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.
I agree with the idea of student freedom to read what they like. Too often they are told what to read, when to read, and how to read. Some sense of autonomy is good for them. It teaches responsibility and puts some of the onus on the student.
ReplyDeleteHey Caroline,
ReplyDeleteI can see your teacher brain working as you have decided to give students roles. The literature circle seems like a fun way to incorporate learning and reading. Yes, I agree that it is essential to be a life long learner and it would be awesome if all of our students graduated our classrooms as life long learners.