Teaching Your Students How to Study the Text

This chapter, over the studying of texts, provided me with new information on how students can approach the text in a manner instructed by the teacher. As it started out, studying texts is not just about rote memorization but rather it’s about how students should really learn and interact with the text. The first concept the chapter discussed was the text patterns. To fully comprehend the text, you must first discover the patterns purposefully done within the book. For a teacher to spend class time pointing out the features that exist within the books gives both the accelerated reader and the struggling reader a chance to adapt and understand what is provided within the text.

Once the pattern of the text is discovered, the next step is to see how the patterns relate to the information that is needed to come out of the text. One method that allows for students to visual interact with the text is through graphic organizers. Graphic organizers allow the students to understand the pattern of the text then apply it in organizing the information. Although there are different methods of graphic organizers, it should be through a scaffolding effect on how students go about this task. Towards the beginning of the year teachers should provide their students with the tools to go along with the text and illustrate to them why this form was used. Then the teacher should start taking away the process of providing them with the organizer by asking questions on what the best method that should be used or what type of pattern they see within the text. Finally, by the end of the year they should be organizing their ideas to reflect what is provided within the texts.

The one key fact through all of the different ideas for teaching students how to study the text was the idea of teaching them. In many classrooms today, studying the text is expected of students who don’t understand or know how to study it. Teachers need to be the support for their students by gradually giving them the reigns and expecting them to study the text. First, though, the teacher should provide them with the ideas and methods they need to go about studying the text which was discussed within this chapter. 

Reflection on Microthemes Presentation

After presenting my write to learn strategy, microthemes, I reflected on how I could have presented it in a different matter. I think providing the class with notecards was a good idea because it showed them how it can be used as a study tool. When allowing them to participate in how the microthemes is used in a class, I should have wrote out the question for them rather than just repeating it a few times and having it on the model. Providing both examples would have allowed for a better purpose in what they were doing. Although I provided a model that I had premade, I think it should have been supplemented with me providing a model during class. It would allow the students to see the right approach to this type of writing should be done. 

Engaging a Classroom

Through this week's reading, I came to explore the variety of ways to engage a classroom on the discussion of a reading assignment. I developed different methods to not only engage the students among the discussion but also ideas on how to tap into information they already know. The main point I seemed to understand from this chapter is that we,as teachers, need to prepare our students to think purposefully. The first way to go about doing this is to help them build their own self-efficacy. One way to aid in a students self-efficacy is to provide a response-centered classroom, as well as constant encouragement and support to assist in their reading. One quote I took from this section was, "brains may be born, but minds are made".  I feel as this shows why we need to encourage self-exploration among our students to engage them in their own thinking.

Through encouragement and activating a students thinking, you can complement it by delving into their prior knowledge. As these two ideas tend to go together, it takes practice to fully go about activating a students prior knowledge on a subject matter. The book provided examples such as creating story impressions, establishing problematic perspectives and using guided imagery to help in understanding their knowledge while sparking interest in the subject. These strategies provide a good way that will engage students in material to come but also see what they already know. The key thing that was discussed in this whole process is to activate the students thinking. By doing this, added with a little encouragement, a students prior knowledge to a subject will be revealed and then will aid in the learning process of the lesson. 

More than One Way to Accomplish a Task

During our readings for today, both my purpose questions addressed the idea that there are multiple methods and ways to go about planning a lesson or implementing writing techniques. In the first chapter, it brought up new ideas that expanded my thinking on how to plan a lesson. Through my inexperience of planning lessons, this chapter provided me with different techniques to go about planning a lesson. One idea that really resonated with me was that lesson plans should encourage flexibility and change. A lesson plan may look good and well organized on paper but until it is brought into practice in the classroom is when the changes need to be made base on the students understanding or misunderstanding of the lesson. By incorporating flexibility and change within the lesson plan it provides for more success overall. Another idea that was brought up in the chapter was the Before-During-After Reading Instructional Framework. This concept was new to me as I have not actually planned a lesson before. This framework provided me with a interesting concept as it challenged the way I will plan my future lessons. When discussing the During Reading portion of the framework it mentioned how students disconnect with the math text the most. This was eye-opening to me as it made me understand that I will have to support my students the most during this part of the their reading as it provides the most struggle for them. The text provided me with some methods, such as, the use of study buddies, providing worksheets during reading or even asking guided question in order to help them connect with their text more. In learning of these different methods, I began to realize how although one might work with one class another method may work for another class. Therefore, I have to be prepared to provide my students with multiple options that will support their own method of connecting with the text in the best way possible.

In going along with this the second chapter in the reading for class had me explore was to implement writing practices in the classroom. The text brought up the new ideas of two classifications of writing, writing to learn and writing in disciplines. These classifications showed two different methods in which writing can be implemented depending on content area and intention of writing. In reflecting upon my future classrooms, I focused on the writing to learn attributes of this section because I felt as if it pertained to my math classroom more. Through reading the different methods, I often thought to myself, "These are creative ways to implement writing, however, I don't think they can be used in my math classes". I was pleasantly wrong in my thoughts given with support from the in-text examples. The examples provided me with a context in how they can be used as well as challenged me to think how I could use these different strategies of writing. By reading the examples, I began to think that through the multiple methods it will help engage the students to understand the concepts better as well as support me as a teacher to understand the problem areas the class is confused on. The different writing strategies are creative and unique ways to assess the students in their writing and knowledge. Also, they allowed for me to expand my thinking on how to implement writing in my math classroom.