Reading History: A Practical Guide to Improving Literacy
Chapter
3: Making Learning Meaningful
In Chapter 3, Allen focuses on
effective strategies that not only help students understand history, but help
transcend it to different aspects of their lives. Through such methods students will learn to
“analyze, synthesize, apply, and extend their learning into independent
learning and historical expertise” as text critics (P. 63). I agree with Lindquist and Selwyn (2000, 19)
that by incorporating students’ experience into lessons teachers make the
content more relatable, therefore increase the likelihood of students learning.
Two methods I found interesting are
the Multiple Sources: Multiple Perspective and RAFT. The Multiple Sources: Multiple Perspectives strategy
uses a specific graphic organizer (Allen, 2000, 2002) to helps students sort information
and description from multiple sources.
By examining multiple sources students are give the opportunity to see
different points of view for an event they might not have been aware of
before. Christine used this strategy to
help students explore different perspectives on the Vietnam conflict they were
studying, since many debatable issues can arise from this topic.
The
RAFT strategy promotes both reading and writing (Santa, 1998) with the
assistance of a graphic organizer (Allen, 2004). RAFT stands R – role, A – audience, F –
format, and T – topic. Students must be
able to “think critically about their reading and study in order to take on a
new role, match the audience to the role, create a format that would fit that
role, and cover specified topics from the content” (P. 75). For example, Christine’s students creatively
brainstormed these four categories for their study of the Great Depression then
chose a role, which ranged from journalists to people living in
Hoovervilles. These roles could use a
variety of writing formats students explored to address their audience in a
creative manner, such as letters, interviews, reports, and new articles.
I
personally like both these strategies because it can be combined to form a cumulative
assignment. The RAFT strategy would
assess students’ knowledge on a topic while the Multiple Sources: Multiple
Perspective strategy would assess how students accurately research and evaluate
sources, thereby further building upon their own knowledge. Also, both strategies inform teachers how
critically and analytically students can read and write in order to provide
more help to students if needed.
Reading History: A Practical Guide to Improving Literacy
Chapter
4: Best Practice in Reading History
In
Chapter 4, Allen explains how to create independent and self-motivated
learners, which is what teachers hope their students become. Although, there are many paths to achieve
this goal no-one specific method is entirely correct, but “there are effective
practices that create a foundation of support for making our study and reading
of history accessible, informative, and enjoyable” (P. 92).
One
way to do this is working from a theory base where teachers are continuously
encouraged to build and refine other three critical areas; examining the needs
of the learners in our classrooms, translating theory into practice, and using
the theories we have inside our heads.
In following this theory base to plan a curriculum, instruction, and
assessment teachers become reflective practitioners. In order to determine, which students need
choice, resources, support, and connections.
Through this teachers “examine the needs of students, the success and
failures of plans, and the ways we ask students to demonstrate their learning”
(P.95). Reflective practitioners may
also use feedback to examine how effective their chosen resources where in
meeting students’ needs.
A
few methods I particularly liked were use of students questions to inform
curriculum and instruction, use of thematic approach to reading, use of graphic
organizers and writing to help make abstract content more accessible and
understandable, and use of supplemental resources (young adult fiction,
nonfiction, informational texts, poetry, periodicals, historical newspapers,
and artifacts). These are things my CPD
mentor incorporated into his activities on a daily basis because he truly believed
in mixing things up in order to keep students interested and relevant. Like a reflective practitioner he
self-examined his lessons after each period and adjusted accordingly to make it
more effective.
