Week 4: Disciplinary Texts
Synthesis:
Jetton & Shanahan, Chapter 5
This chapter begins with an
explanation of the English teacher Mrs. Smith and her lesson plans for teaching
Mice and Men and how her approach is
not enough. The chapter goes through the process of outlining the broad and
ever-evolving definition of literacy. There are four literacy ideologies:
functional, cultural, progressive, and critical. Functional means that students
can participate in school, work, and life. Cultural focuses on morals and
canonical literature so that they have “’core knowledge’”. Progressive means
that students and teachers develop their own curriculum based on their interests
and relevance to their lives. Finally, the critical literacy ideology focuses
on the why and how of the literature. Most researchers believe that teachers
focus on the first three ideologies, but to be truly successful we must give
students room to question the text through critical literacy. In addition there
are three literacy frameworks: cognitive, linguistic, and developmental. Literacy
does not just know how to read letters, but must go into deeper
understanding. Teaching English can be
very difficult because it has a great number of skills to teach, as well as
content. I really liked this quote that explains the phenomenon of teaching
English: “We are learning to read and write while we are learning to read and
write in the service of academic goals in the study of English; we build the
plane while flying”. Also in this chapter, the issues of teaching with technology
and using multiple modes of text. Teaching a novel is very complex, and doing
it the right way touches on so many skills as shown in the revised lesson plans
for Mice and Men. Of course, the
issue of technology is only briefly touched on, but as the world leans more towards
technology we must find new ways to adapt, incorporate, and teach.
explanation of the English teacher Mrs. Smith and her lesson plans for teaching
Mice and Men and how her approach is
not enough. The chapter goes through the process of outlining the broad and
ever-evolving definition of literacy. There are four literacy ideologies:
functional, cultural, progressive, and critical. Functional means that students
can participate in school, work, and life. Cultural focuses on morals and
canonical literature so that they have “’core knowledge’”. Progressive means
that students and teachers develop their own curriculum based on their interests
and relevance to their lives. Finally, the critical literacy ideology focuses
on the why and how of the literature. Most researchers believe that teachers
focus on the first three ideologies, but to be truly successful we must give
students room to question the text through critical literacy. In addition there
are three literacy frameworks: cognitive, linguistic, and developmental. Literacy
does not just know how to read letters, but must go into deeper
understanding. Teaching English can be
very difficult because it has a great number of skills to teach, as well as
content. I really liked this quote that explains the phenomenon of teaching
English: “We are learning to read and write while we are learning to read and
write in the service of academic goals in the study of English; we build the
plane while flying”. Also in this chapter, the issues of teaching with technology
and using multiple modes of text. Teaching a novel is very complex, and doing
it the right way touches on so many skills as shown in the revised lesson plans
for Mice and Men. Of course, the
issue of technology is only briefly touched on, but as the world leans more towards
technology we must find new ways to adapt, incorporate, and teach.
Hinchman & Sheridan-Thomas
Chapter 10
This
chapter opens with introducing the fact that people make multiple decisions
every day. This chapter outlines the basics of the complexities of dealing with
teaching and learning from multiple texts in the subjects of history, science,
and math. Studying history requires many of the same skill sets as studying the
English Language Arts. Students must be able to work with multiple texts in
order to become informed citizens. In history, students use three main
strategies: sourcing, contextualization, and corroboration. The issue of
teaching history is getting students to realize that these texts come from
multiple and varied perspectives and can be presented and interpreted in many
ways. In science, there are two main types of reading: reading for learning and
reading critically. In math, reading must be done in order to determine that
information is accurate. Students must be taught strategies to build their
learning across multiple texts.
chapter opens with introducing the fact that people make multiple decisions
every day. This chapter outlines the basics of the complexities of dealing with
teaching and learning from multiple texts in the subjects of history, science,
and math. Studying history requires many of the same skill sets as studying the
English Language Arts. Students must be able to work with multiple texts in
order to become informed citizens. In history, students use three main
strategies: sourcing, contextualization, and corroboration. The issue of
teaching history is getting students to realize that these texts come from
multiple and varied perspectives and can be presented and interpreted in many
ways. In science, there are two main types of reading: reading for learning and
reading critically. In math, reading must be done in order to determine that
information is accurate. Students must be taught strategies to build their
learning across multiple texts.
Chapter 12
Teaching
students how to read historical texts presents multiple levels of complexity
that must all be addressed and taught. Students must have adequate background
and contextual knowledge. Reading visual images such a table, graphs, and
pictures are examples of elements that often do not explicitly taught, but they
need to be. This chapter goes through a detailed example of some laws from the
early years of immigration in American history. This study shows that students
also need to able to ask and answer why questions. These probing questions
require students to engage with the texts, something teacher must develop with
relevance and connections.
students how to read historical texts presents multiple levels of complexity
that must all be addressed and taught. Students must have adequate background
and contextual knowledge. Reading visual images such a table, graphs, and
pictures are examples of elements that often do not explicitly taught, but they
need to be. This chapter goes through a detailed example of some laws from the
early years of immigration in American history. This study shows that students
also need to able to ask and answer why questions. These probing questions
require students to engage with the texts, something teacher must develop with
relevance and connections.
Response
Text to Self-Teaching
English can be a daunting task at times because of how much there is to teach.
The issue of teaching broad skills as well as content can be very difficult.
Especially in a novel, the task of teaching everything necessary for an
effective reading (like the table that shows the lesson plans for Mice and Men)
can almost seem overwhelming. However, the sections that outline the before,
during, and after reading seemed much more manageable and immediately relevant.
I feel that something has been missing and my teaching of literature and that
reading Chapter 5 was especially enlightening in the case of the four literacy
ideologies. I hope to include more critical literacy into my curriculum.
English can be a daunting task at times because of how much there is to teach.
The issue of teaching broad skills as well as content can be very difficult.
Especially in a novel, the task of teaching everything necessary for an
effective reading (like the table that shows the lesson plans for Mice and Men)
can almost seem overwhelming. However, the sections that outline the before,
during, and after reading seemed much more manageable and immediately relevant.
I feel that something has been missing and my teaching of literature and that
reading Chapter 5 was especially enlightening in the case of the four literacy
ideologies. I hope to include more critical literacy into my curriculum.
Text to Text-The Jetton and
Shanahan chapter mentions Paulo Friere and Macedo and the issue of “reading the
word and the world”. This text seems to keep showing up in many of my readings
these last few semesters. Although I have read it, it might be time to revisit
it. Students need to be given time to really connect with texts and the world
around them. Literacy is so much more than just decoding, and as demands for
education change, we must adjust our teaching. This will involve a lot of
scaffolding in order to accomplish this goal.
Shanahan chapter mentions Paulo Friere and Macedo and the issue of “reading the
word and the world”. This text seems to keep showing up in many of my readings
these last few semesters. Although I have read it, it might be time to revisit
it. Students need to be given time to really connect with texts and the world
around them. Literacy is so much more than just decoding, and as demands for
education change, we must adjust our teaching. This will involve a lot of
scaffolding in order to accomplish this goal.
Text to World-Technology and
multiple literacies are crucial in today’s world. Students are expected to do
more with more information. In a world where we don’t know what the next type
of jobs might be, functional and critical readings of many genres will be
necessary. The world has more access to information now than ever before; they
have the right to be explicitly taught. In addition, this also strengthens the
need for students to be able discern multiple texts and to be able to
adequately use and critique them.
multiple literacies are crucial in today’s world. Students are expected to do
more with more information. In a world where we don’t know what the next type
of jobs might be, functional and critical readings of many genres will be
necessary. The world has more access to information now than ever before; they
have the right to be explicitly taught. In addition, this also strengthens the
need for students to be able discern multiple texts and to be able to
adequately use and critique them.
Questions:
1.
How do we teach/approach critical literacy?
How do we teach/approach critical literacy?
2.
How can we approach and incorporate multimodal texts with minimal access to
technology?
How can we approach and incorporate multimodal texts with minimal access to
technology?
3. What counts as engagement and how do we foster
it?
it?
4. How do we work with “why” questions?
Great questions! I've done some research the past 2 years in grad school on multimodal incorporation. One thing I've come to understand is multimodal is so much more than technology: drama, art, text, music, speech, sound, physical movement, animation/gaming. So that's a good thing and a bad thing for you! It doesn't solve the problem of having limited access to technology, but it does open it up for a plethora of other avenues to explore. One thing you could do is use kids phones to incorporate different technology uses. That is assuming all your kids have phones and have the data usage. You could do different actives that allows students to incorporate their phones. Another idea is if your school has laptops that can be checked out, you could reserve them weekly or bi-weekly to do projects. You could use a digital camera and have kids make stories, document, etc their days and write about them. I understand it's difficult to truly incorporate technology, most teachers/students have limited access.
ReplyDeleteMy literacy research project this semester is on keeping students engaged! I'll let you know "hopefully" what counts as engagement and how to foster it when I'm done. I'm wondering the same things right now.
Hi Megan! I enjoyed reading your blog post! I think just using the internet can be useful to teach multimodal texts, and also can help to engage students!! If we just have a projector connected to a computer with an internet connection, I can think of endless ways to motivate and engage the class. If the class is learning about outer space, there are websites that allow students to see pictures, videos, and read facts about all of the planets. If the class is learning about grammar, there are so many videos on YouTube that have catchy songs that can help students learn a grammar concept. The class can also take a virtual field trip with the projector to a place that is being discussed, for example, The White House. Sometimes it may be preferred for each student to have technology to use, but hopefully you can find access to the computer lab on a regular schedule for student research. I think many students can be engaged with the use of technology, but I think it also has a lot to do with interest and choice. Maybe you could assign a research project where the students get a choice to study something in depth that has been talked about in class that they are interested in. I think this may help to build student excitement for the assignment!! :)
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