Luke's Blog

I found this video and strategy on theteachertoolkit.com . This video explains the "3-2-1" strategy that students can use when they are reading, watching an instructional video, or even during a lecture. Students can use this strategy as a guide through a reading or as a review tool. Students record three things that they learn, two things that they found interesting, and one question that they still have about the material. As a teacher, this would be a great strategy to use with students because you can monitor each student's progress on a particular reading or topic. Also, you can go back and review certain topics that many students might still have questions about. This strategy is simple and easy, but I believe that it could be beneficial for many students. 130 words

Using a textbook can be a daunting task for teachers and students in any content area. When I was in middle and high school, I dreaded the idea of reading a chapter from a textbook. I faced difficulties in assessing important information and processing new concepts that were introduced to me. However, I know that a textbook can be a productive resource for learning new material. In this chapter, there were several strategies and ideas that were introduced for best utilizing a textbook. One of the most important things that I can do as a teacher assigning students textbook pages to read is to be selective and to focus on vocabulary and information that is most vital to learn. Also, it is important to find out what your students will be tested on so that you are providing them with information that is relevant and helpful for them.  One strategy that I liked from the chapter is the "Guide-o-Rama Study Guides." Reading a text can be intimidating for students, as it was f...

This video explains the "I Do, We Do, You, Do" strategy for reading comprehension in a classroom. Megan Montgomery, a sixth-grade social studies teacher in San Francisco, employs this reading strategy for her students that may struggle with reading or a difficult topic. Montgomery uses think-alouds, graphic organizers, and scaffolding to assist her students in their reading processes. First, she mirrors good reading to her students by doing a think-aloud while filling out a graphic organizer. Next, she lets the students work together on their reading strategies. Finally, the students get to fill out their own graphic organizer where they can articulate their own ideas from the reading. Throughout this process, Montgomery provides support and help for her students as they read and discover important information from the text. I like the idea of providing a visual, such as a graphic organizer, while doing a think-aloud. Also, Montgomery shows the importance of providing s...

A student struggling with reading is a common occurrence in numerous classrooms. Many students are given text that they are unfamiliar with, while others might not possess necessary strategies to assist them in comprehension. In school, I found myself struggling with my reading at times because I did not possess good reading strategies, much like the students from Downers Grove South High School. Now as a teacher candidate, how can I help struggling readers based on my experience in school and from reading this chapter? William Glaser's idea of creating supportive relationships with your students so that they know that they will not be ridiculed when they struggle resonated with me. I believe that students would become more comfortable if I was able to connect with them based on my own struggles in middle school. I have observed students become discouraged by certain tasks in school, such as reading, where they might want to give up completely. As a teacher, I believe that promotin...

This blog is written by Amy Menzi. She has been a teacher for more than twenty years, and she creates integrated units and hands-on learning experiences that teachers and students can utilize.  https://amymezni.blogspot.com/2018/01/6-reading-strategies-you-need-to-teach.html In this blog, Menzi highlights six reading strategies that you need to teach in social studies. These reading strategies are vocab and vernacularisms, identifying bias and propaganda, close reading, author’s purpose, cause and effect, and historical perspective. I believe that teaching these strategies in a social studies classroom could assist students in understanding difficult readings or even understanding words on an exam. Social studies readings can be complex, but these effective strategies identified could assist students in understanding content.  111 words 

Reading is arguably the most important skill that someone can develop throughout their learning and growth process. “Reading is more than decoding” text to discover answers, but it is a process to comprehend, understand, and evaluate a text (Daniels and Zemelman, 2014, p. 28). In the reading process, there are many steps that a smart reader should utilize to best comprehend a text. For example, a smart reader should develop questions, visualize and hypothesize, and evaluate the text. Even though these seem like relatively simple tasks to perform while reading, many students could struggle with their own process. These struggles could result directly from not having sufficient prior knowledge on a specific subject connected to a reading. For example, I can recall moments in my school career where I was given a reading where I was only tasked with finding answers to questions by progressing through the text. I did not have sufficient prior knowledge on the subject, and I was not fully c...