I often find myself going through
an entire reading and not completely understanding what I just read (especially
if it has to do with math). Back in the day people could get away without being
good readers, but nowadays with all these technological advances and changing
workplace demands that is not possible anymore. Literacy learning shouldn’t just
be teaching students basic reading skills and expecting them to somehow develop
and grow. I think this will not be helpful in the long run. Also, teaching literacy
should not only be in classes like English or social studies, it should be
taught throughout all classes. Reading a normal book is completely different
than reading a math or science textbook, I believe it takes a different set of
skills. Why are we teaching students such a generalized approach to reading
different texts?
“Apparently, strong early reading
skills do not automatically develop into more complex skills that enable
students to deal with the specialized and sophisticated reading of literature,
science history, and mathematics” (Shanahan & Shanahan). Like I mentioned
before I have this problem myself. I am currently taking an introduction to
advanced mathematics course, where all of the problems are proofs, the class is
basically all reading and writing. Sometimes it takes me hours to completely read
through and comprehend just one chapter of the book. I think if I was exposed
to more math literacy when I was in high school, or even middle school, it
would have helped with understanding these more abstract concepts. But how can
we, as teachers, implement more literacy in classes like science and math?
What I found very interesting from
the reading was the fact that students are reading marginally worse than a generation
ago. “Despite the growing need for literacy, especially higher-level literacy skills,
assessment data suggest that adolescents today read no better, and perhaps marginally
worse, than a generation ago” (Shanahan & Shanahan). Just like the quote
says even though literacy is in high demand, it seems students are not doing as
well in it as students from a generation ago. I really believe a solution to
this could be teaching literacy in all classes, not just social studies classes.
I also think modeling our literacy teaching to reflect the real world would help
as well. “Sixty-five thousand immigrant workers enter the united states each
year in order to make up for the shortfall in availability of managers,
engineers, analysts, and other high education/high-salary positions…” (Shanahan
& Shanahan). Not that there is anything wrong with that, but obviously were
doing something wrong if we cannot produce adequate workers for jobs that
require higher literacy skills. How can we teach literacy in a way that will
help students in the real world?
As students get older they are
given more complex readings that have a different structure than the readings
they had before. I think the literacy pyramid is a good tool to use when teaching
literacy. For example, when students are younger they look at readings that
help form the foundation of their literacy skills, which means they are at the
bottom of the pyramid. But, as they move up and begin to read more complex
readings, maybe from a chemistry class or something, they move up on the
pyramid. I think it would be very beneficial to use this, as a teacher. 
"Why are we teaching students such a generalized approach to reading different texts?" This a great, provocative question. While many literacy skills are transferable between different subjects, there are nuances to each subject that students might not be cognizant of and that were not taught to them. For example, in reading a historical text, being aware of the context and the author's potential biases are paramount in comprehending the text. In English texts -- novels, for example -- the author's biases are not as important in comprehending the text, and we are instead taught to derive the theme or identify symbols or motifs from the book. In entering high school, teachers cannot assume that students will come to their classroom already being proficient in the literacy skills for that subject area, so I think it is important that teachers gauge the literacy level of their students and, if possible, devote class time to teaching these skills.
ReplyDeleteYou also mention that, as students progress through their academic careers, they read much more complex texts. This is problematic for students that do not already have adequate literacy skills. This is why it is important to teach literacy skills throughout high school, not only for general literacy skills, but also for discipline-specific ones. This will prepare students for when they are challenged with much more complex texts, such as when they reach college.
At this point, I think a lot of teachers are becoming aware that literature and reading skills aren't something just taught in a literature class anymore. More are realizing that those skills are crossing over into all subjects. I think you brought up a really great point when you asked "Why are we teaching students such a generalized approach to reading different texts?" You're absolutely right. Students get very familiar with the ideas of themes and symbolism and metaphors and all that jazz from the continuous practice they get over the years and years of being exposed to it in their reading and english classes, but I don't ever remember being taught how to properly read a science article or a math journal. That's where we're lacking. Although it's good that we're realizing literary skills are carrying over into other subjects, now we just have to figure out how we're going to teach them the skills so they can apply those skills to art, physics, and math too.
ReplyDeleteJackie,
ReplyDeleteUntil this day, I have the habit of writing in passive voice, and that is because, as a biologist, that is what we are taught to do. And that includes all the science courses I have taken. So many times I forget and write like that even when is not a scientific paper. Last semester, I was reminded of that by one of my teachers in my education courses. Many of us do not even understand the impact that learning specific content area literacy skills can have on us. Even citing requires a different format for all the different disciplines.
I think that the research that Shannahan and Shannahan (2008), conducted demonstrates the importance of teaching literacy in the different content areas. Teaching literacy that is particular to a subject can help students gain a deeper understanding or help them navigate texts in a better way.
Jackie,thanks for sharing.I know exact how you feel.I'm agree with you how important the literacy course is.I don't really understanding the article that I read too. I never took literacy course before or reading course.So after I came to America, I have to do so many reading assignments ,I realized I don't know how to read. And sometimes I really don't understand what I have read.
ReplyDeleteI really hope that students can have the chance to learn reading before they realized they don't know how to read until college.
Thank you for sharing your personal experience! I think the more we focus on teaching literacy throughout all subjects, the more prepared students will feel going into college.
Delete"Early reading skills do not automatically develop into more complex skills" (Shanahan & Shanahan). So learning how to read is a continuous lesson even for college students. But we can see that early reading skills place an important role in our learning steps. it is the foundation of the literacy pyramid. As we move on, more reading skills should be introduced in order to understand complex materials. Teaching discipline literacy is urgent because "assessment data suggest that adolescents today read no better, and perhaps marginally worse, than a generation ago” (Shanahan & Shanahan). I think to change this situation, besides encouraging students to do more practicing, schools should give them more supports and guidelines, such as after-school reading programs.
ReplyDeleteHi Jackie - your post made me think about what factors are contributing to this lack of literacy progress. I wonder if the emphasis on STEM and on increasing standardized test scores in math has diverted learning time from literacy development??? I agree that it sounds promising to integrate literacy instruction throughout our entire curriculum - students would simultaneously develop higher level literacy skills, and develop a stronger understanding of disciplinary concepts.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your thoughts on how as we grow older, readings change. I think this is noteworthy because although the types of readings we encounter and the strategies needed to understand them are constantly changing, the teaching of reading and literacy usually stops after elementary school. We expect students to adapt because they have been given a foundation, but often times when readings are so specific, just because you can read the sentence, doesn't mean you can comprehend it. In the readings, I also appreciated how the authors mentioned that strong early readers do not necessarily go on to become strong readers later in life. This is because we do not continue to scaffold or teach reading to older students. If they never practice their reading skills or push their limits with support, odds are they will forget. It's like riding a bike, you may never really forget how to read, but if you don't do it consistently, you won't be very good at it.
ReplyDeleteThe pyramid is very important towards what we should be doing as a whole in each school. The elementary and middle schools grind out a lot of basic literacy, but it never goes beyond that. The students are stuck going into high school and college with only basic literacy taught to them. Literacy classes would be needed in order to close the gap and at least teach all students intermediate literacy. This would prepare the students incredibly more for the disciplinary literacy they would learn by going to college. At least with teaching intermediate literacy, the students are prepared for the work force, college, the internet, and almost every facet of our society. We can't get by on only the basics of literacy with our exponentially sophisticated technology.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment! I agree that students go into high school and college with only basic literacy skills. I think that should definitely be changed because high school is supposed to prepare students for college.
DeleteReading your post made me ask myself "why?" Why is it that our literacy levels are falling behind other countries and are lower than the previous generation of American students? Most definitely students are given more complex readings as they advance through high school and into college. But they're not necessarily able to adequately comprehend it. If we focus more of our resources to teaching literacy in middle and especially high school, then perhaps we'd see an advancement. I've noticed from my own experiences that there seems to be a focus more on STEM classes and standardized testing at the high school level. Even in English classes, we don't necessarily get taught literacy. We get assigned a book and learn about it the way the teacher tells us.
ReplyDeleteLike some others mentioned in their comments, I also wondered why our literacy levels were below those of other countries. However, looking back at Shanahan, I realized that they didn't mention what type of reading they are assessing. Is this test even measuring the disciplinary literacy that we are discussing? Perhaps I would have to read Grigg, Donohue, & Dion (2007) to find out, but I suspect not. Of course, I still think that focusing on disciplinary literacy is important, but I found Shanahan's motivation for it a little lacking.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that you highlighted how students are marginally worse at reading than they were years ago. However, I wonder how reading skills are being tested. We know that the reading students are doing outside of school is much different today than it was a generation ago. The text that people are exposed to on social media or in the news is often very short and to the point. Maybe if we were testing students reading skills in a way they are more familiar with then the results would show us something different.
ReplyDelete