Chapter 8

                Writing is an essential process for any age group and curricula. When a student can effectively transmit their thoughts through writing, it is apparent that they truly understand the material. Generally, teachers present students with on-demand writing to prepare for high-stake testing such as SOLs or SATs. These writers are not learning to write to be beneficial to their learning, but rather to be able to chunk out a summary of information in a short amount of time with a cookie-cutter structure. It is important for teachers to use styles of writing that are more natural to the student and engage their students. Writing is a process and presenting writing throughout the PAR framework can assist students into becoming writers that are more authentic.

                Many times, teachers do not know that they can use writing as part of the preparation phase in the PAR framework. One of my favorite methods presented in the book is cubing. In this method, a cube is made from a tissue box or out of paper. Each side of the cube has another area of focus: Describe, compare, associate, analyze, apply, argue, etc. The areas of focus can be different depending on the topic that the student is learning. I particularly like this method as a future science teacher because it is something that students can make at the beginning of the school year. In my class, I think I would use these six areas of focus: definition(s), theory/hypothesis, people, chronology of events, questions you have, and associations. Each week I would give my students a section/chapter in their textbook to read and they would have to write a journal entry using these six areas of focus.

                On the subject of journals, my favorite assistance phase for writing is the learning logs. Every class, my students will have the homework assignment of writing a learning log where they can answer one of several questions, relate the topic to their life, create a thinking process, or anything else along those lines. The journals will be checked during the warm-up of every class for completion, but will not be shared with the class unless the student wanted to. Letting the student participate in a journal lets them open up and really connect to the topic that is being discussed. I am under the impression that science is not a favorite topic to many and that this can be altered by making it more pertinent to the lives of the students. Once the student has successfully connected the topic to their lives, it will be easier for them to complete the assigned writing.

                Reflecting on the writing is best done through getting feedback from peers and the teacher. Students should always be provided with a writing checklist and/or a rubric so that they know how they will be graded. Peer editing is a great way to get feedback, especially if combined with the C3B4Me concept where students have to contact three of their peers before returning to the teacher. As the teacher, grading will also become easier and less frustrating if students have helped to edit other papers. Using writing in preparation, assistance, and reflection will help students who are at risk or poor readers. When writing becomes a part of every class, writing skills will improve. The key is to keep students interested in what they are writing.

Chapter 6

                      Textbooks are one of the key features to success in the classroom. Providing a good textbook to students gives them the opportunity to expand their knowledge on a given topic. Oftentimes, students will experience texts that are too far above their level. This runs the risk of poor comprehension. Teachers and administration should focus on the textbooks that they choose for the classroom and make sure they are readable to the level of the students. Textbooks now come in traditional text and e-text versions to fit different teaching styles. E-texts are often preferred for their multimodal approaches reaching out to students on many different levels. However, traditional texts should still be used with proper strategies (i.e. read aloud, literature circles, jigsaws, etc.) to best benefit the student’s comprehension.

                Some students might find it difficult to focus on the textbook. Literature circles can be beneficial across the curricula in both content area and multimodal styles. With the content area approach, a single topic is focused and many texts can be referenced. The students can be split up based on the types of readings they are reading (i.e. fiction, non-fiction, biography, etc.) and come together as a group to discuss the topic. Using the multimodal approach incorporates technology throughout the group. The students can be split by different expertise levels (i.e. CEO, illustrator, etc.) and will use a different form of technology depending on their focus. Using these strategies can help a student focus on the text therefore comprehending it on a higher level.

                Teachers should also assess the readability of a text before presenting it to the class. Educators should be on the lookout for red flags such as inconsiderate discourse, text ambiguity, and dumbed-down text. These prevent the reader from appropriately grasping the idea behind the text. When scanning for the appropriate text to use, teachers and administration can use checklists, the “rule of thumb,” and readability formulas. Checklists allow the text to be analyzed based on its pros and cons based on the class needs. Using the rule of thumb lets the teachers consult with the students by seeing how much the student struggles when reading the text. It is important to keep some tougher content to allow growth in the student. Lastly, readability formulas are used to determine the recommended grade level for a specific text.

                Different formulas are currently in place and can be analyzed in different ways. Teachers can even input a section of text into Microsoft Word and use the spelling and grammar tool to assess the overall readability score of the text using the Flesch-Kincaid method. This can be done by adjusting the proofing settings on Microsoft Word allowing for the readability to be analyzed. After the grammar and spelling check is complete, the user is presented with a predicted grade level of the reading. Other readability formulas are in placed with varying levels of student comprehension; however, not one readability formula can be considered the right way. While readability formulas are a good tool for teachers to use when analyzing a text, they should be taken loosely. Grade levels from the scores should be seen as an ambiguous number as it can depend on the topic being discussed and even the writer’s interest in the subject. Readability formulas calculate their values from sentence and word length but this cannot always determine the difficulty of a text. In order to have a more accurate measure, a majority of the text should be used.

                Teachers can test out students’ comprehension of a text by using a couple of different methods called the cloze and maze procedures. The cloze procedure takes portions of text and blanks out certain words or phrases. The student is required to fill in the blanks to the best of their abilities. The maze method is similar but the students are given options to choose from when filling in the blanks. These methods are excellent as they can be used across the curricula. Using these methods and others presented in this chapter, teachers can make reading a more interactive experience for students to help them better comprehend textbooks and other texts they are presented with.

                

The Flesch-Kincaidreading ease of this post: 51.2

Flesch-Kincaid grade level: 10.5