D&Z Chapter 12: Recommendations from Reading Research (What I Truly Believe In)

The final chapter of “Subjects Matter” is dedicated to “point out some of the key studies and reports that are giving an ever clearer picture of “what works” in enhancing students’ comprehension of the nonfiction text genres that comprise our subject fields” (p. 281). There are many conclusions listed and described within this chapter that I find to be important, but there were a particular few that I really believed whole-heartedly. 

In the section entitled, “What students read” I particularly enjoyed and believed in number 2 on the list which explains that “ students should read for the same purposes as literate adults, for both information and pleasure. A sense of personal purpose is key to their reading success”. When I read this line I screamed “yes!” out loud. In all the years I have loved and enjoyed reading, I have always found that the only reading that motivates and inspires me is reading that I personally feel has a certain purpose. I typically have always hated reading history textbooks, articles, etc. because I have never really felt a personal connection with the text. I never could understand the purpose of reading those texts. Of course, now that I am studying to be a teacher, I appreciate the subject of history for our students, but I still do not have that personal attachment to historical texts. Thus, I really believe in what “Subjects Matter” is stating here. 

Within this same section, there is also a list provided from research that identifies the larger motivations students may have for reading. I personally also whole-heartedly believe in this list because I can relate to so many of its components. For example, one of which I connect with is listed as “ social interactions with others about their reading”. I typically love reading books that I can talk to others about. This may be due to my fascination with literature, but I have always enjoyed debating about characters and over-arching themes in different books. Another component on this list that I agreed with was listed as “ a sense of efficacy, of confidence about their reading abilities”. I never actually thought about this, but I always loved the feeling of reading a book and knowing that not only could I read it, but I could read it well and enjoy it. I honestly loved the feeling of carrying around a particularly large book with 600+ pages I was reading because I always felt like people would look at it and just think “wow, that’s a lot of pages!” While this is embarrassing to admit, I think it is something that really does motivate people to read and challenge their reading. 

In the section entitle “What students read” I also particularly enjoyed and believed in number 5 on the list which explains that “Teenagers need genuine choice of reading materials: much of what they read should be self-selected, based on interest and curiosity” (p. 298). From experience I know this statement to be true for most if not all students. I remember in 7th and 8th grade my English teacher would allow students to pick their own self-selected reading books and would make time for us to journal about what we read. This was always my favorite part of that class. Too often is it now that schools just assign textbooks and reading books to students that are only good for meeting the curriculum. Students are not often allowed to choose what they read and, thus, they typically have issues finding purpose within the work, therefore leading to a decrease in motivation. I have always believed it to be important for students to read books that they choose. Through this act of deciding students begin to discover their own interests and become more likely to relate positive feelings with the act of reading. 

I also found this item on the list interesting because it mentions that teachers often worry that students will choose to read things like “trashy novels and fashion magazines”. The book then continues to say that students tend to actually choose better texts than we think. I believe that list provided in the textbook on page 298 did not do the topic justice. The first book on the list was the third book of the “50 Shades of Grey” trilogy which, to be honest, is not appropriate for students to read in school due to its widely-known sexual content. I was surprised by the book titles on the list, and I didn’t think that the authors should have included those titles to back up their information. This being said, I still believe that students tend to pick meaningful and adventurous books. I am a huge fan of YA literature, and I have a huge library of such books. My favorites are: “The Catcher in the Rye”, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”, “Looking for Alaska”, “The Fault in Our Stars”, and “The Book Thief”. I think that there is so much in YA literature that may even be more valuable than reading the classics. This may be shocking to hear from and English major who thoroughly enjoys the classics, but I truly believe that YA literature identifies common issues and themes that students (and even adults) typically have to go through in their lives. Many YA books are written beautifully with multiple layers of important insight and wisdom. The classics are beautifully crafted and are filled with history and skillful writing, but I oftentimes wonder what is more important: the crafting and history of a book that no longer applies to students’ lives anymore, or the crafting and relevance of a book that addresses the most common issues that people go through in their lives. It is a hard call. Especially for an English major. Still, because of my firm belief, I too believe it is important for students to choose what they read about. Oftentimes it is something they can relate to or something they are interested in learning more about. Why take that away from them? 

 Overall, I have learned so much from reading this book. Though it was quite a bit of reading, the content was very inspirational and eye-opening at times. I’ve gained new strategies for teaching and new outlooks on what kind of teacher I want to be. I have also learned a lot about what it means to be a good teacher. The book is definitely worth the read. 

D&Z Chapters 10 and 11: Inquiry, Struggling Readers, and Video Game Aggravation

Before reading this text I never really knew exactly what was meant by “inquiry” learning. After reading I am happy to say that I learned a lot. I agree with a lot that the text talks about when dealing with inquiry projects. One of the main goals of this type of learning is “ making kids active researchers instead of passive listeners”. I think that this is a common issue that is often not noticed in classrooms. Students oftentimes look like they are listening to lectures (and some of them actually are), but what is the point of learning through listening? Students do not gain many skills from simply hearing a lesson. They will always become better learners through actually participating in the learning and finding things out on their own. If we tell them everything then what is it exactly that they are doing? I think teachers too often give students the answers instead of making them figure it out for themselves. In order for students to engage with the material more and get something useful out of the content, they need to be given a certain amount of responsibility that forces them to work on their own skills.

Another section I responded well to was the section that instructs the reader on the steps in an inquiry project (immerse, investigate, coalesce, and go public). I found it very interesting how I am currently doing the same exact thing with the same exact steps for my SED445 class currently. I am working on an I-search project where I got to choose a topic I was interested in after searching through multiple topics, investigate the topic through research, coalesce around my topic, digging into it with primary sources and performing interviews, and then going public with my information by making a presentation for it on Wednesday. In that class we have to present the “golden nugget” of our research. In other words, we have to present one key idea or key piece of knowledge that we learned from our project and teach it to the class to spread awareness.  I find it so interesting how often things like this project have a formula that teachers can refer to. I oftentimes see this text as a scientific book with a plethora of teaching formulas to try. I think this is one of the most useful and priceless things I have found in this book. There are instructions and descriptions of so many things that are good for the future. 

When I was reading the thorough example that detailed the steps in an inquiry project, I had a little trouble with the “Go Public” section of the example where the students perform a puppet show of what they have learned for the parents. Though I agree that this is an interesting way to assess students and present what they have learned, I also know first hand that it is not always the best way to assess students. My boyfriend had to write and perform a puppet show in 11th grade where he was instructed to reenact a scene from a book. He refused to do the project because he thought that it was too childish for high school and, thus, he thought it was stupid. When he told his parents about the project they said “THAT’S what you’re doing in HIGH SCHOOL?” I must admit that I too find it kind of childish for students of this age. A puppet show may be something that is useful in primary school and maybe middle school, but I don’t think that it is appropriate for high school. I think students should be challenged to present their information in creative ways, but I don’t think that they should be subjected to such childish tasks. To continue the story, my boyfriend ended up writing a paper about the scene and its significance to the story, but the teacher was forced to give him a zero by the department head because it was not what the teacher asked for. I think this says a lot about how we assess students and how we constantly are forced to grade them by the rubric or by specific criteria. I think, at least in this case, the teacher should have allowed some form of choice to be allotted to students who might have wanted to present their information a different way. This was just something that stuck out to me in the text. 

I think one of the best lines of advice in this chapter is one of the shortest: “Don’t start too big!” I completely agree with this statement. We oftentimes are too busy trying to meet so many standards in our projects that they tend to become very large and arduous. We have to remember that our students do have lives outside of school. Too much work only discourages our students and stresses them out, and stress leads to an unhealthy work environment. Thus, by giving them more work, you will oftentimes see less motivation and learning. 

There were a few things in Chapter 11 that also stood out for me when I was reading. I think it is important that the text states that reading is not just something for English teachers to address. It should also be something that is covered by teachers of all content. What is the point of having students read content material if they cannot understanding it? Teachers need to be mindful that with their content also comes new types of materials: lab reports (science), mathematical word problem sheets (math), press conferences and newspapers (history), beauty and health magazines (health), manuals (computers), and so on. There are so many different forms of material that students need to be familiarized with, and it is the teacher’s job to introduce them to the form of material and help them through it. If we don’t then we are not being the best teachers we can be and we are leaving our students to fend for themselves. 

I think my favorite part of this section was the part about “Creating Supportive Relationships”. The book made a statement that I really could relate to very well. It stated “people who have repeatedly failed at something usually cope by focusing their lives elsewhere to avoid still more failure”. I think that this statement couldn’t be anymore true. When I read this I automatically related it to a video game that me and my friends play. Because I have been playing for so many years, I have become much better at it than others who have joined before. While this is true, I always am the loser out of our friend group. I find myself playing one-on-one matches with my boyfriend all of the time (who is an extremely skilled and competitive player and has been to many tournaments) and he constantly beats me. Though I put up a fight, he oftentimes beats me with 2 out of 4 lives still (which is embarrassing). I usually can play 3 or 4 games with him until I become agitated and disheartened and quit all together to go watch a movie. It has gotten to the point where I almost avoid playing him because I always lose. This reactions reminds me a lot of students. When students continuously fail and struggle with something they become disheartened or aggravated and quit all together. This is typically one of the major reasons why students drop out of high school. They feel like the work is too hard and are disheartened by their failure. Thus they avoid the embarrassment and anger and decide to just leave school all together. In order to help with this issue I think students need to be constantly aware of their strengths. Students need to feel like they are good at something and need to feel like they have the capacity to improve. If not, then they are most likely to give up. While we want to address students’ weaknesses, we need to remember to compliment what they do right and praise them for what they can do rather than berate them for what they can’t. 

Above are pictures that I took from 3 of the probably thousands of times we have played the game together. 

Overall, once again, I found the text to evoke many questions and opinions that I had. 

D&Z Chapters 8 and 9: The Science of Dogs in Correlation to Our Students

When reading these chapters I was learned a lot about how to get students to read more in a way that engages them with the text while simultaneously helping students work together to better their reading skills as well. 

Chapter 8 was all about independent reading workshops and how we, as future teachers, can incorporate this strategy into our classrooms. I definitely agree with one of the first lines in the beginning of this chapter. It states “We want out students to leave us with an enduring curiosity about our field, plus the motivation and the tools to continue learning” (p. 221).  I really believe that all teachers have this goal in mind. Teachers not only teach because they love teaching, but they teach because they love their content and wish to inspire others with this same passion. Because of this desire teachers should aspire to not only teach students to pass a test, but also to find a connection with the content. That is the dream. So the question I had was: How on Earth do we pull this off? The text gave me some possible strategies to use in order to help make this happen. 

The text explains that, in order to reach this goal and create a community of learners, we have to allow them to pick their reading material and to talk about it with their friends. When I read this I was surprised that the answer could be so simple. Could this really be the answer to reaching this goal? Maybe not entirely, but after reading the chapter, I think that it most definitely helps towards achieving this goal. As a student in middle and high school, I remember that I loved being able to choose what I read. I was always much more interested in something that I chose, and I was always more willing to talk to someone about the text because I was passionate about it. This is the type of conversations we want to strike up in our classrooms—ones that are meaningful, insightful, and flow from passion. This is what creates a passionate reader. 

One of the main concerns I had about this reading strategy was time (which is later attended to by the text). Even though the text does give some ways to make time for this strategy in class, I still think it would be rather hard to implement these strategies when there is so much content that needs to be discussed. Time is always a plaguing issue in the classroom, and I just feel like this strategy (thought useful) will still be quite difficult to find time for. Regardless, I still plan on trying to include this strategy into my future classroom schedule. 

I also enjoyed the idea of collecting a library for your students. I remember in 7th and 8th grade I had the same English teacher who had shelves and shelves of books to choose from. She oftentimes wrote titles of books on my creative writing journal entries depending on what kind of genre I was writing about or seemed most interested in. If I tried a book and didn’t like it she was always ready with dozens of new books that I may be interested in. This is the class where I first discovered the “Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events” books and fell in love as a child. This discovery (due to the plethora of books provided to us by our teacher) really sparked many conversations between my peers (who were also reading the books) and I. I really think that there is a lot to gain from always having reading material in the classroom. 

I also really enjoyed the section on the “status of class” strategy used to keep students on task. So often have I seen teachers do this, but I never really looked at it through the lens of a teacher. I never saw this as a strategy before. The crossroads between being a student for 16+ years and becoming a teacher is really an eye-opening change of perspective that truly makes me appreciate everything that my past teachers have done for me without even knowing it. How many things that my teachers did were strategies? Probably close to everything they did, and I think that is something that really hit me from reading this section of the text. 

I thought the most useful section of this chapter was the section about different web tools that can be used in class. I’m immediately jotting these down in my teacher tool box that I often talk about. I actually had the privilege of seeing one of these websites in action when I went to a session that was in the RIWP conference about poetry. The presenter used “padlet” which ended up being a really useful tool in starting a conversation amongst the attendees. I copied that link down when we first used it, and I’m glad that it was included in this text as well. I have also become familiar with Animoto this year in my SED445 class where we were asked to create a trailer for our I-search project. It was really a great and easy-to-use tool for students to make something creative and fun for a classroom while still being academic. 

Chapter 9 was also a very interesting chapter (as they all always prove to be, in my opinion). One thing that I found was a new and creative way to respond to a book that was mentioned by the text was the use of drawing in response to the book. Through drawing students can make connections and bring some aspects of the text to life. They can also be good conversation starters when introduced to other students. I just thought this was a quick and interesting strategy to use when responding to text. It’s one that is not often used or thought of. 

Once again, after reading this text, I found something else that really made me think more about what exactly our teachers have done for us over the years that we often take for granted. On page 244 the text talks about how the teacher needs to help the students train before starting a book club. The teacher needs to model the book club, show videos, practice it out loud with another student as an example, etc. Today many students in the college classrooms that I have been in, can talk about a text and form a book club successfully. We often have a lot to say to one another about a text and constantly create deep and meaningful conversations with one another about the text (though I oftentimes wonder if this is still the case for other students with different majors. This may say something about how reading skills are not implemented enough across the contents). Still, we often find it so easy to engage with one another about a text in a book club. Because of this ability we often don’t realize that someone had to of taught us how to do this before we were able to do it, and I’m willing to bet this person was either Oprah or a teacher (and I’m willing to bet it was the latter). 

This reminded me of the literacy profile we did earlier in class this year and made me think about how we know how to do so many things thanks to someone modeling it to us or teaching us. This is something we take for granted and, as future teachers, we need to remember that these were skills that were taught to us and, thus, need to be taught to our students. 

I also really enjoyed reading about the way book clubs should be grouped and how many students should be included. Once again, the text brought up issues about number that I never really thought of. It states that “In a group of six or seven, one or two people can always hide, hitchhiking on the efforts of others” (p. 248). As a student looking at this statement, this is SO true. I think what is important to take from this is the fact that we, as future teachers and past students, need to channel our own experiences with school when thinking about how we run our classrooms. We knew what it was like to be in a book club with many people. Some people DID always stay quiet and let others talk. We should carry through this information to our teaching strategies in order to be more successful in our classrooms. We were students before. We know what works and what does not because we have lived through it ourselves. We know more often than not what our students are thinking. We need to use this to our advantage in order to come up with strategic classroom designs. 

Something that I thought was a great idea was the strategy of giving students roles for their book clubs in order to help them start the transition of becoming book club enthusiasts. These roles are extremely useful in first helping students get involved with a book. This makes it so that everyone had to speak and communicate with each other about the text. Also, by giving each student a job, it gives them a certain responsibility to their group mates. Nobody wants to be the kid the screws up the entire book talk because he didn’t do his given job. Though it is suggested to only be used in the beginning of the book talk phase, it still proves to be a very promising practice. 

Something else that I found to be interesting was the line that read “ Tell kids beforehand that when you sit down in their group, they should keep talking, and not look to you for direction, topics, or feedback” (p. 249). I think there is a lot to be said about this short line of wisdom. It is true that students look to their teachers for support despite what the group may be talking about previously to the teacher’s arrival. 

This reminds me of a documentary I watched called “The Science of Dogs” within which they tested the nature of dogs in comparison to wolves (you can watch the documentary below. The section I talk about below starts at 38 minutes and 14 seconds- 38:14). Two scientists raised a group of dogs and wolves together when both were pups. The wolves ended up adopting the dog-like, friendly personality towards humans. After being raised the same way, the scientists did an experiment where they put a piece of meat in a locked cage where they could see and smell it, but not reach it. After the wolf was exposed to the piece of meat it worked continuously, non-stop at trying to reach the meat inside the cage. It gnawed at the metal around the cage, dug holes, and tirelessly tried to reach the piece of meat. After a few hours the scientists decided to finally give the meat to the wolf. When the scientists did the same experience with the dog, the dog took about a minute to try and get the meat and then quickly gave up when it deemed it was impossible, sat pretty, and looked up at the human for help. It was proven with multiple test trials that dogs, by nature and by instinct, consciously look to humans for help. Wolves, on the other hand, though brought up and raised the same exact way as the dog, had a nature and instinct of independence. The dog in this situation really resembles the student. They are brought up their entire lives seeking help from their teachers and depending on them for help that they often feel lost without their guidance and give up like the dog. Though we want our students to feel more comfortable with coming to us for help, we also want to raise them to have characteristics of wolves—ones where they are independent and don’t need us to hold their hand every step of the way. That is why I found this tip included in the book to be extremely beneficial for the future teacher reading. 

There are many more things that I found important and would like to talk about here, but I’m afraid that if I included them, this blog post would be far longer than it already is. Thus, I will leave my insight here.

D&Z Chapters 6 and 7: Textbook Use and Strategies

Once again, Daniels and Zemelman were able to keep me thinking about many things while I was reading the text. 

I really thought that the questions posed by the authors on page 179 were useful. The questions are to be used to determine what the big ideas and concepts are in a textbook that a teacher wants to teach to the class. The text informs us that, as teachers, we have to be selective of what we show students. We shouldn’t assign the students an entire textbook to read and then test them on it. It’s not only a waste of time, but most students will not even remember most of the text they read. We have to select pages and passages carefully. I completely agree with this statement. I can say with confidence that probably 85% of all textbooks that I have ever had to read for any class I forgot the content of after the test it correlated to. This is not the way we want to teach our students. We want to create a meaningful classroom that instills learning not memorization. Thus, the questions on page 179 will really come in handy for the future when I need to determine what exactly is most important for my students to be taking away from the classroom and textbook. 

The text also outlines different tiers through which vocabulary words are located to determine readability. I thought that these tiers were also a helpful tool for the future. Too often we see teachers assign textbooks with vocabulary that is far beyond what the students’ readability is. We, as teachers, need to decide “What kind of words do I want my student to know? How hard should these words be? Will the student encounter these words in the future, or are they just words that are typically only used by those with a very large vocabulary?” We need to think about these key issues for our students and make a conscious decision as to what we believe is key for them to know. What I found most important to note in this section is that it has been found that people typically learn the meaning of the word through “exposure of use”. In other words, people learn by listening to a word being used and then by trying to replicate its use and use the word in their language. People are always hearing new words and typically try to guess what it means through context clues. Sure, we can ask a student to write the word 30 times and the definition 30 times, but, while that exercise may help them remember the word, it does not help them practice to use it in context. We learn through practicing and, thus, the constant use of the word is essential. One strategy we might want to use when introducing a new word to our students is using it constantly through the next day or two and encouraging students to use it throughout this time too. Include it when talking to students or teaching in general. This way students can get to understand the context. Ask students to try and use the word at least 3 times throughout the course of class. Remember: practice of use makes perfect. 

What I found interesting that the text had to offer was the hint that we need to study the “big tests” to see what is really on it and then find a way to teach that content. While that seems like a good idea, I have a big question about this: how do we gain access to the content for these tests? I have always remembered how this information was always confidential. Is there a way for teachers to gain access to these tests? I know there are sometimes study guides provided for some of these tests, but do we, as teachers, have the privilege of looking at the content? I’ve never been quite sure about this. 

The text also brought up something that I hadn’t really thought that much about before that kind of shocked me a little. It said, “In many states your salary will be partly determined by how well your students can answer these [test] questions”. I knew that our students’ success was what our job was determined by, but its kind of scary to think that these TESTS are what are determining our futures as teachers. How often is it that teachers spend an entire year preparing their students and teaching them to the best of their ability and then realize that they have not been able to cover absolutely everything on the test? It’s scary to think that our students could have learned so much over the course of the year, but if it is not exactly what is on the test then we are punished for somehow not teaching the right way? I have always hated the test as god notion, and it oftentimes makes me wonder about what kind of issues there really are with our education. 

I liked the strategy of jigsawing. I have actually experienced this kind of reading first hand, but, surprisingly enough, only in college. I typically found it effective, especially in a time when we needed to get through the text in a short amount of time. I will say that I believe it does not have the same kind of effect as actually taking the time to read the entire book by oneself and really thinking about the text, and I do think this activity takes away from the book a little bit, but I also believe that this activity is very helpful when it needs to be used. The students still find a way to understand the plot, character, and themes while also analyzing the craft and techniques of the author. We’ve done it before in many college classes and it did work. I think though, if I were to use this strategy in my classroom, I would probably still have to give the students a general background on the book (setting, characters and who they are in relation to one another, etc.) I would possibly even have them all at least read the first chapter together to get a basic understanding of the book. Coming in at chapter 5 could make it hard for the student to understand the context of what they are reading, and we don’t want them to be confused. 

I think my favorite part of this entire chapter was the Guide-o-Rama study guides. This is something that I most definitely want to include in my future classroom. I think it would not only be fun to write out for my students, but I also think it is a good way to constantly have a conversation with the student about the text without even having to be there for them. It helps that the student have an example of how ones mind should be constantly thinking about, analyzing, connecting, reacting, and relating to the text. As the teacher we may even be able to ask the students to create one for us to read. That way we can tell that not only was our model a success, but that the students are actually engaging with the text. I really think this is a golden strategy here, and I am kind of excited to try it out. 

There was also a realization by a physical science teacher named Jeff James in the text that caught my attention. He stated, “the parents think the textbook is the subject.” The context of this quote being that he never assigned a textbook to his students which concerned parents. I thought this observation was very interesting. I think it says a lot about what education is to parents and people. In today’s world people typically think that the text holds all of the answers to the classroom, but the answers are in the teaching, not the textbook. The textbook is only but a guide for students. I also found it funny that I also had a professor that wrote his own textbook. I think that was the first history course that I ever really excelled at, and I most definitely correlate it to a readable text. Even as an English major I have often had difficulties understanding history text books in particular. They really were very difficult to read and often forced me to read them multiple times for comprehension. This professor, on the other hand, wrote his text book as if he were speaking to us and giving us a lecture that we could interact with and even laugh at from the jokes imbedded within. It really was a success, but I think it is a strategy that would take a lot of time and effort to do. Still, I think its a very successful idea.

Overall, the text really got me thinking a lot about the textbooks we choose to use in our classrooms and has made me conscious of different decision we have to make as the teacher for the betterment of our students. 

D&Z Chapters 5 and 7: A Bunch of Awesome Strategies to Save For Later

        When reading chapters 5 and 7 of Harvey Daniels’ and Steven Zemelman’s “Subjects Matter” there was so much important content and interesting strategies provided that it is simply impossible to clearly state exactly how important I thought each one was. Thus, I will be pointing out few of the many things that I commented on in the margins of the text. 

First, I noticed that this text talked about something that we read about in the Wilhelm text which was the Gradual Release of Responsibility. Both talked about how there are four steps to slowly turning over the responsibility of finishing the work from the teacher to the student. Step 1: I Do, You Watch, Step 2: I Do, You Help, Step 3: You Do, I Help, Step 4: You Do, I Watch.

 I found it very interesting that both of these texts talked about this setup and how useful it is when trying to think of a lesson plan. Every classroom needs a teacher to first teach the content while students first intake it, then the students should be asked to help or assist the teacher with finishing the task, then the student should be asked to do the task and may ask questions, and then, and only then, should the teacher ask the students to perform the task individually where the teacher can observe. I agree with this method. I think it is really important that, as teachers, we first model something to our students (something that was highly recommended in almost every strategy posed in Chapter 5) so that they understand how to do whatever it is we are asking, and it is even more important to eventually let go of their hands and ask them to do it without us. Through this strategy we can help them succeed. 

Second, I found it very useful and helpful that the text included a grid through which the teacher can look at each strategy, find the page number, see whether it should be used before, during, or after reading, and then see what kinds of skills they help better. 

Chapter 5 was full of many strategies that I will want to save and keep in my teaching tool box for the future. Many of these strategies I have experienced first-hand as a student or have observed, yet, when you are the student, you typically do not think about how you were taught these skills. In fact, as students, you typically don’t see the things your teacher is doing as strategies. Instead, you usually see it as a teacher just doing their job. As I travel further into this career, however, I have come to realize that everything that a teacher says and does usually has a point that, as a student, we just do not realize. It’s pretty fascinating to see, as a student soon becoming a teacher, just how many of the things I did in school were strategies planned by the teacher. I really find this change of perspective interesting and thought provoking. 

Third, I could talk about all of the strategies that were brought up in the text, but that would be a very long blog post. Thus, I will only talk about a few of them that I really responded to or could relate to:

1.) Think-Alouds. In SED406 Professor Kraus required us to observe a classroom in Central Falls High School. When I did so, I observed an AP English class where the teacher used Read-Alouds. From what I observed, it really helped immensely. The students were learning about Romanticism after just learning about The Age of Reason, and the teacher paused every few sentences or passages to not only ask questions, listen to predictions and reactions, and identify vocabulary words, but also to point out aspects or characteristics of Romanticism that were traceable in the text and talk about how it works towards the text’s meaning. It was really a great strategy that not only helped the students better understand the text, but it also kept them very engaged and helped model reading skills that the students can replicate when they read individually. I remember my English teachers doing this a lot (especially when reading Shakespeare). 

2.) Frontloading with Images. There were a couple of things I found interesting or could relate to in this strategy. First, I was surprised when the authors talked about how students are our “customers” as in, we, as teachers, have to sell our lessons to these students. We have to get them to be interested and engaged with our material. Thus, we have to sell it to them. I have never thought about students this way, but it is definitely an interesting perspective that I can agree with. While our sole purpose isn’t to sell it to them, it is still our job to help them relate to the information and want to learn about it. I really enjoyed this strategy as well. I once took a Philosophy of Freedom course at RIC where the teacher first opened up the class by showing us 50 images. About 47 of them were famous musicians, philosophers, theorists, scientists, inventors, artists, politicians, etc. The last 3 were pictures of famous celebrities: Snooki, Brittany Spears, and Paris Hilton. 

As we went through each picture, the teacher had us guess and write down the names of each person we saw a picture of and what they are known for doing. At the end, we all talked about how many we got right and how many we left blank. In the end, the professor showed us how everybody got the celebrities’ names right, and how so many students did not know the names of the people who have shaped our religions, politics, arts, etc. Those who students could recognize, they didn’t know what they were known for. The point is, he made us realize how important it is for students to know who have shaped our world and what they did. Instead students are oftentimes obsessed with celebrities that oftentimes have not contributed to the world. It was really an eye-opening experience that he was able to perform just through the use of images. I think it was probably one of my most favorite lessons that I could most definitely use in the future when introducing a text or even an author or period of writing. 

3.) Annotating Text and Coding Text. Both of these strategies were something that I didn’t even realize were strategies. I always annotate my texts when I am reading them in order for me to be able to go back and realize what surprised me, interested me, confused me, etc. In fact, as I write this post, I am, as stated before, looking at my annotations and choosing which ones to talk about! I was surprised how often I do this and it really made me think about how I learned to do these things. Someone must have taught me, and I am betting that that person was a teacher or multiple teachers I have had in the past. Yet, we often take these skills for granted. As a future teacher I have to realize that this is a strategy that I have mastered, but other students may not have even heard of it, let alone mastered it. I oftentimes find myself using check marks, question marks, smiley faces, and especially stars when marking the text I am reading. I just really find it fascinating the things that I can do that were brought up in this text. It really makes me think about just how much I do was taught to me—everything! Here's some pictures I took of my own textbook and how I typically annotate and highlight things. My annotations are written in highlighter so it might be harder to see for others. 

       4.) Exit Slips and Admit Slips. I didn’t have much to comment on this, except for the fact that this is what we typically do at the end of each one of our SED407 classes. Dr. Horwitz always has us answer a slip with five or so questions that makes us think about what we have learned that day and how we can relate it to something or use it in the future. It really is an effective way to not only monitor what the students have grasped from the lesson, but it also encourages students to pay attention during class so that they can have something to write at the end of the day. I think it is a great strategy. 

5.) Password. This has always been a reading strategy that I have LOVED! My favorite English teacher ever (Mr. Caswell) always let us play the game every Friday as a good review for vocabulary and a treat for working so hard during the week. I remember that it was always the highlight of the week and EVERYONE was always engaged during it. The only thing that teacher did differently was that he gave the student standing the word, and they had to help the team guess what the word was. We would all be working together to decide what exactly the student was trying to convey and it was always something we enjoyed. Everyone in that class ended up doing really well on the vocabulary tests to say the least. I plan on using it in future classes. 

Fourth, now that I have talked about some strategies that I really responded to, I will now talk about how I really found it appealing how all of these strategies could be used for all teaching contents. It is too often that we hear how teachers of subjects other than English feel like they can’t incorporate reading skills and strategies into their curriculum because they don’t teach English. This book really helps these teachers discover ways through which they can implement these strategies in their own classrooms without having to worry about teaching something like Shakespeare. These are simple and effective strategies that can be used across contents, and I find that to be the most admirable thing about this text: It makes it so that no teacher has an excuse as to why they can’t teach reading skills to their students. 

Finally, the last thing I want to talk about is Chapter 7. Chapter 7 was all about creating positive classroom environments and communities. I found this chapter particularly useful because I am doing an I-Search Project for my SED445 class on teaching writing to students. My project specifically is entitled: Creating Emotionally and Physically Safe Writing Environments. Through this project I have been investigating how students’ writing environments affect the way they learn and what teachers can do to create psychologically and physically safe writing communities to work in in order to expel the absolute best writing from their students. I have done multiple interviews with teachers and students and I have found many secondary sources that talk about this subject. Harvey Daniels’ and Steven Zemelman’s information in Chapter 7 can really prove to be vitally important to this project that I have been working on. I think I will add it to my list of sources and add it to my blog! Below is a picture of the main screen of my blog, the link to my blog, and the introductory video/ trailer to my project that one may want to view. 

LINK:  http://taylorsisearchblog.blogspot.com

Overall, once again, I have found another text we have read in class to be very beneficial to thinking about what kind of teacher I want to be. I can’t wait to use some of these strategies in my own classroom! 

Strong Chapter 6: Assessment Design and The Darth Vader Scenario

     I really enjoyed this reading. I think it was one of the most interesting ones we have read so far this semester. I have to say that, though I have never watched a Star Wars film (I know, I'm crazy!), I really found the entire Darth Vader scenario very entertaining as well as relevant to the text's purpose. The type of school that is explained in the Darth Vader scenario is a very sad, scary, and very true scenario. Too often is it that we see teachers that access students in ways that do not help further the student's abilities, but, rather, just quickly tests them on memorization. In this scenario, Darth Vader has students circle multiple choice tests about the writing process steps, but does not allow the students to physically go through the writing process. Thus, the student is only memorizing information and is not obtaining any skills from this assessment. The text relates this scenario to actual prompts and assignments that teachers have given to their students.

     

     What I found most upsetting about the scenario is that it is very relevant to today's teaching methods. Many teachers tend to create assignments and prompts that are driven towards "knowing" something, but not understanding a concept or performing a certain skill. Unfortunately, this is often true about many classrooms and the toll on student performance is apparent. What's worse is that I was laughing at this scenario as if it was a satire. I jokingly related it to George Orwell's 1984 and how it was based around limiting creativity and thinking all together. Yet, as I continued to read, I realized that these things are true about our society today, and this greatly disturbed me. We are literally living in the world of Orwell's 1984. While this may not be true about many other classrooms, it is still unnerving to think about the many classrooms that do embody this Darth Vader scenario. As a teacher I want to make sure that this type of scenario does not become a truth in my own classroom. 

     Due to this realization from my reading, I was very interested in what the text had to say about the "Ten Design Principles". The entire list seems like something that I should add to my teacher toolbox for the future. I agree with the entire list, but I specifically can vouch for numbers 7 and 9. 

     Principle #7 was always something that I have believed in. I have always believed in the idea of using many different assessment formats: essays, projects, reenactments, letters, poems, songs, videos, drawings, etc. To be honest, I have always loved English and oftentimes like writing essays where I can state my opinions and support my arguments, but it gets boring after a while. Different formats are oftentimes looked down upon by many educators because they seem to be informal or childish and are falsely accused of not being good way to assess students. This is not the case, however. Throughout my time as a student, I have always enjoyed when teachers would give me many different formats to chose from. This way, not only can the assignment cater to the student's individual strengths or interests (mine was always film-making and poetry writing), but it also allows the student to have fun and be involved in deciding how they learn. All of these assessment formats have the ability to measure exactly what is needed to be measured, while still also both engaging the students and catering to their strengths. 

     Principle #9 is also something that I have always agreed with. I've always found that I write much better when being allowed to choose what I am writing about. Even if the student isn't allowed to choose EXACTLY what he or she wants to write about, given options of prompts to choose from is always something I have enjoyed. This allows the teacher to set up a barrier as to what the student can and cannot write about while still allowing the student to decide which prompt he is most interested in. When a student feels like he has a strong connection with one of the topics and specifically chooses it, he is more likely to deeply interact with the text while trying to discover his own truths and opinions and more likely to try harder when his own beliefs are being tested. Students tend to like ranting about how they feel. In this way, they can choose something they are interested in and then rant in a formal manner. Giving an entire class a single prompt, on the other hand, is less likely to motivate most or any of the students. Plus, as a teacher, don't you want to read essays with different topics? Reading the same topic is more focused, but it also can be boring and can influence your grading. At least I believe so. 

     As a side note, I also had never heard of the "CRAFT" acronym until reading this chapter. I think it could be very useful to keep in my teacher's toolbox for my future career. It's really a great way to guide a teacher in designing an assignment. I would have thought that I would have heard of this in SED406 with Professor Kraus, but I guess not! Still, it's better to find this stuff out while still in school so that I can have time to practice it. 

     I think my favorite part of the entire text was when it showed examples of assessments that worked. I specifically enjoyed the rectangle letter to the council of parallelograms. To be honest, it kind of made me want to be a Math teacher for a moment because I thought it was so cool and new and inventive. This is the type of teacher I want to be in my classroom. I want to think of new and fun ways to teach my content while still extracting the best work from my students. I especially enjoyed the way that the teacher responded to each student: 

     Not only is this a great way to respond to the student in a beneficial and critical way, but it is also fun and does not dishearten the students. The teacher allows the students to fix their issues and explains what they did not talk about in their essay (what needs to be revised) while still role playing and participating in the activity. The fun names "Rhonda Rhombus" and the formatting of this entire assignment is something that I want to bring to the table at whatever school I teach at. THIS is what makes a difference in a classroom. 

     Finally, my last comment is on a quote from the second to last page of the text. It reads as follows:

     I remember thinking, "Is it really that simple?" I think that the answer is no, but I also believe that, at the simplest level of explanation for good teaching, this is very accurate. Good prompts (that are engaging, motivating, useful, beneficial, and targeted at a specific goal), student models (that help exemplify what is expected and give students a good idea of what is expected), and advice (helpful corrections, meaningful critiques, and praising of strengths) are, at the base of teaching, what makes a good teacher. So, yes, I do believe that this quote does apply. I also agree that a teacher should never go back to the stand-and-deliver approach for teaching. While it is important to sometimes explain things in detail, it is not effective to just spew knowledge at students and expect them to intake it and make it mean something. My concern with this quote is that teaching is much more than what it implies. There is A LOT more that goes into good teaching and motivating students. Yes, what it says does "work", but it also does not work for all. In order to become a better teacher for my future students, there is much more I need to learn to do and deal with, but that's to be continued. 

Central Falls Scavenger Hunt

During this scavenger hunt the roads were terrible. Cars were still parked in the middle of the street and the snow was very heavy. A lot of the sidewalks were not plowed which made it very hard to navigate and find places to park. Luckily the few places I chose to take pictures of were very close to one another which made navigation easier. 

I learned a lot about the city/town of Central Falls. I learned not only facts, but I learned about what type of city the students are living in. Crime rates are higher in this city, there are less police officers than there should be, the community lacks resources and money, etc. Living in a city like this affects the students’ work and potential. It is important to know what students might be going through outside of school in order to better gage what type of teaching is needed in school. Thus, I now have a better outlook on the life of the students I observe. 

I know that Central Falls High School has shown major improvement in graduation rates. I am now questioning what Central Falls High School has been doing to successfully inspire and teach these students despite their less-fortunate location. How were they able to raise their graduation rates by such a large increase? 

I think the biggest thing I took from this assignment was that it is important to learn about your students and the community that they are involved in. Even if you don’t live in the community, you, as a teacher, are a still an active member of that community. You educate their students, and you guide them towards their futures. In order to teach your students successfully and meaningfully you first have to understand your students. You have to understand their struggles and their strengths. You have to know what goes on out of school, and, in order to understand your student, you have to learn about the place they live. What kind of community is it? What does this say about the home life of our students? What are they getting or not getting? How does this affect how they learn? This assignment was very worth while, and I found great use out of it. I think I will keep this sheet for myself for future teaching. It could serve as a guide to learning about the community within which the school I teach at will be in. Of course some of these questions are specific to Central Falls, but many of them are applicable basic questions that can be used to understand and get to know any city. You can learn a lot just from simple statistics and facts about the environment within which the school is located. 

Here is what I found: 

1.) Question #4: How many schools are in the city? Colleges and universities?

Answer: There are 7 schools, including: 

Captain Hunt Early Learning (PK)

Margaret Robertson Elementary (K)

Ella Risk Elementary (1-4)

Veterans Memorial Elementary (1-4)

Alan Shawn Feinstein School (1-5)

Calcutt Middle Schoool (5-8) 

Central Falls High (9-12)

St Elizabeth Ann Seton Academy (private elementary/middle school) (PK-8)

Unfortunately, there are not any colleges or universities in this city. While this is true, there are many colleges and universities close by like Providence College (PC). 

2.)  Question #19: Visit the Central Falls Library. What events or resources are available?

Answer: The Library is located at 205 Central St! 

According to the records, three are 33,809 books, 442 audio materials, 1,589 video materials, 1 state licensed databases, 8 other licensed databases, and 48 print serial subscriptions. They also hold a lot of book clubs, homework help sessions, and oftentimes have readings performed. Here’s their mission statement: 

3.) Question #18: What is the major religion in the city/town? Are there churches/synagogues/mosques/ temples?

Answer: Central Falls is comprised of mostly christians. Others are not affiliated with religious congregations. Here are the statistics:

MAJOR CHURCHES IN CITY: 

Saint Ephraims Church

Assembly of God

Central Falls Congregational Church,

Holy Trinity Church Complex 

Bible Baptist Church,

Casade Oration Gethsemane Church

Saint Matthews Church

Here's a picture of the Iglesia Evangelica Hispana United Church of Christ:

Here's the statistics: 

4.) Question #12: Are there public Parks?

Answer: Yes! There are four! Here are their names:

Central Falls Historic District

Jenks Park

Central Falls Mill Historic District

Central Street School Historic District 

5.) Question #9: Is there are fire station? A police station? How are fire emergencies handled? What crime statistics are available for the community? 

Answer: There is a fire station located at 150 Illinois Street!

Here's what it looks like:

There is also a police department located next door at 160 Illinois Street. Here's some pictures!

  

The only crime statistics that I could find were available for the year 2012. Here are those statistics: 

Police Officers and law enforcement employees: 42 officers in 2012

Officers per 1,000 residents = 1.65

Rhode Island Average= 2.34

6.) Question #10: Is there a movie theater in town? 

Answer: There are no movie theaters in town. However, there are some close by. Here’s a yellow pages list of some theaters that Central Falls residents might go to: 

7.) Question #8: Is there a post office in town? 

Answer: Yes, there is a post office. It is located on 575 Dexter Street!

8.) Question #24: There are three professional baseball players from Central Falls. Name them. 

Answer:

Max Surkont (Pittsburgh pirates and Boston Braves)

Jim Siwy 

Charley Bassett

9.) Question #14: What is the name of the local newspaper? 

Answer: The Pawtucket Times. Here’s their homepage and some of the headlining news:

10.) Question #29: In this scared space, the famous and the infamous are side by side. But in one part you can see the bullet holes left by a battle that took place between strikes and the National Guard? What is this sacred space? 

Answer: Moshassuck Cemetery located at 978 Lonsdale Avenue. Here’s some pictures from the past and the bullet holes at the sight.