In this week's reading of D & Z, the authors wrote about the superficial nature of textbooks. Though the books are incredibly massive and contain insane amounts of pages, the books "just scratch the surface". The books "contain too much material." The authors then delve into how detailed the textbooks by looking at a history book.
I find this incredibly ironic that D & Z talk about how dependent US schools are on the textbooks and how the textbooks are superficial. Why are US schools dependent on the books? Could it be because they are trying to appease the standards? Could it be so that students have a "fair" shot at learning many of the standards? Nawwwww....
As an aside, I think the section on what we can do to combat the horrific textbook epidemic is spot on. Teachers also control how the book is used (if at all). So we have the capability to do serious damage to this problem. Unless we are required to follow modules and use textbook resources in order to better prepare our students to do well on county issued unit tests. Then we are back at square one.
WA
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Monday, September 23, 2013
Rationale for Adolescent Literacy
In this chapter of Bean, Baldwin, and Readence, they set the table for what is to come by asking and answering "Why?". What is the importance of content focused reading? Why should all teachers be accountable for reading skills?
Well, without knowing background information and/or vocabulary, our students are unable to grasp the material presented in the textbooks. They struggle to comprehend what each paragraph is conveying, therefore, missing the entire point of reading the passage. They are unable to read to learn, and would be behind in the classroom.
How do we combat this? BBR laid out a few ways for teachers to do so. BBR suggests that teachers become facilitators "between readers and texts." Teachers should promote the construction of meaning between the words of the authors. The teacher could also tailor the message or give a focus for the students to read for. There are many others, but these are a few that I thought to be more pertinent.
WA
Well, without knowing background information and/or vocabulary, our students are unable to grasp the material presented in the textbooks. They struggle to comprehend what each paragraph is conveying, therefore, missing the entire point of reading the passage. They are unable to read to learn, and would be behind in the classroom.
How do we combat this? BBR laid out a few ways for teachers to do so. BBR suggests that teachers become facilitators "between readers and texts." Teachers should promote the construction of meaning between the words of the authors. The teacher could also tailor the message or give a focus for the students to read for. There are many others, but these are a few that I thought to be more pertinent.
WA
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Reflection #2 - Real Rigor
In Tovani's Chapter 4: Real Rigor, she discusses her opinion on text and textbooks. She tells of a US History course's problem with the textbook being way too difficult for its readers. "The reading material is often above their grade level and inconsiderately written." She also says that the emphasis on "coverage" over content has led education as a whole to rely on this kind of text in the classroom.
Tovani then details "rigor" and how it applies to the classroom. She talks of how the rigor of a reading assignment should be forged by each student. Since the students all read at different levels and paces, the struggling readers should be given material "that is worthy of their time, something that they actually have the potential to understand." Tovani writes about how she aided a student who was assigned To Kill a Mockingbird. She was able to develop a level of understanding through other, more accessible texts. She helped the student find texts that would help her develop understanding of To Kill a Mockingbird. This instance brought up her ideas about text sets. She developed text sets to help struggling readers make connections with literature to their content area. The texts were accessible to the students and more easily read.
There are many takeaways from this chapter. Though I believe reading in math is of a little less importance than reading in US History, the text sets and accessibility of texts would greatly benefit students in my classroom. I know that students often have to relearn or teach themselves the material that we went over in class. If the only resource they have to do so is the textbook, they are in trouble. Our Algebra II text is similar to the textbooks that Tovani wrote about. They are higher level (especially when detailing procedures). Though I cannot "dumb down" the text, I can certainly provide sites and books that would aid the struggling reader. There are multiple websites that do just that. The students can access them at any time. And the best part about these sites? They are fun. Highly interactive and highly informational.
I don't want my students to give up on math just because they do not get it. I want them to know that there are many other ways that I help. I can provide them with the best foundation for them to succeed, whether it's in the textbook, my lecture, or at home on mathisfun.com. And one of my favorite quotes that we had at Milligan Baseball was "Find a Way." In teaching, I must find a way to help ALL of my students, no matter the task.
WA
Tovani then details "rigor" and how it applies to the classroom. She talks of how the rigor of a reading assignment should be forged by each student. Since the students all read at different levels and paces, the struggling readers should be given material "that is worthy of their time, something that they actually have the potential to understand." Tovani writes about how she aided a student who was assigned To Kill a Mockingbird. She was able to develop a level of understanding through other, more accessible texts. She helped the student find texts that would help her develop understanding of To Kill a Mockingbird. This instance brought up her ideas about text sets. She developed text sets to help struggling readers make connections with literature to their content area. The texts were accessible to the students and more easily read.
There are many takeaways from this chapter. Though I believe reading in math is of a little less importance than reading in US History, the text sets and accessibility of texts would greatly benefit students in my classroom. I know that students often have to relearn or teach themselves the material that we went over in class. If the only resource they have to do so is the textbook, they are in trouble. Our Algebra II text is similar to the textbooks that Tovani wrote about. They are higher level (especially when detailing procedures). Though I cannot "dumb down" the text, I can certainly provide sites and books that would aid the struggling reader. There are multiple websites that do just that. The students can access them at any time. And the best part about these sites? They are fun. Highly interactive and highly informational.
I don't want my students to give up on math just because they do not get it. I want them to know that there are many other ways that I help. I can provide them with the best foundation for them to succeed, whether it's in the textbook, my lecture, or at home on mathisfun.com. And one of my favorite quotes that we had at Milligan Baseball was "Find a Way." In teaching, I must find a way to help ALL of my students, no matter the task.
WA
Web Resource Evaluation - MathIsFun.com
For my web resource evaluation, I chose MathIsFun.com. I have used this site multiple times in my experiences with students, both as a tutor and an educator. I really like this site, as it is highly interactive. It also has a page for fun and informational games, a page for puzzles, and a dictionary for math vocabulary. There is a measurement section that pulls in some science ideas, also.
The site is intended for students of practically all ages (includes the absolute basics all the way through trigonometry). Each topic is like a mini-lesson. They include detailed examples that are easy to follow and use terminology that the students can comprehend. Each lesson also has questions to test the student's knowledge (a "Hard" section as well for enrichment!!).
Lesson on Dividing Fractions (examples & questions)
One of the "Hard" questions from the Lesson on Dividing Fractions
The site does not require any sign-up or fee to operate. All of the lessons are completely free and available to any internet user. There are very few ads (and you can "hide" the ads that are visible). Adult supervision is not necessary, but would likely help with the younger students' understanding of the material.
Math Is Fun is laden with pros and the cons are very scarce. I really like how interactive the site is. It is appealing to the eye, which would make students more apt to play around on the site. Math is Fun is also incredibly informational. The lessons are very detailed, yet easy to understand. The lessons also connect to other lessons, which is great if the students find themselves yearning for more. The only con that I could envision is the lack of connections between content areas.
Overall, MathIsFun.com is a great online resource for math students AND teachers. I certainly will continue using the site.
WA
Sunday, September 8, 2013
REED 461 Reflection 1 - Reading Supports for All
My first reading reflection is from one of the articles we were required to read. My book is on back order and should be in sometime this week (Thanks, Amazon). Nevertheless, here is reflection #1!
The article, entitled Reading Supports for All, by Fitzgerald and Graves, is about how teachers can better reach English Language Learners through reading exercises. Teachers are shown multiple instances in which scaffolding enables the ELL's to make their own connections from their native language into English.
Teachers are also introduced to SRE's (Scaffolding Reading Experiences). SRE's are frameworks in which teachers facilitate learning through the text. The SRE's allow the teacher to "slice" goals for the ELL's. This "slicing" refers to how goals should be tailored to the ELL's capabilities. The lesson would then be suitable for ALL students regardless of their native language.
In math, I could use the pre-reading activities to preteach the important vocabulary terms. I could have the ELL's focus on the single most important term. The students could read a few paragraphs of the chapter to get a basis. The ELL's would be able to focus on what they know and/or look at the numerical depictions of the procedure. I could then break the students into groups in order for them to teach one another. The students could share their knowledge. The discussion aspect for ELL's is probably the most important take-away from this article, in my opinion.
WA
The article, entitled Reading Supports for All, by Fitzgerald and Graves, is about how teachers can better reach English Language Learners through reading exercises. Teachers are shown multiple instances in which scaffolding enables the ELL's to make their own connections from their native language into English.
Teachers are also introduced to SRE's (Scaffolding Reading Experiences). SRE's are frameworks in which teachers facilitate learning through the text. The SRE's allow the teacher to "slice" goals for the ELL's. This "slicing" refers to how goals should be tailored to the ELL's capabilities. The lesson would then be suitable for ALL students regardless of their native language.
In math, I could use the pre-reading activities to preteach the important vocabulary terms. I could have the ELL's focus on the single most important term. The students could read a few paragraphs of the chapter to get a basis. The ELL's would be able to focus on what they know and/or look at the numerical depictions of the procedure. I could then break the students into groups in order for them to teach one another. The students could share their knowledge. The discussion aspect for ELL's is probably the most important take-away from this article, in my opinion.
WA
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