Final
Synthesis Blog
Over the course of the semester I have learned a great
deal about the importance of content area literacy as well as instructional
techniques for my future classroom.
Prior to taking this class I was a little confused as to why I had to take
a literacy class when my concentrations are science and math. Throughout the course of the semester I realized
that reading is everywhere, and it is of the utmost importance to help students
sharpen their reading skills.
I was able to reflect on my own experiences with how
reading a textbook or nonfiction text is completely different and requires a
new set of skills than reading a fictional novel. I realize that as a content teacher it is important
to teach students the skills required for reading to learn. I know for certain these are skills the
student will need to acquire for high school and college. Reflecting on my own experiences, I often
struggled with staying engaged while reading textbooks, articles and other
nonfiction texts while in middle and high school. I realize it would have been very beneficial
for me to have learned better reading skills when I was younger.
The most influential assignment from this course for me
was creating the text set. Through
creating my text set I felt like I was able to tie together a lot of the
different aspects discussed over the course of the semester. I really enjoyed finding math texts that I will
want to incorporate into my future classroom.
Through creating the text set I realized just how many resources are out
there and how simple it can be to incorporate fun content area texts to my
classroom. I also found it very beneficial
to apply pre-reading, during reading and post-reading strategies to the texts I
found. These strategies are very
important and beneficial because they help students develop good reading skills
as well as create engagement. Looking
back on my experience as a middle schooler I wish my teachers had used these
strategies to introduce content reading.
I recall I had one social studies teacher who would assign a lot of
articles for the class to read an used no reading strategies to help. I remember always dreading these articles
because I thought they were boring, and I had a difficult time with
comprehension. I think that if this teacher had used reading
strategies I would have benefited so much more.
I found a lot of the reading strategies from Subjects Matter interesting and
beneficial. For pre-reading I really liked
front loading with images and vocabulary predictions because these are both
great ways to create engagement in a way that is fun for the students and sets
the tone for reading. For during reading
I liked coding the text and sticky notes.
I liked both strategies because they allow for students to stay engaged
and self-monitor while reading without being too extensive. Finally, I really liked tweet the text and
password for after reading. These were
great because they are both fun as well as relevant to students. Both strategies would allow for students to
reflect on their reading in a way that is entertaining, engaging and relatable.
Overall, I feel so much more prepared and confident about
becoming a teacher. This class gave me
excellent insight as to how to teach a classroom. I gained great instructional strategies as
well as classroom management techniques.
I will be sure to incorporate what I have learned in this class to my
future classroom.
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