1. What was the reading about?
In this article Bakken and Whedon discuss the idea that children are used to reading texts in narrative prose and when they enter school they are introduced to expository prose. These two types of readings are extremely different and teachers need to be aware of how to help guide their students to become excellent, expository readers. "Expository prose presents facts, theories, and dates, and the information is largely unfamiliar to the reader (Cook, 1983). The organization and structure of the text is inconsistent and unpredictable, and for the first time, children are required to 'read to learn.'" I thought this was a great breakdown of expository prose because it clearly suggests that almost all textbooks teachers are using are set in this prose. Bakken and Whedon discuss the five different text structures found in this type of writing and propose strategies that teachers should teach their students to improve their overall comprehension in all content areas.
2. What does this reading tell you about teaching students?
This reading reminded me that, even though students are learning outside of the classroom among their family and friends, they may not be using the same tools and strategies that are used within the classroom. Yes, students have been reading for years and years but that does not mean they understand how to interpret textbooks within the classroom. This is why it is so important for teachers to demonstrate to their students how to read a textbook before they try to teach them the material it contains.
3. Can this reading be applied in your content area?
Although the strategies discussed in this article seem to be more suitable for a content are in which reading is highly implemented, I do believe these suggestions can be used in the math classroom. It would allow students to recognize the main idea (factoring equations) and then recognize details about factoring, characteristics about factoring, the differences between the steps of factoring, similarities and differences among factoring, and finally the different types of factoring. These unique techniques for note-taking could really help break down the general idea for students within all different content areas. Overall, I really enjoyed this article and the suggestions and strategies Bakken and Whedon gave teachers to implement in their classrooms!
I LOVED how you made it work for math. As I was reading this article, I was trying to think of how to implement it in a math class, and all I came up with was reading articles about current changes/ discussions or else just reading history bits. BUT, I like how you noted that for math, it could just be about the students being able to pick out similarities and differences. Great ideas!
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