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Date: April 12, 2023

Title: "A Different Kind of Reading Instruction: Using Visualizing to Bridge Reading Comprehension and Critical Literacy" by Jie Y. Park

Reflection: Talk to one classmate about what stood out to him or her in the assigned course reading(s) and share how your reading process was similar or different

Big Take-Away: Visualizing assists in improve reading comprehension and understanding critical literacy.

Nugget: "Adolescents need to become critical consumers and producers of texts and make informed life choices as they encounter and navigate an increasingly complex and ever-changing world" (Park, 2012).

I read “A Different Kind of Reading Instruction: Using Visualizing to Bridge Reading Comprehension and Critical Literacy” by Jie Y. Park. This article discussed how the author was able to document adolescent readers’ visualization while researching a voluntary, after- school book club for seventh and eighth-grade girls (Park, 2012). One way that the author promoted student critical thinking skills was to encourage students to bring their own questions and interests to the book club, rather than preparing prompts and questions for them. By doing so, the author was able to gain a better understanding of how the students were learning and engaging with the critical literacy, as well as their critical thinking skills (Park, 2012). For this readerly exploration, I talked to a classmate about how she processed the material vs. how I processed it. She said that she read the information and would go back as necessary if she did not understand something. She also took notes on what the article was saying, in order to remember what she was reading better. When I read the article, I read continuously, stopping to re-read parts that I thought were important. I would make a mental note of where they were in the text, and went back to those areas after I finished the article as a reminder. We both thought that learning through observing a book club was a great way to understand what the students were thinking.

Park, J. Y. (2012). "A Different Kind of Reading Instruction: Using Visualizing to Bridge Reading Comprehension and Critical Literacy." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 55(7).

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Date: March 20, 2023

Title: "Four Practical Principles for Enhancing Vocabulary Instruction," by Manyak et. al.

Reflection: Before you read, skim the assigned course reading(s) for unfamiliar terms. Then, take the time to look up the definitions of those terms.

Big Take-Away: It is clear that there is a need for effective vocabulary instruction throughout the elementary grades.

Nugget: "Teachers should invest time in planning in order to streamline the word introduction routine, stick with a small number of routines and continually seek to refine them" (Manyak, et. al., 2014).

The article, “Four Practical Principles for Enhancing Vocabulary Instruction," by Manyak et. al. discussed the importance of effective vocabulary instruction. One of the most interesting things to me was that teachers should be providing students with fast-paced experiences with the words, rather than moving slowly (Manyak, 2014). Thinking about this made me think about how I will pace information as a future educator, because I want to be fast-paced enough to keep students engaged, but not so much that it confuses them. In order to best engage with this article, I skimmed through the article before reading, looking for unfamiliar words. Being that this is an article about vocabulary, I believe that understanding the words used is important. From skimming through the article, it was clear that I would not have understood that area of the reading as well as others. As stated in the article, “Several reviews of vocabulary instruction research have pointed to the vital role of students’ deep processing of new words and meanings” (Manyak, 2014). Therefore, before I read the article, I wanted to ensure that I understood the vocabulary, so I could process the content more deeply.

Manyak, P. C., Von Gunten, H., Authenrieth, D., Gillis, C., O'Farrell, J., Irvine-McDermott, E., Maumann, J. F., Blachowiz, C. (2014). "Four Practical Principles for Enhancing Vocabulary Instruction." The Reading Teacher, 68(1), 13-23.

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Date: February 20

Title: Tompkins, Chapter 9

Reflection: Choose an excerpt from your assigned course reading(s) and share with a friend in another major to get his or her insight and perspective on it

Big Take-Away: Text factors are a great way to promote comprehension, as it often helps students to organize their thoughts.

Nugget: Teachers do not grade students on their knowledge of text factors, but it is demonstrate in oral or visual presentations.

Similar to chapter 8, chapter 9 of Tompkins discussed how text factors promote comprehension. In this chapter, Tompkins discussed various examples of text factors and how they vary from genre to genre. While reading this chapter, I considered my own experiences with each genre and how the text features present helped me to comprehend what I was reading. I also took notice of the illustration of the plot diagram (Figure 9-3), because the students were learning about plot in my field experience this semester (Tompkins, 2018). Figure 9-5 was also a helpful reminder of the various graphic organizers, which made me reflect on the different graphic organizers I have encountered, and which I find to be the most effective. I talked to a psychology major about text factors. I shared the “Assessing Students’ Knowledge of Text Factors” portion of the text, which is on pages 316-317, and talks about how teachers use the four-step cycle to integrate assessment and instruction (Tompkins, 2018). He shared with me that his eighth grade English teacher taught him how to use many different types of graphic organizers, which helped him to better remember content. He also said that he still uses these graphic organizers in his college courses, in order to remember the content at hand, which is especially helpful when studying. I showed him Figure 9-5b which had examples, to ask if he used any of those frequently, and he shared that he enjoys using the “Cause and Effect” organizer; it was most helpful in Abnormal Psychology and Research Methods.

Tompkins, G. (2018). Literacy for 21st Century: A Balanced Approach. Pearson.

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Date: February 16

Title: Tompkins, Chapter 8

Reflection: Learn something about the author of the assigned course reading(s) and use that to draw conclusions about the motivation behind the reading or the credibility/ quality of the writing.

Big Take-Away: Reader factors assist students in improving their comprehension skills.

Nugget: Many English language learners may struggle to understand content, because they lack the background knowledge.

Chapter 8 of Tompkins’ text discusses promoting comprehension with reader factors. It is essential to get students to a point of comprehension, because comprehension is the goal of reading (Tompkins, 2018). Throughout the chapter, it discussed various reader factors and how they are used. In order to demonstrate the importance of reader factors and comprehension, the author introduced three fifth grade students- one that is advanced, one that is capable, and one that is struggling- and got their take on why comprehension is important (Tompkins, 2018). By looking at those students’ abilities and their definitions of comprehension, it shows a linear relationship between skill level and understanding of comprehension. From reading this, I was interested in the author’s area of study and reasons for expressing the importance of comprehension. I found that Gail Tompkins is Professor Emerita at California State University, and also works with the San Joaquin Valley Writing Project. With the Writing Project, she works with teachers in their kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms and leads staff development on reading, language arts, and writing. This information about her being rooted in reading and writing has given me a better understanding of her motivations for promoting comprehension through reader factors.

Tompkins, G. (2018). Literacy for 21st Century: A Balanced Approach. Pearson. 

[alannaw]

Date: January 30

Title: Tompkins, Chapter 1

Reflection: Identify a song that communicates the same or similar big ideas of the assigned reading and choose an excerpt that represents those shared ideals.

Big Take-Away: Teachers of readers must be intentional about their strategies and scaffolding in order to give students the best skills to learn to read.

Nugget: Teachers use some assessment activities before they begin to teach, some while they are teaching, and others afterward.

Chapter 1 of the Tompkins’ text discussed how to become an effective teacher of reading. Throughout this chapter, it talked about how it is essential to know how students learn, how to use the cueing system, creating a community of learners, adopting a balanced approach to instruction, scaffolding, organizing, differentiating, and linking instruction with assessment. By doing all of these things in instruction, students will learn how to read efficiently. After reading this chapter, I wanted to find a song that talked about the effective teachers or the impact that a teacher makes. I found the song “You Have Made a Difference” by Brian Asselin. While this song does not directly relate to teaching reading, it talks about the impact that teachers have on their students. This song made me go back to the text and think more deeply about how much of an impact being an effective teacher of readers can be for a student. In Tompkins, it says, “Teachers provide the greatest amount of support when they model how expert readers read and expert writers write” (2018). When a teacher is effective in modeling good reading and helping students develop those skills, they can make a big difference on the students’ academic abilities. The impact that teachers have on their students ability to read and write relates to the overall difference that teachers have on students, which is demonstrated in “You Have Made a Difference.”

Song: "You Have Made a Difference" by Brian Asselin

Tompkins, G. (2018). Literacy for 21st Century: A Balanced Approach. Pearson. 

[alannaw]

Date: January 23

Title(s): Tompkins, Chapters 2 and 6

Reflection:

Big Take-Away: Reading more make someone a better writer, and writing more makes someone a better reader; the processes compliment each other and help increase fluency and automaticity.

Nugget: I did not realize that most students have become fluent readers and writers by fourth grade (Tompkins, 2018).

Chapter 2 of Tompkins’ text covered the reading and writing processes. Chapter 6 covered “Developing Fluent Readers and Writers,” which talked about how students develop fluency, as well as the obstacles that English language learners and dysfluent learners may face. By practicing reading more, an individual also becomes a better writer, and by practicing writing more, an individual also becomes a better reader; they are reciprocal processes (Tompkins, 2018). For this reflection, I took an on-campus field trip to the Writing Center. While at the Writing Center, I looked at their handouts about introductions, conclusions, and writing a thesis. I also talked to one of the tutors that has been working there for a year, where we discussed the writing process and how she uses that when writing her own essays, as well as when critiquing other peoples’ papers. This tutor said she believes that one of the stages that is the most important to her is the revising stage, because that shows that a draft does not need to be perfect and can always be improved. From going to the Writing Center, I learned about individual parts of writing (introductions and conclusions), as well as talked about the importance of the writing process, according to Tompkins, with one of the tutors. 

Tompkins, G. (2018). Literacy for 21st Century: A Balanced Approach. Pearson.

[alannaw]

Date: January 9, 2023

Title(s): Tompkins, Chapter 3 & Brighton Article

Reflection: Get inspiration from the assigned course reading(s) to find and read another text from a different genre or format and connect the two in some way.

Big Take-Away: Effective teachers assess students' literacy development using a number of different strategies, such as through reading levels, evaluating and reflecting, and having students document their own progress with portfolios.

Nugget: Having students document their work in portfolios helps students and teacher stay organized and track progress.

Chapter 3 of Tompkins' text discussed students’ literacy development and how to monitor that. There are gifted students that work at an accelerated pace compared to their peers. As discussed in the Brighton article, students that are gifted are the ones that are being left behind, because most teachers/ schools are putting their resources into those that are falling behind in the content. Therefore, many of the gifted students are not being challenged as much as they should be, which would help them continue learning and growing as much as possible. The first thing that I did was read the Tompkins chapter followed by the Brighton article. From there, I began to consider what I saw in my own experience and in field placements. What I have seen corresponds to the readings, in which gifted students are not challenged as much as they could be, causing them to have behavioral issues and be bored in class. After completing the readings, I found a video from Vanderbilt University, which talked about gifted students, and how the academic content often does not meet their needs, or at least not in a way that helps them grow as much as they could. This video reinforced the idea that gifted students are getting lost in the shuffle of education, which really opened my eyes and showed me how important it is to provide all students with enrichment and appropriate resources. 

Tompkins, G. (2018). Literacy for 21st Century: A Balanced Approach. Pearson. 

Brighton et. al. (2015), "Advanced Readers in Reading First Classrooms Who was Really 'Left Behind?' Considerations for the Field of Gifted Education"