Chapter 6 Review

Learning Log 6

            I have to really agree with the section on "Why textbooks cannot stand alone." I never really considered how important it was to use other forms/modes of text in conjunction with a textbook in the classroom, but everything the authors stated about this makes sense. This section gave many reasons why textbooks can not stand alone. First, they stated that textbooks contain too broad a range of information, are written impassively and usually only contain secondary sources. Therefore students are less likely going to be motivated to learn the material because it's presented in a boring way and the information is too dense. It becomes impersonal to them; they have less of a chance making connections with what they read. And if it's too technical, struggling readers and ELL students will have a difficult time comprehending the material. Secondly, relying only on the textbooks to learn information gives students the wrong idea about how to seek out reliable sources for information. They assume that using just one resource for homework or a project is satisfactory. Third, classrooms tend to have outdated versions of textbooks as well. Fourth, textbooks are often used as the curriculum, rather than being just a guide for the curriculum. Lastly, schools in lower income areas don't always have the funds to make textbooks available for all students. For these reasons, having a variety of different types of text as supplemental material is really crucial for students' learning potential.

            So what does this mean to me as a pre-service teacher? It means I have to be on the lookout for a variety of texts that can be used in conjunction with student textbooks. I love the book's suggestion of keeping a personal database (page 139). I should pay attention to literature that reflects a variety of student interests, hobbies and cultures, as well as digital forms of media, like blogs, interactive websites, online articles and videos. What I think will be challenging for me is that I need to keep an eye open for things that ELL students will need, such as visual representations that relate to content they will be reading about. It's hard for me to understand how to teach bilingual students. I know I didn't do well in any of my Spanish classes in high school, whether from my inability to grasp another language or my teachers' inability to teach it to me. For me, I never had a good example of learning anything in a classroom in which English wasn't spoken.

            I will definitely use the strategy of read-aloud in my classroom. I've seen it work very well in the classrooms I observed. The students, I mean all the students, loved read-aloud time and even the most hyperactive students were completely attentive and captivated by the stories that were read to them. I can understand why some teachers would abandon this strategy at the upper levels, but I was surprised that the book still insists that it's necessary. Now that I think about it, it does make sense: for centuries humans orally telling tales to an audience. I guess it's in our genes to want to listen to someone tell us a story. I was also surprised by the high school boy's thoughts towards read-aloud, saying, "When you read to us, then I know how it's supposed to sound in my head when I read so that I can understand it" (page 140).

 Literature Circles can be applied to non-fiction and all content areas. The following is the book's example of how a literature circle might work with a scientific text.

 
Tasks for a Science-Content Area Literature Circle:

• Science Translator- records important words and their definitions within the text
• Science Biographer- reports on notable people involved in the topic
• Fact Finder- finds more detail and facts outside of the source
• Everyday Life Connector- finds how the topic relates to everyday life 

Assessing the readability of a textbook involves evaluating many factors:

1. Whether the book is well suited to the reading level of the reader

2. Eliminate texts with "inconsiderate discourse" or loose organization, lack of discernible style, incorrect syntax and incoherent passages

3. Must have textual coherence and dumbed-down text. Global Coherence refers to making sure main ideas span the entire text, while Local Coherence involves many kinds of cues within sentences that connect ideas at the more immediate level (page 148).

4.  Make a checklist which analyzes the book's readability factors, which is better than using a readability formula which only takes into account the length of words and sentences and other factors listed on page 156. Factors on checklist should include:

a) linguistic factors

b) writing style

c) conceptual factors

d) learning aids

e) other factors like illustrations, format and book appearance

5. Have students use the "rule of thumb" or as the book describes it the rule of fingers and fist

6. Have students use the Cloze procedure on a selection of text. It seems like this procedure is a good way to assess prior knowledge in the preparation phase of a lesson, perhaps better than its intended purpose to assess students' readability level.

7. Have students use the Maze procedure (which is a better version of the Close)