When I began reading Chapter 2, A
Theory of Teaching Reading, the first thing that came to my mind was that students
learn to read in elementary school and since I want to be a high school science
teacher this chapter must not apply to me at all. However, as I kept reading I learned that I
was completely wrong. I was shocked to
read that American students were ranked last out of twenty nine industrialized
nations in reading by the end of high school (Wilhelm, pg. 39). Wilhelm goes on to state that this is
occurring because students are actively taught to read in elementary school
then given no more support with reading through middle and high school and that
students are not being taught to better understand the meaning of what they are
reading. Students cannot just read the
words on a page, they must create meaning from the words and be able to come
away with the message that the author was trying to portray. This proved my original assumption wrong and
led me to think about how my future students will use reading in a science
classroom. Not only will they have to
read and understand the material in their textbooks, they will likely have to
read more challenging text such as research articles in scientific
journals. The six methods for teaching reading
strategies as well as other techniques such as the inquiry square will be very
beneficial when helping students read and understand some of the more difficult
scientific writing that they may be assigned.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Wilhelm Chapters 1&2
In
chapter 1, Wilhelm discusses that traditional teaching in America is mostly
curriculum-centered, where the teacher lectures to the students and the
students memorize the material. Through
high school and college, this was the experience I had at school, especially in
some of the upper level science classes that I have had to take. Often, if I was able to memorize the
information given to me, I would do well on the exams and get a good grade in
the course. However, although it might
be most common, I agree with Wilhelm that it is not the best way of
teaching. When I am a teacher, I hope to
follow more of the teaching/learning-centered model described in the chapter.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hey Gemma,
ReplyDeleteYou brought up some really good points in your blog posts. In the beginning, you mentioned that the traditional method of teaching in America is mostly curriculum-centered and that students have to rely on memorization rather than absorbing and truly understanding the material. I, too, was also this student that would memorize everything, and I would get a good grade on my exam, but within a week, I had forgotten almost everything. So, this has me wondering if it is better to teach the students in smaller pieces to allow that chance for them to fully comprehend and apply what they have learned. Like you, I was also very surprised to find out that they United States was ranked last of all twenty-nine industrialized nations in reading skills. This really really worries me because we should be at the top of the pack. We need to find what we are doing and fix it. I also appreciate the fact, that after reading this chapter, you are thinking about how reading may be incorporated in your Science Classroom. I am an aspiring English teacher, and I know that we have the biggest responsibility for teaching good reading skills, but I also think that reading ability would improve if other classes, such as science and math, incorporated more reading and writing activities. I really enjoyed reading your blog post, and you really got me thinking about some things. Great Job! I look forward to reading your future posts this semester.