Chapter 3 Review

 Learning Log 2

 

        While most people would not deny the importance of literacy skills today, I found it interesting that studies reveal as students age, reading abilities decline. One reason for this is that the importance of literacy seems to be stressed more at the elementary level rather than in the upper grades. The authors also find that declining reading levels can be attributed to a lack of texts that interests the readers, as they reach the upper grades. Furthermore, reading is not being experienced as much or in the right ways in secondary schools. For these reasons, students are not developing into good readers. But what seems to be the source for all these problems seems to stem from a lack of motivation on the students' part.

            For this reason, instilling motivation in students may be one of the greatest responsibilities of a teacher. At first, I thought this sounded daunting. Chapter Two revealed that students, especially boys, must be motivated to read by supplying them with books they are interested in. But how can a teacher accomplish such a feat, when every student is different, with different interests? Meanwhile they have a responsibility to teach a certain curriculum, and surely not every student will find it interesting. But Chapter Three asserts that motivation actually stems from a student's prior knowledge, not necessarily an innate interest in the subject matter. Assessing and building on students' prior knowledge before a lesson even begins will greatly impact a student's desire to learn the subject matter. It directly impacts their affective domain.

            Schema theory helps explain why assessing prior knowledge is necessary for learners. According to the text "learning new information depends on relating the new to something already known. To make sense of the world, the learner must relate new information to previously learned information by drawing a schema, mental blueprint" (page 56). We learn by chunking new information with the old information we already know. Limited or incorrect prior knowledge can make the job of the teacher tricky, as to avoid cognitive dissonance: a motivational state of tension resulting from an inconsistency in one's attitude, beliefs, perceived behaviors, etc..." (page 59). If a student knows little to nothing about a subject before he/she reads about it, they may shut down completely and all motivation to gain anything from the lesson will be lost. In this case, the teacher must be able to bridge the gape of knowledge and relate the subject matter to something the student already knows/understands.

            I was a little uncertain of how to magically bridge the gape of knowledge but, thankfully, the chapter outlined some very useful strategies that can help address and build prior knowledge.

 

Prelearning Concept Check

This exposes students to vocabulary they may encounter in the reading and also shows the teacher how much the students already know about the topic. Students are given a list of topic-centered words/concepts and vocabulary and they simply place a (+) sign for every word or concept they fully understand, check mark for everything they know a little about and a (-) for things they do not know at all.

 

Story Impressions

Using a list similar to one used during a Prelearning Concept Check, but in a specific order according to the text, students write a story in which they predict what the text will be about. While I can understand this strategies usefulness, this is probably my least favorite strategy. Not all students are able to make their writing reflect how their mind is working, or how much they really understand the topic. I think that decoding a student's prior knowledge from this activity may be more time consuming than it is worth.

The classic K-W-L

What students know (or think they know), what they want to learn, and what they actually learned. A variation of this is the WIKA or What I already know, What I'd like to know and What I know now. This form of K-W-L translates into a graphic organizer like the one on page 65. These are always great ways to assess and build prior knowledge.

 

Rewriting Text

This is one of my favorites and I want to get good (fast) at doing this for my students. So many students read at different levels in a given classroom, especially with so many ESL students today. Based on studies, we know that if a text is too high or below a reader's level, the reader will lose motivation and the learning ceases. It would be impossible to assume that all texts can be found at multiple reading levels, so it becomes the teacher's responsibility to tailor texts. But the formula for using different words to reveal the same ideas, indentifying key concepts, reformulating difficult words, shortening sentences and basically rewriting whole texts sometimes several times can be time consuming. Perhaps with enough practice I can get quick at it. Another idea is having an online community where teachers can upload their rewrites at varying levels, and once it becomes common practice, it may be very easy to find the texts I want in a flash. Better yet, someone should develop a program that rewrites text for us. Unfortunately, I could see how some students might take advantage of such a program.

Written Previews

Basically this is a short summary and can sometimes take the place of Rewrites.

 

Anticipation Guides

This is a really good one. Students make predictions about the text, and in turn their curiosity is piqued and become motivation to read the text. This strategy integrates technology well, such as with the use of a clicker. I've used this strategy with a clicker as a student in the past and I can say with certainty that I became more motivated to learn. Lists can also be formulated, such as the one on page 72, in which students decide which scenarios are more plausible. After the reading is completed, they return to the list to assess their new findings.

Factstorming

This helps assess prior knowledge of the whole class in which the class participated in creating a list of facts about the subject they will be reading.

 

Prep Strategy

This helps builds background knowledge because after factstorming generates a list of facts, students reflect on why they gave those responses (thus building associations through schema), and finally new ideas (or more correct ideas) can be reformulated into the associations.

 

Analogies

This is where students make comparisons between familiar and less familiar concepts. It's simple to create and it seems a lot of people like them so it must stimulate motivate for learning, but it doesn't really seem to work very well for me. I think it just confuses me more.