So, I had this list on the mirror, when we reviewed the list I would ask questions about what does accuracy mean? Towards the end all the students understood what my checklist meant and what they should have in their phrase to receive full credit. I could tell by their piece and bodies if they understood my requirements.
I have not worked a lot with online text. I would look for articles, readings, utube videos of dances, videos of dances. I'm not sure how much I see myself using the internet unless I am giving them something to research about. Then, I think we would walk through what is valid and what is not and how to to tell. I would give them a full example of what I am looking for, how I did my research and then let them on their way. And have them site their resources because if they did find something not creditable then we could talk about it.
I'm struggling with the last question. I think teachers can become lazy and only use strategies they like and not think about their students. We can only learn from these teachers what not to do. Our job is to involve all types of leaners, so that means using several comprehension strategies which might be difficult but necessary to do.
My question would be how can we make the transition smoother from basic literacy into the disciplinary literacy. How can we not have a discourse when students get into high school? Is middle school the key? I feel like we read a lot about how difficult the literacy s but not a way to solve the problem.
(Responder)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you both have done a lot of work thinking about how literacy can be addressed in your specific content area. Both physical education and dance can be not as obvious as in some areas, so its great that you already have ideas! I kind of talked about this in the other post as well, but literacy is addressed much more in the English Language Arts classroom then in others (probably). As Chris mentioned in his first paragraphs, our text chapters pointed out the many difficulties that students are having in reading within their content area and the reasons why this is so. What I am wondering about as well, is that since the problem is so obvious, why are they not being more seriously addressed? Obviously, our program at MNSU wants us to address it, but what are current teachers in the field doing about these poor literacy skills? I was a little disappointed in chapter two of our reading in that I thought many of the problems/challenges were noted, but not too many solutions were presented. With that being said, the pages between chapters 1 and 2 offered some great ideas on implemented literacy in different ways.
I had trouble as well with Chris' question about teach laziness and these strategies. While the hope would be that teachers would explore all the options and decide to implement the one that would have the most impact, for other content areas it is also more difficult to corporate literacy with content standards so using harder literacy strategies is seen as taking time away from other things. In my English methods course, literacy strategies were a large part of our focus for the entire semester. This included addressing what Chris asked as well-- how can we get students interested in reading? As our text stated there are many ways to do this: find out what your students are interesting in, chose texts that will have a connection or meaning for the student, and offer choice whenever possible. Remember that the definition of literacy is expanding and teachers should incorporate "alternative" methods of reading as well.
While reading and writing is a large part of English and Language Arts, students in the United States are behind on these skills and they need to be addressed in every classroom. Literacy is a large part of all content areas and should be treated as such. In my methods class were were instructed to be a resource for other classroom teachers, much like our textbook mentions as well. It all goes back to what we expect our students to know how to do, and how we are going to get them there. Our readings/power points from this week had multiple examples of how literacy is used in so many different areas. The key is figuring out how to match those goals with content standards as well; though I feel we learned this week that it may not be as hard as one would assume. Again, although literacy is more naturally ingrained in English, it still needs to be properly addressed or the scores of our future students will continue to be below expectations.
Kennie,
ReplyDeleteI think it is possible to match content standards and literacy. I feel literacy is constantly present in what we do and teach but not necessarily held to a high standard. Do you think it is key to make sure we always include literacy in our lessons? We could include it verbal, physical, written, and modeling.
Also have you seen your teachers from observation address the difficulty of literacy in a content area? Found resources or useful tools to use?
When I think back to the various observation and field experiences that I have had, I think they all did a good job of working on literacy in the physical education setting. Last semester I was with 7th and 8th graders and they would have handouts to read at the beginning of a unit explaining rules, safety considerations, etc., and the next class period there would be a discussion and a test on that to check their understandings. Currently I am with 4th-6th graders and here, the objectives, warm up, schedule of activities, and other information are always on the white board for the class to sit down and read when they arrive. They also always discuss the objectives, what is expected of them for the day, and a quick review of various terms. The discussion is always lead by questions for the students and they share all of the information with the teachers only chiming in if answers are incorrect or we want to emphasize something. The class is finished again by recapping what was done that day, how that related to our objectives and any other pieces of information. From our reading and seeing how effective this is in physical education, since there isn't much reading, I think this is the best way to help with literacy in a physical education setting.
ReplyDeleteKaitlin,
ReplyDeleteI do think it is important to include literacy in every lesson! As you are alluding to, there are many ways to do so rather than the immediate thing that comes to mind of reading a book or writing a paper. From our group's discussion this week it seems like everyone has defined literacy for their own content area and thought of ways to incorporate it! So far, none of my field experience teachers have really addressed literacy in other content areas, though my current field experience teacher has said that it was much easier to work with other teachers when their middle school was set up in teams. It is easier that way to work closely with other teachers if they need help with ideas of how to add literacy development in their classroom. I have heard of PLC groups designed specifically for literacy. Also if anyone is interested, Kelly Gallagher has some GREAT books out. He is an English teacher, but has wonderful ideas for any content area.
So I'm a latecomer to the conversation but I'll drop in my two cents to Chris's questions at the eleventh hour. Personally, I am a content purist. It was the content that did much to bring me to this place and I find it incredibly painful to adapt the content to make it "engaging and interesting." There are obviously text that are more engaging as a matter of content, but many times they are simply more difficult to read. As I think about how to help students appreciate the literature that I aspire to have them read, I fall upon the necessities of addressing the preceding question. We can teach our students how to read the compelling texts and deepen their understanding of history or economics, in my case, through their own experience. I still wrestle with how I can come to terms with the student learning the content and not the content being taught to the student.
ReplyDeleteMy coop teacher uses a method to reinforce the textbook reading in class. He assigns a study guide that requires students to actively read the text and gain a grasp on the content. This is expected to be done outside of class and he supports the content even more by using small lecture segments to help students answer the questions. While this is a time consuming method, it provides an incentive for the student to be actively involved in reading and in class.
And finally, to touch on the can of worms that is the prospect of teacher laziness. It is a convenient case to make for being a teacher that actively uses and differentiates reading instruction, but there are some elements of the easy implementation method that make a lot of sense. It is easy to forget that we will be in classrooms with upwards of 30 students and responsible for the academic achievement of all of them. As much as we would care not to admit it, we must commit triage and help the most students possible. What this means is that we must have a model in place that is efficient and helps the most students and the model that best accomplishes these two goals is a model that can be implemented properly. Not only is it impractical to experiment constantly, for a myriad of reasons, the incentive structure for experimentation disproportionately favors consistency. There is a high risk, low reward incentive for trying new strategies. We are also not trained as literacy instructors, rather content instructors. This is not to say that we should not attempt to improve our teaching by changing literacy strategies, but to make sure what we are doing works. The reading touched on this fact and I think it is a necessary evil of the job of a teacher.
I hope you enjoy this summary of the week's discussion.
ReplyDeleteI believe we are fortunate to have the two kinesthetic educators participate in this discussion. Chris and Kaitlin both made some very good points why phy ed is an important part of a curriculum that can support and enhance its literary goals. Chris lead with some very insightful questions that lead to even more questions about literacy in the disciplines.
The first set of questions hit on the idea of literacy in the disciplines and how to get students more engaged with the text. Chris connected vocabulary associated with the phy ed unit to other uses outside of phy ed. Kaitlin used verbal, written, and physical modeling to help students better understand the texts they are grappling with. Keenie brought the idea of student choice as an interest device. Joey gave the example of written and verbal reinforcement to the text.
The second theme Chris elicited was the minefield of differentiation of literacy strategies. It was discussed that the implementation of the easiest strategy could indicate teacher apathy. If there was one aspect of this topic that was agreed upon, it was that teachers were not intentionally being lazy. Keenie tried to account for the less focused task undertaken by content teachers, Kaitlin allowed for the possibility but stressed the primacy of the student, and Joey offered an economic explanation.
Overall, the discussion succeeded in broadening the focus on literacy. There are unique examples of literacy strategies being observed across disciplines that are assisting student learning. It also appears much more plausible to use literacy as an everyday way to teach content. There are many strategies that can be used and figuring out what works best requires the use of knowledge of the student and other literacy resources.