Reading #7

Chapter 12

Anticipation Guide/Graphic Organizer

Before Reading:

Looking at just the chapter title and outline in the table of contents, I brainstormed five ideas that I thought the chapter would bring up or cover.

I thought:

1. It is important to choose literature that will be interesting to the students.
2. Reading literature will improve the reading ability of students while also helping them become more interested in reading.
3. Students should be encouraged to respond to literature in ways that help them see the connection between the stories and the course content.
4. Reading fiction can be good in a social studies class because it might allow for those with other interests or abilities to buy into the social studies content.
5. Stories about diverse peoples can raise student awareness of diversity.

After Reading:

I then read the chapter and wrote down whether the author had anything to say about each idea and whether he agreed or disagreed.

Authors wrote:

1. What is interesting to students? This can be difficult to answer, especially to a new teacher - and it is probably changing and varies greatly on the individual. The authors do write about the use of "Free reading time," where students pick their own books to read. This way students can't complain that the content is not interesting, I suppose. The authors don't seem to write to much specifically about finding content that connects with students - but this probably is a given.
2. This seems to be one of the general ideas of the authors. They say specifically on pg. 366 that reading can increase the vocabulary of students, including content-specific terms. The also write that "good experiences with reading breed motivation to seek other reading experiences (367).
3. The authors write that literature can be a catalyst for thoughtful analysis of different issues (367). They also write that it is important not to overwhelm readers by asking them to respond to much to questions. They write about finding a balance between "efferent" reading and "aesthetic" reading. Efferent reading focuses "attention on public meaning abstracting what is to be retained after reading" while aesthetic reading focuses "on what is being personally lived through, cognitively and affectively, during the reading event. Finding a balance seems to make sense to me.
4. I did not notice the authors use this as a specific example of a benefit of using literature in the classroom. Though I still think that students who love reading stories in English class, but do not like their social studies textbooks would appreciate this. The authors do say that literature does go beyond the facts of textbooks which can give readers a deeper understanding of the material.
5. The authors write a very similar concept on pg. 367, writing "Literature allows readers to experience other times, other places, other people and other cultures with empathy." The authors go on to write more extensively about using multicultural literature on pages 381-387. There are different concerns to take into account when choosing the write book to encourage empathy for diversity in the classroom.