Learning Blog # 2

 

Richardson, J., Morgan, R., & Fleener, C. (2011). Reading to learn in the content areas. (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

 

 

Chapter 2- Teaching in the Affective Domain, from Reading to Learn in the Content Areas

I think that this is a very interesting chapter.  It was interesting to me that M. Cecil Smith found in a study in 1990 that "reading attitudes tend to be stable over time from childhood through adulthood, adding to the notion that poor attitudes (or good attitudes) toward reading are inculcated early in schooling and tend to remain stable throughout life."  This was very interesting because attitudes about reading seem to be taught in school.  The educator plays a huge role in helping develop this attitude. 

I also thought that the "assessing attitudes" part was very neat.  In this section, the educator has the students take a survey.  The book provides example surveys that are tailored to different grade levels.  I remember taking these surveys in grade school the first week back from summer break.  I just thought that the teacher wanted to get to  know me better on a personal level.  I never considered that she may be using this information to cater to my educational needs.  Sneaky teachers!  Once the teacher finds out the students interests, she can begin to develop a "bag-of-tricks" to help students develop positive attitudes about learning and reading.  This is one way that she can be attentive to the affective domain. 
* If I were implementing the survey to a class, I would collect the survey and review them right away.  Then I would write down a book or two for each student that the they may be interested in based on what they wrote in the survey.  
STAR TEACHER ALERT- To go above and beyond, the teacher could check the availability of the books in the school library so that the students would not have to struggle to get the book(s).  She can write down with the suggested books, "This book is available in our school library!"  Not only will this influence the students motivation, but it will also make them feel like the teacher cares about them as a person.  What a great way to start a school year!

I really like the strategies that Martin and Martin suggest (on page 41). 

• "Students should progress at a pace that is comfortable enough to bring success"
• "Acting like a coach to motivate students to acquire a habit of reading"
• "Teachers should emphasize the emotional qualities of a passage, making the reading more personal and relevant to the student"
• "Student self checks [should] be used often to give students more responsibility and more of a stake in the activities" 

They make sense and seem easy to implement in the classroom.  I think that "emphasizing emotional qualities of a passage" would be easy to do in the elementary classroom.  Elementary school teachers often do this while reading a story to the class anyway.  For a middle or a high school classroom, the teacher could prompt the students to think of emotional qualities that a passage or reading has. 

Chapter 3- Preparation for Learning    

 

I think that the studies mentioned in this chapter about girls liking to read more than boys is interesting.  While a girls value to read increases as she gets older, the boys value for reading decreases.  I also thought it was neat that studies were done with different ethnic backgrounds.  The findings were that "African American and Afro/Indo-Trini adolescents valued reading more than whites or adolescents of other ethnic groups."  I have a strong curiosity for why that is.  When we are talking differences between boys and girls literacy, I am curious if the reason why boys do not like/value reading is because they have low literacy levels or have a higher chance than girls of having "problems in school" such as ADD (Chapter 2, p 41).  Maybe they just cannot pay attention enough to comprehend a passage. 

This chapter talks a lot about prior knowledge and how it effects the way that a person learns or succeeds at learning.  Assessing prior knowledge is a great idea to do before a lesson.  In an elementary classroom, using charts and methods such as  a KWL chart (K-what we know or would like to know, W- what we want to know, L- what we learned) can be a great idea.  The students can do this chart together as a class or individually.  It works to assess prior knowledge and to motivate learning (K & W).  The W section of the KWL works to help the students attentiveness.  The L section is a way for students to look back on what they have learned.  This method is great because the students have a hard copy of their learning.  They can refer back to it if necessary.