As I was reading this chapter I was amazed how much the book coincided with this class for a number of reasons. The most prevalent was the selecting of texts. Dornan, Rosen, and Wilson are discouraged that most classrooms center around one text. They stress the importance of helping students to find books that they really connect with. After all, as educators we want to help encourage the passion of reading. I think that Penny allowing each of us each to choose a text that interested us was a great idea. It was exactly what the authors of this book were suggesting. I know that it is not always going to be attainable in the classroom setting to have students choose his/her own text book, however, it is certainly possible that they could choose their own supplemental reading.
This chapter then discussed taking these self selected texts and using them to prompt class discussion. This way each person in the class has something a little different to contribute. (Now this is really starting to sound like collective knowledge)
I totally agree with the authors when they write their recommended list of texts to have available in the classroom. I've been collecting books for awhile now, which I want to include in my classroom library someday. Dornan, Rosen, and Wilson suggest incorporating multiple works into the classroom and lesson plans including: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, works by and about women, and multicultural readings.
They then go on to suggest that supplemental reading works so much better when they are incorporated into the course structure as an integral part of the information load. They suggest many ways to do this such as: assigned readings, independent readings combined with performance, presentation, or report, projects, collaborative work, and reading workshop.
For anybody planning on teaching mathematics, there were some great lesson plans for incorporating reading and writing into this content area. One suggestion is having students research famous mathematicians and having them write a "biopoem" about them. Another suggestion was having students research a math concept and then write a short paper on the concept informing the rest of the class. I remember someone asking in last week's ellumination session about what math teachers could do to increase reading and writing in class. Hope this helps. I thought these two ideas were great.
I also would agree that allowing us to select our own books as well as providing self-prompted discussion about them is a great way to model how we should promote literacy in our classrooms. Teachers at the K-12 level obviously don't seem to do this as much which only hinders the creative development process. Another thing that Lorraine Wilson suggests is to allow students to develop the questions as well as the answers to questions that some authors didn't necessarily complete. I think this is another great way to promote literacy in a non-threatening positive way.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time in a class I was able to choose my own supplemental text. At first I was a little concerned about how all these different texts would get translated in such a short class, but I am pleasantly surprised how well it is working. I, in a sense, get to read twenty or more different books in a few weeks! I think that when appropriate, students should get the opportunity to do the same.
ReplyDeleteIn school, when the teacher let me pick the book, I was always more inclined to read that then the assigned textbook. Choices allow students to feel as though they are valued and their choices are valued. When students feel valued, I think they often will see education in a positive light, rather than something they have to do.
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