Reading Reflection #3 Subjects Matter

I really like how in Chapter 5 Daniels & Zemelman provides a giant list of strategies that an instructor can implement in his or her classroom to help students become effective readers. They categorized each of the strategies as activities that come before, during, or after reading (some can be used at multiple points throughout the assignment). Although each method differs from the others, each method was purposefully designed to enhance certain skills in each section. All of the before reading activities have a common purpose to build on the students' prior knowledge to build a foundation for them to reflect on while reading. A whole class discussion centered around the central themes of the passage can be conducted to get the students' gears turning. A benefit to this approach is students hear what other students know about a particular topic. This provides an opportunity for each student to hear an idea they might not have thought about on their own, which can spark an interest in the student about the topic. The during reading activities helps students organize their thoughts while reading the assignment. This is important because students will need to understand the connections between all the central themes later on in the post-reading activity. Coding text is a great example of a strategy students can use to build their organizational skills. This is a strategy I would like to use in my math classroom. I am currently trying to get students to understand contextual problems and form the appropriate equations from the provided information. I want my students to develop a habit of identifying important information by some sort of code they have created. It can be either highlighting with different colors for different reasons or symbols that have an assigned purpose. The after reading strategies are designed to have students reflect over the reading assignment. Whether this is have some sort oral or written dialogue, it has students making sense of the reading. Reading is useless if you can't explain what you just read; therefore, these strategies are very important. Most of these strategies give the students some freedom in their own reflection. I think this is a benefit to the students because as the class discusses their work with each other, students can still see how other students approach a similar question that had to prescribed method for answering it. All in all, these strategies are great tools that I can easily use in my lessons to help me with my content.