Fostering Understanding in the Curriculum
Medium Post 5
Before taking education classes, I had a bad habit of bad mouthing my high school teachers for the way they chose to teach. For example, I had one teacher who did group work every day. Despite still thinking it was too much, I have a deeper understanding for what he was probably trying to accomplish by always having us work together. The entire process probably would have been easier, though, if he had modeled comprehension to us about the point of always doing group work.
Despite not focusing on group work, reading the article “Guest Post via @SwinehartJulie: Three Do’s and Don’ts of Implementing Readers Workshop” by Julie Swinehart with the class can help model comprehension for why readers workshops are done. The article focuses on helpful tips when implementing reader’s workshops, but it also discusses the ideas behind it fostering more student enthusiasm while still staying within the confines of the curriculum (so then students cannot ask why a certain book is not on the roster). It also discusses why using different accountability measures is important, so students may not get as annoyed by having to do extra writing or talking about their book.
I do not think a lesson with an assignment needs to be implemented as part of the understanding of the article. It should mainly be used before the first readers workshop of the year so the teacher can model comprehension to the students. Then they understand the point of their learning and they can focus more on reaching comprehension within reading content standards like:
RL.9–10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including works by and about American Indians.
RL.9–10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text, including those by and about American Indians, and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.9–10.3 Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, including those of American Indians, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
All these content standards focus on key ideas that freshmen/sophomores in Montana should be able to recognize. When students understand and enjoy what they’re reading, they’re more likely to pay attention and learn from these key points instead of breezing through the book with no comprehension.
Understanding the selection was given to the students also allows them to ask questions that will further their learning. They can question which book will help them enjoy learning the most, which one relates most with the struggles they face, and which book excites them the most to learn about.
Having the reasoning behind readers workshops modeled to students also connects with the ERC’s Grand Challenge, “understanding the American experience” because it connects students with a part of life that they are often neglected through: the planning of their own lives. Technically, my reasoning does not fall in any of the sub-challenges, but knowing why students are taught what they are taught shows them what the United States values. If they did more research, they could also see why those areas are valued or deemed more important than others.
Overall, the choice is the students whether they’ll pursue understanding more about their education or whether they’ll have fun have an education. The important part, though, is they are given a choice.
