There were many more strategies and
ideas in chapter two of Reading History:
A Practical Guide to Improving Literacy by Janet Allen.
These strategies and ideas have more to do with deeper understanding of
vocabulary, meaning, and information. It
also included more about implementation of these strategies. This chapter made
me wonder if my mentor teacher has read this book at all, because he definitely
uses some of these methods, and they seem to be pretty effective with his sixth
graders. He teaches social studies as well
as English, so literacy is heavily focused on in his social studies classes. We
have discussed how English teachers are always targeted with literacy, and that
it is the responsibility of all teachers. I find that this topic comes up more
now that I have learned more about literacy, and since we first discussed it in
class. Allen mentions this in chapter 2 as well, she states that as
social studies teachers we absolutely should work with literacy and reading
skills within the content area because it can help students to understand how
to approach different materials, and thus, enhancing learning.
I also
think that the Questions Game (page 33) is really intriguing. This exit ticket
is effective because it incorporates group work into an exit ticket. They can
question, bounce ideas off each other, and even teach each other to a certain
extent. It incorporates fun, scaffolding,
autonomy, and helps to reiterate the lesson that was taught that day. I also
think that because it is group work it will help to keep the students busy
before the bell rings so that they are not all packing up and out of their
seats before the class is really over. I absolutely will use this method in my
classes, and may even try to incorporate it into my CPD the next time I am able
to teach. My CPD classes will probably really enjoy the idea of a game to end
class. I definitely think that the methods in this book will be helpful in my CPD and in my future classes.
Are you connecting what you are reading to anything else you've read in this class or to things you are reading and discussion in your SS methods class? It's good you are seeing applications for your CPD! I'm wondering how you are putting these strategies in the context of bigger ideas in things you are learning. I see a bit of reference to that here in mentioning scaffolding and autonomy. I'd love to hear more...
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