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.
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.
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!
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