Chapter 2 of Subjects Matter talks about the difficulties we face when exploring a child's understanding of reading comprehension. The short excerpt that I read opened my eyes to the different ideas of reading comprehension and how we are so quick to judge a child for not understanding the text. Growing up in the Common Core Standards of schooling and curriculum, I understand what it means when the author explains why it is difficult for kids to really comprehend the texts they are reading. We were taught the important part of learning something was getting the question right instead of actually understanding what the text meant and retaining the information we were given. Now that we are able to learn from our mistakes, we are able to actually see the importance of understanding and comprehending instead of memorizing and dumbing the information when we are done with it. This provides teachers with a very helpful ability to give students tools for success they will use for the rest of their lives. This excerpt continues explaining multiple strategies we as teachers can use to help kids better understand the texts they are reading, including "Thinking Strategies of Effective Readers" and the "Columbus Key". Throughout my 20 years on this planet I have never heard of those two tips for reading, but now that I understand what they are I wish I would have heard of them sooner. These strategies have the ability to give our future students a tool that can help them decipher anything you put in front of them. I believe this is the future of teaching and the advancement of teaching in our society has given us the ability to change our students' future and the future of our world.
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Hey Carter! I totally agree with you. As I was reading this, I was confused as to why we did not learn these reading strategies as students. The Thinking Strategies of Effective Readers and the Columbus Key seem really helpful, but so does the stages of reading. The steps to follow before reading, during reading, and after reading would have been helpful in any content area growing up. Do you remember doing anything like this as a student? If not, would you implement something like this as a teacher?
ReplyDeleteI can see where you are coming from and I agree with what you are saying. Growing up we are told why its right and not why its wrong. At that time an age it was ok to teach that way. Now we have students who want to understand why a questions is wrong and not right. Not only will this help them understand in the classroom but in life as well.
ReplyDelete"Throughout my 20 years on this planet I have never heard of those two tips for reading" Make sure you remember that, and teach these strategies to your future students over and over again, so they have them forever.
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