After reading the three articles (1. What Is Content Reading, 2. How Important is Teaching Literacy in All Content Areas, and 3. Teaching Reading
and Writing in Content Areas), list 2-3 things you learned from EACH article. Add commentary about at least 2 ways the information from EACH article can help you teach cross-content materials in your content area.
Post by Thursday, June 4 and respond to each classmate by Sunday at 6:00 p.m. Your responses should be thoughtful, deep-thinking comments, not just "I agree..." If you choose to start with "I agree" state what you agree with and why.
These articles were very interesting and a learned things that I did not know before.
ReplyDeleteContent Reading:
I learned that literature is not set up to read the same. For example, novels are set apart by chapters where every page looks the same. A textbook on the other hand never really looks the same on each page. Instead, there are page breaks, images, graphs, and many other things incorporated into the text. I also learned that content area texts are different than literature itself in that there is no plot, characters, or protagonists/antagonists.
Two ways that the information from the this article would help me teach cross-content materials in my content area are: to have my student revise their reading strategies when reading text from a content area textbook, and to make sure that my students are questioning the text, making connections, and critical thinking about the content area text they are reading.
Teaching Literacy:
In this article, the most interesting thing I learned was mentioned in the beginning. That being, literacy used to be only defined as how we read and write. Now, literacy is defined as people's ability to make sense of what they are reading and engage in more reading, writing, etc. I always thought literacy was just how we read and write. Nothing more. I kind of separated literacy separate from understanding and engaging in the material. The second thing I learned was that teaching in one's content area is not just teaching their students the material. Instead, it is helping them work on their comprehension, critical thinking, and writing skills.
Two ways that the information from the this article would help me teach cross-content materials in my content area would be to: have my students do activities such as think-pair-share to help engage them in their learning and literacy, and making sure that my students just talk in general and not stay quiet. If they stay quiet, they won't be working on their literacy ability or learning as much.
Teaching Reading and Writing:
I was surprised to learn that many middle school and high school teachers usually just have their students read a brief paragraph from an article or textbook without really analyzing the material. I learned that it is very important to have students analyze and redo their work so that they can understand a better idea of what they are doing. I also learned that all teachers should be trained with literacy instruction along with their content area degree. This will better help students succeed in their overall academic ability.
Two ways that the information from the this article would help me teach cross-content materials in my content area would be to: make sure that I create motivating reading and homework assignments so that my students will want to read, write, and learn about the material, and to make sure that I provide students with resources on how to comprehend the material they are learning so that they can further understand in great detail the material provided.
We both recognized that major differences between a novel compared to cross-content material. It is so true that the lay out of the material effects how students should approach reading. Also, literacy has developed now so much, and as teachers we should focus on literacy to help our students prepare for life. I also like the think-pair-share idea you brought up as well. Finally, analyzing texts is so important, because it takes the reading process further, and makes students draw connections. Great response!
DeleteI too was surprised to learn most of things you thought were interesting. These articles were very helpful because they provided me with a lot information and it seems they did the same for you too. I agree that we as teachers need to focus on the literacy of our students more and more.
DeleteThese article are very interesting and worth the read. There are a ton of things to learn from them.
ReplyDeleteContent reading:
I learned from this article that content reading is simply what the reader needs to understand the subject at hand. Content reading is the basis of this entire article and is pretty simple but I didn't really ever think about what it actually meant in terms of reading. Another thing that I learned is that content area readings are written differently than that of literature readings. One thing that could potential help me teach cross content in my content area would be being able to understand how each different types of texts are to be read. This would help with the different text presented in the class whether it's literature or other sources of text. Another way this article would help is being able to know how to understand the text. Understanding a text is extremely important especially in a science class.
Teaching literacy:
One thing that I learned from this article is that literacy teachings should not end in the English classroom. It should continue on into other other classes. This would help students more than anything when it comes to understanding the course that they are in. I also learned that the readings and teachings in each content area should differ from one to the other because that would help them also understand the content even better than before reading instructions. This would help in a science classroom with cross content teaching because working with other teachers and other contents to help a student would be used a lot for lessons and other activities.
Teaching reading/writing:
I learned that reading and writing both help each other out when used together or even separate. It seems like common knowledge but I have never really thought about the two together. Writing wouldn't happen if it wasn't for reading and the other way around. Another thing that really caught my attention was that analyzing both reading and writing are extremely important. If a person doesn't take the time to really think and understand the material at hand nothing will sink in and really, truly make sense. I could use this article in cross content teaching by applying the idea that the teacher should be just as knowledgeable on a topic as the students should be. A teacher shouldn't just teach, they should learn as well. That could help teaching all together. Another would be to continue to push students to WANT to do better in reading and writing. This would allow for the teacher to have them do the things they enjoy (including reading and reading into them) so they actually want to do better.
Ryan,
DeleteI was very surprised the learn that content reading are different than literature readings. I mean it is completely understandable, but I just have never really given it thought. I think that it is very important that a teacher understands how the text is to be read when given to the students to read and understand. I was also very surprised that English teachers should not be the only ones teaching literacy in the classroom. After reading the articles, everything makes better sense now!
I too want to learn more about how cross-content material is read as well. More like what the differences are between reading math or english material. Also, teachers can assist one another by showing how certain material is read. We must work together to save time and effort. Also, we need to be detailed and particular in how content is read for our students.
DeleteFinally, reading and writing do work together greatly. We should encourage our students to do more of the two as well. Also analyzing is very important too, because it will help students develop these skills. Also I completely agree as teachers we must continue to learn, to develop ourselves and our students.
I too want to learn more about how cross-content material is read as well. More like what the differences are between reading math or english material. Also, teachers can assist one another by showing how certain material is read. We must work together to save time and effort. Also, we need to be detailed and particular in how content is read for our students.
DeleteFinally, reading and writing do work together greatly. We should encourage our students to do more of the two as well. Also analyzing is very important too, because it will help students develop these skills. Also I completely agree as teachers we must continue to learn, to develop ourselves and our students.
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteLiteracy is super important when it comes to everyday life. These days, in order to even get a job, literacy and the ability to read, write, type, and understand is required. They have always said that low income schools suffer in their education. I think that this can be due to the lack of literacy taught in the school, not only the English teachers, but the other content teachers as well. I learned from the articles as well that the cross-content material is different from reading a normal novel in the English classrooms.