Life Long Learning...

           Chapters 8 and 9 of Subjects Matter By Daniels and Zemelman both incorporate the importance of getting students to become life long learners, and that starts with reading and the choice of what to read.

             “Book clubs” or “literature circles” both can be a successful tool in getting students to read because with these kinds of workshops, there are no punishments or rewards,  as chapter 8 states, it simply is a way to allow students to individually learn about certain topics in each content area.

            What I liked most about this chapter is that it emphasizes the importance of student freedom when reading. Instead of basing classroom content strictly off of textbook and lecture, literature circles gives the student a chance to explore a certain concept in a subject, whether it’s through various types of books, magazine articles, online documents… this is the starting tool, I believe, to help a student view learning as fun. As the chapter states, why wait for a student to “hopefully” become a lifelong learner after secondary education?

            Chapter 9 expands on chapter 8 by giving examples for beginning teachers in how to incorporate reading workshops. Obviously, it would be hard for one to incorporate workshops every single day for there does need to be actual time for classroom coverage, but I feel as if in each “literature circle”, it would be successful if each student were to be given a certain responsibility as stated in this chapter: The connector, questioner, passage master, vocabulary enricher, illustration, and researcher. This I believe takes a certain type of pressure off of the student because while reading the material, the student will know what to look for while learning new vocabulary, concepts, etc.

            Although I think it is important to use academics to help students apply certain lessons to real life situations, I feel as if sometimes learning for fun is sometimes overlooked, and with chapters 8 and 9 of D&Z, it brings us back to the importance of being a life long learner just because, well, it’s good to be one.

Reading as Fun!

            Chapters 4 and 5 of D&Z not only reflect what the CCSS’s expect when it comes to student reading, but both chapters share in common the ways in how to get students engaged in what they’re reading.

            Chapter four explains how instruction relying on textbooks may have students able to explain the material they have  read but  as for understanding it? Probably not. In an example, the chapter mentions a novel titled E=MC2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation by Bodanis, and D&Z uses this novel as an way to explain a more exciting and engaging approach to content, it provides “depth and understanding”, yet it is a page turner, as stated in the chapter.

            Although I was upset to read that the CCSS emphasizes mostly nonfiction novels as opposed to fiction and poetry in regards to ELA, I did like how the chapter stated that the CCSS finds importance in approaching multiple texts as opposed to relying on minimal reads. There is importance in “depth versus coverage”, so instead of expecting the student to somewhat understand an endless amount of facts, it is more important that a student can link what they’ve learned to a deeper understanding of other learned and understood concepts.

            Chapter 5 is a continuation of Chapter Four except it actually offers ways to engage students in reading. Chapter Five is split up into “Before, During, and After” approaches to reading. In example, a "before approach" could be getting the students excited and interested in whatever they are about to read, it is a tool for engagement. A “during” approach would be along the lines of something such as partner reading, where as an “after approach” could be building academic vocabulary, or including a “turn and talk”, and even then, these multiples “after approaches” are great ideas for “during reading” approaches as well.

            Lastly, what I found most fascinating was the importance placed on reading and how to get a student to want to read, whether it was a list of ideas for a teacher’s classroom library, using the CCSS as a tool to enhance reading desire in student’s, using engaging activities, or lastly steering away from the typical textbook in order to get a student to learn what is needed while enjoying it... this chapter reveals that diving a student into difficult reading to understand a concept isn’t the right approach, but it is about finding the right material that is fun and engaging so that a student can flow easily through it as opposed to struggling to get through it, and there seems to be a freedom in this-- as if  learning is finally approached in a way where it should be fun not tedious and impossibly challenging.  

Writing Design- Strong

 

The above picture is Darth Vader trying to implement strict classroom tradition and deprive his students of creativity. In the Strong chapter, the above picture can represent what is called the "stand-and-deliver" type teaching. The "stand-and-deliver" approach reminds me of certain classes I've had in high school that depended on route memorization and single word answers, and as soon as the class would end, all the "learning" would soon fade away into oblivion. Instead of a "stand-and-deliver" approach, I found it helpful that the chapter mentions that students learn best by a "learn by doing" approach, and this actually makes learning meaningful, instead of learning to memorize and eventually forget, learning by doing has a student connect a lesson to a meaningful life experience. Considering my content area is English Language Arts, in order to keep students engaged and excited to learn, having a classroom read a book and write according to what they believe will "please" the teacher will only hinder higher thinking skills.

In this chapter it mentions ten design principles, and it is also helpful for future teachers like me to know what exactly to avoid. For example, a few of the ten design principles emphasizes the importance of creating a design that invites a student to critically think and one that will elicit meaningful and specific responses, as opposed to a design that is solely "question and answer" or one that hinders inventive thinking. Although there will always be an expected criteria/rubric, if a student has a choice and is allowed to be creative, this will truly have a student "learn by doing" as opposed to route memorization or answering to what one believes the teacher wants to see. 

Although I have heard of RAFT before, I was unfamiliar with the CRAFT design and I find it to be very helpful, especially for my 406 class and my content area. Instead of creating vague and abstract writing designs, the CRAFT design helps to narrow down a focus which in turn will have a student understand the assignment.

Lastly, this chapter extends the importance of approaching every lesson with a "why are you doing this" approach. There's more to teaching than a "stand-and-deliver" approach. Teaching becomes a lot more valuable when the learning has a purpose, and it's exciting to know that going about instruction one way isn't valued but actually discouraged because allowing teachers and students free reign of creativity only allows for a richer learning experience I believe.