Reader Response #1

Reader Response #1

The main idea I took away from Content Area Writing is that today’s students write more than any other generation because of their access to technology. However, what they struggle with is writing to learn and the need to know how to appropriately write in different environments. Today’s students have difficulty writing to learn, but their ability to write publicly can be used to improve on their writing skills in the classroom. Teacher’s need to ask themselves if what we are teaching is engaging to students before we can teach them to become better writers. Asking students to take notes while a teacher lectures or write the five paragraph essay is no longer effective teaching. The author says that writing is needed in education because it helps students be more actively engaged in the subject matter, but techniques need to be improved on. I like the idea that teaching content writing is not added work, but an alternate process. Many of the techniques used in the classroom create quiet compliance not active participation. The reason I want to teach is because I want to engage my students to critically think and have ideas. Writing is a way for students to communicate their ideas and if their writing is clear and concise so will be their ideas. Ignoring and downplaying the amount of writing students do in their social lives is a mistake some teachers make.  We can create better, more effective learners by taking the writing skills students already possess and building on them. One of the problems addressed in this chapter is that students forget most information taught in the classroom because we teach them too much information. It is difficult to be clear in your ideas if there is too much information to sort through. The idea of deeper not wider curriculum stuck with me. The author discusses selective curriculum with active engaged learning activities to replace the stagnant current curriculum. I find this relevant as a new teacher because there could potentially be a lot of push-back from administration and other teachers if I want to change how my classroom works.

After reading Content Area Reading I was reminded of the amount of testing standards that schools and teachers are held to. These standards, which are outlined by the state and federal governments, are hindering teachers and are forcing “standards based instruction” on our schools. Teachers are teaching to test instead of teaching to learn. Curriculum has turned into students repeating information instead of critically thinking and understanding materials. This current way of teaching has not helped our students’ reading abilities at all. Teachers use textbooks to assign reading and then have students tell them what they read by way of questions at the end of chapters. There is not engaging students in what they are reading and comprehension is no longer a priority as long as students can find the answers by skimming the chapters read. The most relevant part of the reading for me was the different types of literacy discussed in the chapter. With access to technology literacy has expanded to include computer literacy, digital literacy, information literacy, media literacy and health literacy. Students are no longer tied to books or other printed words, but information is coming at them from all directions. This idea forces teachers to look at their content area in a new way and look at alternate ways of teaching students how to read and comprehend the materials. The idea that stood out the most to be was how we need to exploit technology instead of ignoring. I have often gotten into discussions with other parents about the use of technology in schools. Some parents feel it shouldn’t be brought into schools and that we should continue with the tradition tools we use in the classroom. I feel this is a huge mistake. Technology is part of our culture and it is a skill that is need in college and then in the professional world. As long as we teach responsible use of technology I feel technology can only enhance the educational experience for teachers and students. The author builds on this idea by pointing out how reading in print and digitally is processed differently. Text is read in a linear way, while digital reading can be non-linear depending on where a person starts and stops reading the information. This requires a new set of knowledge for students and new way of teaching for teachers. The authors also touched on schema which is something I have come across many times in classes discussing reading comprehension. Students must have vocabulary knowledge and background in the content area they are reading about to understand what they are reading. This is a concept most assessment tests miss out on and students are improperly evaluated. Overall I felt the messages in the first chapter were enlightening and thoughtful and I am eager to discover what techniques will be discussed in future chapters.