Sticky Notes, Highlighters, and Pens. Oh my!

If you're like me, you sometimes will read an entire page (or chapter) and then realize that you have absolutely no idea what you just read. So then you have to go back and read the whole thing over again which wastes even more time. Generally, when students are reading for school, they are trying to get it done as quickly as possible so that they can move on to TV or video games. For me, I'm usually trying to finish so that I can go to sleep. (College life.) So, this extra time spent going back to reread a section of a book seems like a complete waste. Often, students will not even take the time to reread the section because of that waste of time. So how do we combat this? Use their time to get the most out of their reading so that they can move on to more fun things?

Cris Tovani, author of Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?, suggests a few different tools that teachers can use to help students hold onto their thinking so that they can use it later in class or on assignments. Some of the tools she lists include using highlighters and sticky notes. (Side note: I am probably in the minority, but there's nothing that I love more than new school supplies in all different colors. So the thought of new sticky notes and highlighters that color coordinate with topics? Sign me up.) Along with those tools, Tovani also mentions different worksheets that she gives her students called "Comprehension Constructors" and includes a blank template in the back of the book for other teachers' use.

As I was reading this chapter, I found myself agreeing with a lot of what Tovani was saying about holding students' thinking while reading, but still having some questions. For example, I know that I've said in the past how I love math and plan on teaching it soon. How can I take the tools that Tovani is providing me with and apply them to a math class? She gave one example in this chapter, but I'd like to sit down with her and pick her brain on this idea.

I also really loved that Tovani gave some very practical tools for teachers to use. As I learn more and more about teaching, grading comes more to the forefront of my mind when planning assessments. Tovani spent a lengthy amount of time talking about helping her students learn to use sticky notes in books when reading to ask questions, make comments, and communicate with the text which is all great! But then how do teachers know that students have done that assignment? It's incredibly difficult to take home all of the books to grade, but Tovani gave an example of how to help out with that problem. She has her students write the page number of the book that the students put the sticky note on the note, and then the students put all of their sticky notes onto a sheet of paper. Voila! Suddenly a teacher goes from carrying home 150 books, to a folder full of papers to grade. Not to mention the lack of page turning to search for the notes.

I appreciate how Tovani writes. She is engaging and shares her struggles and pitfalls. It is encouraging to see how she works with students and little by little helps them to become more proficient readers.

"Content Literacy - the ability of someone to interact with and use strategies to interpret the content of some subject (in its own language) including being able to speak, listen to, read, and write in that language"

{Sassy}

Content Literacy for a Non-Education Major

Content Literacy is a concept that needs to be explored by each person. It will look different when you explore its work in your life and mine. Not to say that we won't have similar experiences, but a lot of our ideas and thoughts about it will be different. And that's a great thing!

For example: I have four older sisters, all of whom are married and have children. Two of them have decided to homeschool their kids in conjunction with a co-op group. In this group, the parents each have to teach a few classes during the school year. Over spring break, I spent some time with one of my sisters that is going through this process and she shared about some of what she's been doing. She is an extremely talented artist, so it's not surprising that the group asked her to teach some of the art classes. What is surprising though, is that they also are having her teach a couple of math classes. As I've said before on here, math is SO my thing. I love it and it makes sense to me. Not so much for my sister.

Of course I was interested in this class that she was to teach so I asked questions. My nieces piped in telling me that they were learning about circumferences. It seems like a simple enough subject, but for my sister who is 35 and probably hasn't had a math class since her freshman year of college, it might be difficult. She had to take the "basic" principals that she learned so long ago, and remember how she learned them. She had to put herself into her students' shoes and re-learn this subject. And this is what we all should be doing as teachers. A topic that may seem so basic to us will not be basic at all to our students. It's not just teaching a formula and how to plug numbers in. It's teaching kids the why and how behind that formula. My sister had to learn how to read as a math teacher and then as a math student again. If that isn't content literacy in action, I don't know what is!

And I think that this doesn't happen as often as it should. Parents should be helping their students with their homework, but often parents have forgotten the material and simply send their kids to tutors. What if we came up with a way for parents to remember how to read for those specific contents? Then they could help their students and maybe the students could help their parents as well? What would that look like?

Update: Apparently the class went well, (we talked on the phone last night) and my nieces seemed to understand the concept pretty well! I hope in the future to help my sister to create lesson plans for these math classes, possibly getting some artwork in return :)

What do y'all think?

"Content Literacy - the ability of someone to interact with and use strategies to interpret the content of some subject (in its own language) including being able to speak, listen to, read, and write in that language"

{Sassy}

What's the Point?

Each time I read a section from the book* that our class is using as a "textbook", I learn more about what it looks like to be a good reader. Many things that good readers do, they don't even notice. For example: Good readers ask themselves questions while they are reading to make sure that they understand the content. If they don't, they go back and reread the section. I don't know about you, but I did not even realize I did that. If someone had asked me last year what I did to be a "good reader", I probably would not be able to tell them. Now, I have begun recognizing some of the strategies I use that make me a good reader.

Something that Tovani discussed was the fact that good readers are able to recognize a purpose for every text that they read. Sometimes the purpose is pleasure or to let our minds escape to another world. Most of the time reading in a classroom does not have either of those purposes though. Usually the purpose sounds more like "to learn about this topic" or "to gain understanding of a subject". Those sound incredibly, mind-numbingly boring. I don't even want to read things that have that as a purpose and I'm a growing teacher! So let's change the purpose of the readings that we give to our students. We need to help our students find value in reading the texts that we give them. They need to see a reason to read the texts.

Tovani also introduced these things called a "conversation voice" and a "reciting voice". Our reciting voice is the voice in our head that reads the words, but that is all. The words go in one ear and out the other. It's what causes us to have to go back and read the whole chapter over again. Our "conversation voice" is the voice that helps us to have a conversation with the text. It asks questions and looks for understanding. Helping students to be able to recognize the different between these voices will help them to comprehend what they are reading and stay focused. I've done this my whole life and never had the correct words to describe it, but now I do! Thanks Tovani!

In addition to this, I have had something else that has been heavy on my heart this week. Recently, a bill entitled "SB 167" has been passed in the Senate. It is basically a bill that will keep Georgia from using any nation-wide curriculum such as Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. It will also prevent students from being able to take any testing not created in Georgia including AP tests as well as the SAT and ACT. This bill is very scary to me both as a student and future teacher. I encourage you, if you're reading this, to contact your local representative about this bill as it is going to the House for a vote soon. I contacted the two representatives in my city and actually got an email response from one of them. Who knows what we can do when we all join together and share our concerns?

"Content Literacy - the ability of someone to interact with and use strategies to interpret the content of some subject (in its own language) including being able to speak, listen to, read, and write in that language"

{Sassy}

*Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? by Cris Tovani