Chapter 10 (Determining Importance in Text: The Nonfiction Connection) of Strategies that Work:
The "big idea" of Chapter 10 really revolves around determining important parts of text, and how to go about doing so. Harvey and Goudvis mention that as teachers we often tell students to highlight the key ideas in a passage, but we never/rarely teach them how to find the key ideas! Immediately after reading that sentence, I thought back to my elementary and middle school days. My teachers would tell us what we should highlight, but they would not tell us why they chose that sentence/phrase. I have not encountered this in my placement classroom yet, but we are just now slowly getting into reading non-fiction for Social Studies. The chapter mentions pointing out to students that bolded, italicized, boxed, and different colored text often include important ideas; the writer of the piece is begging you to pay attention to that section! It is also important not only to highlight or underline the important ideas that the writer wants you to notice, but take notes or sketch a picture next to that important information: why do you think that idea is important, what were you thinking when you highlighted this section, make connections to other ideas?
Chapter 12 (Content Literacy: Reading for Understanding in Social Studies and Science) of Strategies that Work (STW):
The first big idea that caught my eye in this chapter is that in order to have more time spent on Social Studies and Science in the classroom, we MUST use it as content of literacy lessons. STW quotes a study done in 2006 that states, "Literacy clocked in at 750 minutes per week, math at 300 minutes per week, and science at sixty-five minutes per week." This fact broke my heart as a Social Studies major, it isn't even included in the study because the amount of time spent on the subject is so short. The chapter discusses how using these content areas within literacy would "spur curiosity" and "spark exploration." I could not agree more. It is extremely frustrating to me that Language Arts time in my classroom is dominated with fiction books instead of including rich, interesting pieces of nonfiction. Using these content texts would encourage thoughtful, higher levels of thinking. Literacy should be focused on reading to learn in order to promote in depth thinking and learning. Many of my students enjoy reading Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Series of Unfortunate Events, etc. but these texts hardly take a serious effort in terms of higher thinking. With non-fiction Social Studies and Science texts, students would be forced/encouraged to ask authentic questions, investigate their findings, and use many aspects of literacy to expand their knowledge base.
It’s funny that you bring up the idea of highlighting key concepts of ideas. Yesterday when the students were completing their final portions of the writing MEAP one of them actually took out a highlighter and started highlighting his important ideas. This is something we stress for them to do when they are writing in their spirals. But like you said it’s just an action, it’s not asking students to critically analyze or explain why. This would be something that would be beneficial to not only include in our guided reading time but other subject areas as well. This also relates to the idea of higher level of thinking and not only taking the text to surface level. I know I’ve mentioned this in previous posts but for our literacy unit we are focusing in on poetry and this will really help to allow students the opportunity to achieve and partake in higher level thinking. We also just discussed this at our PD yesterday and how important it is to incorporate this into instruction. It is hard though to provide these opportunities when you are so pressed for time to fit everything in. I think that’s why I’m so excited for our literacy unit because it is so different from what students are use to and will be a fun/challenging experience for students.
ReplyDeleteCh.10
ReplyDeleteI have no encountered this strategy within my classroom though I believe it is a very good one. I believe teaching students strategies, but simply expecting them to do it or know how to do it is something we do not realize as instructors. When I think back to my early years and highlighting in my social studies and science textbooks, I simply would high light random things throughout the passages. I do not believe I was ever taught specific strategies of how to find these key important parts of a reading. Even to this day I still often find myself highlighting more information than I think I should. I believe it has something to do with the fact I was never taught a specific strategy of how to do this. Therefore I believe this is something I will be doing in the future when teaching different subjects that include reading information from a textbook or other reading source. We need to remember not to ASSUME our students know how to do anything, we must teach, model, and ask all throughout the day.
Chapter 12
I believe both fiction and nonfiction books are important to have in the classroom. I totally understand your frustration with not including rich, interacting nonfiction pieces in the classroom, but I believe depending on the age level both are appropriate. As I have noticed from the beginning of the school year is the fact that a focus on Literacy and Math is the main focus in class time. Although I believe social studies and science are very important, we must realize being able to read and write is the most important tool a student may have and need throughout their life. A rounded education is something we must strive for but I believe we can do a better job of integrating science and social studies into literacy education. Imagination, creativity and fun through fiction texts are essential for students therefore we must not only focus on nonfiction. There must be a balance.