Adolescent Literacy Reflection

While I was not certain what to expect with the class, Adolescent Literacy quickly became my favorite class of the three I am taking this session. Although I am not one who often reads for enjoyment, there was an unexpected degree of excitement for me while reading our 6 young adult novels for class. Being assigned the books made me make time to read them and I found myself getting through them rather quickly and enjoying the reading.
I feel as though this class and Teaching Reading in the Content Area have given me new insight into the important job teachers have to not only include reading in their instruction, but to give students the tools needed to increase their love of reading and their comprehension and abilities. I feel excited to come up with new ways to include reading and even writing assignments in my art classes in a way that will help students long after they have left my class. Reading was not an important part of my art instruction through high school and while earning my art degree, but it would have made me a better reader and student, I am sure.

What is the most important thing we can teach about word recognition

The most important thing we can teach students about word recognition is that the more sight words they know, the better they will read and the more they will understand what they read. When students increase the amount of words they can easily and effortlessly identify while reading, they will increase their understanding and the speed at which they read. If you check the following link, 

https://www.speechbuddy.com/blog/language-development/what-are-sight-words

there is quite a bit of interesting information, such as:

• Sight words promote confidence. Because the first 100 sight words represent over 50% of English text, a child who has mastered the list of sight words can already recognize at least half of a sentence. If your child begins to read a book and can already recognize the words, chances are he won’t feel discouraged and put the book down, rather he’ll have more confidence to read it all the way through. And, choose another!
• Sight words help promote reading comprehension. When your child opens her book for the first time, instead of trying to decipher what ALL of the words mean, she can shift her attention to focus on those words she is not familiar with. She will already know at least half of the words, so focusing on the other half helps strengthen her understanding of the text.
• Sight words provide clues to the context of the text. If your child is familiar with the sight words, she may be able to decode the meaning of the paragraph or sentence by reading the sight words. And, if a picture accompanies the text, your child may be able to determine what the story is about and come away with a few new words under her belt.

The impact of fluency on content

Fluency impacts content in a very significant way because without a thorough understanding of the vocabulary terms that exist within the details of the content area, the student will have no way to completely understand what is being taught. The terms within the content lesson are the thread that hold the ideas of the lesson together; without understanding the words and having fluency in the content, the lesson will not stay together for the student. For my content area, art, having fluency is very important as many terms actually describe something a student will have to do. If I were to assign the students a pointillism project, they would have to understand what it is to actually do pointillism. It I were to ask them to use complimentary or split-complimentary colors, they would need knowledge of the color wheel and the position of the colors, as well as what the terms mean. The assignment is meaningless if I haven't explained vocabulary terms thoroughly, to the point where they completely understand how to execute the project assigned. I liked the ideas that the short video we watched illustrated for increasing vocabulary word understanding and fluency. The video talked about having students write the definition in their own terms, which encourages them to first think of what the word means and put their own spin on it. It also asked that the students draw or create a visual illustration to coordinate with the words, and play games with the new words. Creating visuals will be key in art, especially for the words that requrie action and are visual techniques for creating art. Using different strategies for teaching the words will assist all types of learners to get a grasp on the meanings.

"During" Reading Strategies

When I read, I find myself re-reading often to make sure that I have understood and retained what I have read. This is the strategy I use most often while I am reading. There are often times too, that I think about what I have read and try to predict what will happen next or what will be discussed in the later chapters.
My main problem is that my mind often wonders off and I can't remember anything I just read. This is especially a problem when I am reading a text book. If I am supposed to be reading a few chapters, in the back of my mind is the giant to-do list that I have waiting for me when I finish reading. If I read more slowly and go back and re-read parts where I was absent, that helps me remember what I read better. If I also think actively about what is in the text and try to make predictions, it is more difficult for me to think about how many loads of laundry I need to fold and that the dishes are are piled to the ceiling.
I think talking to my future students about these strategies will also help them, because I am sure they too will have problems keeping their focus. The "say something" strategy we learned about in class could help students get used to having a discussion with themselves by practicing in groups on each other. This will help them keep from thinking about things like, what they are going to do this weekend, the paper they have to write in a class, or whether or not they are going to win the game on Friday night. They need to be present in their reading and focus, while re-reading sections they felt they were less than committed to reading.

Making Inferences-The Bag

This strategy was probably used to help us better understand making inferences in reading by giving us a visual example. When one is reading, it is important to think about what is being read, and to connect it with knowledge that one already knows. Making predictions is also an important part of reading and was what the exercise was trying to get us to do. We were trying to come up with an overall guess about who the bag belonged to based on many pieces to the puzzle.

We were looking at all the items that were in this person's purse, in order to make a guess about who it might belong to. If I found that type of bag in the school parking lot, I would guess that it belonged to a science/geology teacher possibly because of the geode, shell, and the journal full of nature-type entries. I would assume it belonged to a woman, unless I could think of a male teacher who would carry a man purse! :) She also likes to drink coffee and is a pretty stylish gal with her bright colored glasses. That would lead me to begin my search for the owner of the bag in the school's science pod.

This strategy would work well for me in art class, by having students examine works of art and try to guess who the artist was that created it, what they were feeling when they created it, and what might have made them choose that subject matter. This would also work well when discussing different time periods and art movements. Students could try to guess which movement the piece of artwork came from based on what they already knew about that era and it's artists. If students were reading about art, I would encourage them to try make connections about what they already know with what they were reading to try to make a better connection with the material.

What do good readers do?

Good readers do a number of things before, during and after they read to help them understand and retain the information they have just read.

Before they read they might:

-Think about what they already know about the subject matter
-Make predictions about what they are going to read
-Look over the text they are about to read
-Make Predictions
-Think about what they want to gain from reading

During they might:

-Think about what they are reading
-Re-read confusing parts of the text
-Look for context clues of words they don't know
-Check their predictions
-Visualize what they are reading
-Ask themselves questions about what they are reading

After they read they might:
-Review what they have read
-Analyze their predictions with what actually happen
-Paraphrase in their minds what the reading says in their own words
-Think about what was most important about what they read

When thinking about what is important to do while reading, as a teacher, I will be sure to stress the importance of reading as a three step process (before, during, and after) that is very much active in one's mind as they do it. To truly understand what has been read, the reader's mind needs to be working the entire time they are taking in the information. They need to also limit outside distractions and be sure to focus on what they are reading while they read. I will also discuss with my students the need to continue to practice this process repeatedly, as it will only make them a stronger reader.

Adolescent Literacy- Hey, I thought I was done with this blog!

What does it mean to be an adolescent?

The official definition of the word adolescent is: “Adolescence (from Latin adolescere, meaning "to grow up") is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to legal adulthood (age of majority)”

I learned in my adolescent psychology class that the stage referred to as adolescent is a newer word that was created after the industrial revolution placed more young children out of the factories and into school for longer. This lengthening of time for children to learn in school and grow into adults was coined “adolescence”.

Where were you as an adolescent?

As an adolescent, I was timid, shy, and introverted and continued to be so well into early adulthood. I was a bit of an over-achiever and probably became that way because of my lack of self-confidence.

Where were you with literacy as an adolescent?

When I as an adolescent, I was not confident about reading. I read a bit slower than many of my peers and was always terrified when I thought my teacher might make the class read aloud. I would count ahead on other students to try to figure out which page or paragraph I would have to read, so I could practice it over and over in my head before I was called upon to read.  I was so afraid I would mispronounce a word and look foolish in front of my classmates. The problem with my reading aloud prediction ritual was that it caused me to completely miss everything that was being read before me. That caused me to be clueless about what was going on. When given reading assignments on my own, I did fine because I could take the time I needed to absorb the material and I did improve over the year. Today I would consider myself to be a normal/average reader.

What was the literacy expected by your teachers?

I am so old, I don’t recall teachers having many expectations other than normal requirements for finishing assignments, reading books, and being a productive student. I do not remember any teachers attempting to transform me into a good reader who read with confidence or one who enjoyed reading.

Did this literacy support your literate practices in later life? Why? Why not?

When I was in high school, I took British Literature and fell in love with Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I think that was the first time I enjoyed reading a book, so I moved on to Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. This lead me in the direction of Mary Shelley and then to Jane Austin. I could read Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, a million times.