The Challenge of
Content-Area Reading- Marcia D’arcangelo.
I
have always believed that after 4th and 5th grade
students were strictly reading to learn and that most of the “learning to read”
happens in the elementary grades. By middle school, students should be
proficient readers. Ogle challenges that by saying that students are not
proficient readers and learners and that teaching reading strategies and skills
needs to continue if not increase as students get older. As an elementary
teacher we have the luxury of teaching all subjects so that we can integrate
when we see fit. Ogle addresses the challenge of teaching reading strategies in
isolated content areas throughout middle and high school. She argues that it
does not have to be an entire lesson taking a whole class period but even
mini-lessons highlighting one strategy or skill when needed will help students
immensely. She gave the example of three
column notes because it is not enough to give students information but to teach
them what to do with it. If students do not know how to process and relate
information they will not retain it. I believe that this is more important than
ever because we are moving into a more technological age where students are
reading less and doing less for themselves. Teaching this reading skills will
help students succeed not only in that content area but prepare them with
necessary skills for college and life.
Making Reading Relevant for Adolescents – Thomas Bean
Dr. Bean argues that secondary
students do not read for pleasure, which hinders their reading and learning
development. One thing Dr. Bean argues that I found intriguing is that most
students learn what the teacher is looking for and produce shallow rehearsed
responses. I believe this is where it is important that teachers alternate
teaching methods and types of questioning. We need to get away from the
superficial questions and move into the more thoughtful and open-end
questions. Dr. Bean also suggests mixing
and comparing literature or having students produce authentic creations based
off of literary pieces. I agree with Dr. Bean believing that we need to focus
on leading students to drawing conclusions and truly analyzing what they are
reading instead of pulling out what they believe are the correct answers.
