Weekly Reading: Oct. 7th

Tovani ch. 5-6, BBR ch. 6

1. What was the chapter about?

Give your kids a purpose for reading – don’t try to teach every scrap of info in the book/text, just focus on 1-2 really important concepts. Students need a way to take notes about their reading so that they can remember it later. Different note-taking styles work for different students, so introduce students to many examples. Also, different types of note-taking are appropriate for different types of reading: a fiction novel won’t require the same notes as a science article. The BBR chapter described specific different strategies to help students read and understand texts.

2. What does this chapter tell you about teaching students?

If kids don’t have a purpose for reading, then they’ll get frustrated and quit. You have to give them something to focus on so that they'll keep going. Make kids practice with different types of note-taking, then let them pick what works best for them. Point out the differences between the different styles and their different applications. The BBR chapter mostly focused on activities for the teacher to use in the classroom: how to develop them and how to teach them. It also described exactly which uses each strategy has.

3. Can this chapter be applied in your content area?

Giving students a purpose when translating can help because kids hate translating (largely because they’re still bad at it), and they don’t want to do it if they don’t have to. The strategies on note-taking I see being helpful in structuring culture readings about the Romans. While telling kids "read this article and talk about how the Romans are different than modern America" usually generates good answers, giving them a structure would keep the discussion going farther -- and help those few who get off-task to stay focused.