Double Entry Journal # 3

 
























Source:

Bolima, D. (n.d.). Contexts for understanding: Educational learning theories. Retrieved from http://staff.washington.edu/saki/strategies/101/new_page_5.htm

       
 

            1.Elementary reading instruction can contribute to poor literacy attainment for older children because students are not prepared to do the switch from elementary content to more disciplinary content with difficult texts and writing tasks. Students are not ready to switch their frame of thought into more complex concepts and ideas.  Writing assignments are harder and the content is harder to understand for most children.  High-stakes test can also complicate the literacy of adolescents if it is the main focus of the class instead of the actual content for that subject. 

            2. Reading test scores can help teachers and researchers to learn about the progress that students are making or how the scores are decreasing over time.  Test scores can show a teacher what she areas she needs to work on with her students through the school year. 

           3. The literacy myth that surprised me the most was “Literacy refers to only reading”.  I knew that literacy also included writing, listening, and speaking but I did not know that new media including multimedia and hypermedia was included in literacy.  This surprises me the most because I didn’t really think of technology as being a type of literacy except reading on the internet.  We did not work with computers very often when I was in elementary school; this is why I think this myth was a surprise for me. 

           4.Teaching reading comprehension in the content areas is very important for teachers to continue with the students throughout middle and high school.  Students get so caught up on words they do not know or understand when reading the chapter that they do not get anything they were supposed to out of the chapter.  In order to make it easier and for the students to learn the concept or objective being taught the teacher can make a study guide for the students to follow along with as they are reading.  Another way to teach reading during a science or social studies lesson is to have everyone read the chapter that is assigned and to pick the most important concepts out of the chapter; then the teacher will create an easier notes sheet for the students that has all the important concepts of the chapter without the extra wording that makes it hard for students to understand.  Teachers can also relate the content to a real-world experience that will happen outside of the classroom.  This will get students engaged and interested in the topic they are learning because it will be beneficial in the future.    

           5.The kind of literacy that I have now that was not acknowledged in school was technology.  We didn’t use technology very much when I was in elementary, middle, or high school.  I think it is so much easier to complete research on-line instead of going to the library and trying to find a book on the subject you are searching for.  Technology is faster and more efficient way to conduct research.  I am more literate on using technology now that I have been in college than before when I was in high school. 

            6. A literacy practice would be giving students a prompt where the students focus on their understandings of the content, questions they may have, and their learning process on how the content was processed. 

          7. A discourse community is a group of individuals that come together based upon a common interest to communicate about certain topics or to have a certain goal to accomplish.

            8. If students multiple literacies are not recognized in school, then students may get discouraged and not want to learn.  They resist literacy in school because they are not interested in the content.             10. In 10^th grade English class, we were assigned to read a book and to write a one page paper on the book that we had read.  The teacher let us choose the book that we wanted to read which gave us a choice and sparked our interest to actually read a book we were interested in.  Guidelines were given on what to write about in the paper and what topics to cover to make sure we were on the right track.  At the end of the week, a few people were chosen to talk to the class about the book that they had chosen to read.  This worked great with the class because everyone was interested in the book they were reading and it motivated us to read more because we had more freedom.   

            11. I do not remember engaging in any activities in K-12 that helped to develop my literacy on multicultural concepts.  We probably did in younger grades, but I do not remember.  

            12. Teachers who are respected by their peers and supervisors usually teach with approaches that foster critical thinking, questioning, and student decision-making.  They also address the diverse needs of each student and address their literacy abilities.  There are many other qualities that teachers possess in order to be recognized by their peers but the above are just a few qualities.