The question I decided to blog about was number 1.
Please describe a time that a teacher really supported you in thinking deeply about a text, in such a way that you applied several of the comprehension processes that Buehl mentions on page five. What specifically did the teacher do to support your comprehension? How did the teacher’s approach compare with the approaches recommended by Buehl? For instance, did the teacher provide any frontloading? What can you learn from this teacher that you can use in your own comprehension instruction in the future?
First question was describe a time when a teacher really supported me in thinking deeply about a text. Believe it or not the one I remember the most happened just recently it was last semester in my Evolutionary Biology class my professor had us read scientific papers about evolution every week.
After we read the text we needed to basically write a paper based on our understanding and in this paper we had to make connections with our prior knowledge. This professor was unique in a way that he hated for us to review what we read word for word. He wanted our opinions, and our own unique point of view. He also really encouraged us to write down any questions that the paper brought into our minds. Also he wanted us to be able to know how we could answer those questions so he had us make a predictions about what would happen and how our own questions could be answered. It was only through that assignment that I was able to determine what parts of the paper had significants and what parts were not as important to the overall experiment.
It took me along time to figure out exactly how my professor wanted me to be able to read the paper as well as exactly how to evaluate a science paper even now I have a really hard time reading and evaluating papers.
In all honest though the professor sort of explained the assignment but he really didn't go into too much detail about what exactly we need to do. So he didn't use any front loading. This teacher really taught me the importance of really being able to understand and comprehend what I read. Especially for the purpose of being able to write a paper about it. Also the importance about being able to make inferences. That is one thing that I really want to be able to bring into my own classroom. I want the students to be able to make inferences based on what they read.
I think that it is really cool that you professor cared more about your opinion on the reading rather than summarizing or reviewing the text. This aspect of his classroom seems like it would have been a really good place to get student buy in. You also bring up an interesting problem when the teacher doesn't explain the instructions as well as they should have.
ReplyDeleteWow this seemed to be a cool experience for you, even though at first you might have not enjoyed it because it was different from what you were used to doing. I like how the professor encouraged you to write down questions as you were reading and make predictions about what would happen. That seems like a good way to get students invested in what they are reading. Do you think you might do something similar in your own classroom one day?
ReplyDeleteHi Rieley...I really like how the professor wanted you to ask your own questions! One great approach to reading in biology could be to do an intriguing lab, and then ask students to make a prediction about why that happened. Then they could read the text to see if their prediction was right. I also love how your biology professor asked you to make predictions. I hope you are able to draw from elements of his instruction and use it in your own teaching. Thanks for a great posting!
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