As a future science teacher, the readings this week, particularly Buel Chapter 1 and Moje, really made me think about how I am going to address disciplinary literacy in my future classrooms. Should I be expecting students to come to my classroom with the literacy tools to read scientific papers or decipher scientific charts. Will students come to me knowing how to “think scientifically” and understand the scientific method? Will we have to dedicate time at the beginning of semesters to review these items and will I have to teach my students literacy in the scientific discipline before I can teach them content? I have been in the M. Ed science education program for only one semester and honestly I have not given these questions a ton of thought yet.
In the first half of chapter 1, Buehl talks a lot about “reading and identity” That as readers each of us and each student has their own identity. Buehl states “many of the student’s identities do not necessarily seek out the kind of reading that is expected in school and within the academic disciplines (Buehl 6).” Some students will prefer fiction, and some non fiction. Some prefer math and science and some history. As a science teacher, I am going to get students in my classroom that have no interest in science and maybe no interest in reading or school at all. But it will still be my job to teach and engage these students.
Buehl also mentions that “academic identities can be fluid rather than static and the instructional context can make a dramatic difference for development and shaping these student’s conceptions of the themselves as readers and writers (Buehl 8).” This means that students are still moldable and can still be taught literacy in a number of subjects. One way I think teachers can reach students that show little interest in particular subjects is to show that Science, math, history, and English are all connected and do not stand alone. For example, I could engage students interested in Art by reading a science article on how paintings are conserved or rehabbed or do a lesson on why the statue of liberty or other pieces of copper art turn from bronze to green after a while. A science teacher could also have students research how climate change is affecting historic cities around the world and what this means for art in these cities. We could do a unit on Harry Potter or another fictional book and determine if there is any scientific truth to this fiction. These are just a number of subjections and I would be very interested to hear from other teachers in this class how they engage students that are not interested in their subject. I am only in my second semester in the college of education at UIC and therefore do not have a lot of classroom experience yet.
Another way to reach students literary identities may be through new technology. Buehl mentions that “students communicating through text messaging, and online social networks such as MySpace and Facebook, are displaying a host of literacy behaviors that may represent a significant segment of the student’s personal reader profiles (Buehl 6).” The Moje article stated “many studies of youth literacy outside of school demonstrate proficiency among those who do not appear to be proficient readers and writers in school (Moje 104).” I found this second quote very interesting and kind of concerning. As teachers we need to figure out a way to reach these students. I think that implementing technology in the classroom could help engage some students that normally may not be as interested. I would be interested to hear from other teachers that have implemented technology based literary devices in their classroom as well opinions on them.
I think that engaging students and making subjects interesting for students is one of the biggest challenges for teachers but necessary to ensure disciplinary literacy. Ensuring literacy across the disciplines is the job of each individual teacher as well as the school as a whole. Teachers must work together to ensure students are able to “think like a scientist” or “think like a historian” in particular subjects but also in other subjects as well. I don’t see why a student cannot use a scientific approach in history or an artistic approach in math. Using strategies like connecting disciplines, utilizing technology and social media and appealing to student’s interests are ways to increase student’s literacy in each discipline. I am interested to hear other teacher’s opinions and experiences on how to engage students and build literacy in each subject.
I definitely agree with you and believe that it is crucial for students to be engage in learning about a specific subject in order for them to learn literacy skills. I personally belief that a great way to engage students is to make the subject as relevant to their life as possible. This is due to the fact that I often hear students question why they are learning certain things if they are not going to use it in real life. However, if they can actually see the importance of what they are learning and how it applies to their lives then they might be more interested in learning. Thus, as future educators it is important for us to engage our students in our specific subject to be able to teach literacy. As a future history teacher I will try to reach out to my class by connecting the past to the present as much as possible. This way students will be able to see how history applies to their everyday life and why it's needed.
ReplyDeleteAngelica,
DeleteThanks for the reply. I agree that it is critical to relate classroom content to students lives outside of school. I think that getting to know your students would make this easier. I'd be interested to hear some strategies teachers use to to this.
John
Suzanne's Comment:
ReplyDeleteI am a 4th grade reading teacher. This is my fifth year teaching reading to 4th grade students. Even though I only teach reading, the 4th grade team plans lesson together so that literacy is incorporated into all of the core subjects. For instance, I primarily teach fictional novels and stories from the basal reader. However, the science and social studies teachers focus more on the non fictional aspects of reading into their lessons. By doing this, students are being exposed to a variety of different texts in all of their core subject classes. Most of my students are primarily current or former products of the bilingual program at our school. Typically in the beginning of the school year, I ask my students what their favorite subject is...and about 50% of my students enjoy math over any other subject in school. After asking why, I usually get the response “because I do not have to read in math”. An interesting quote from the Mojes article, “Few students, for example, question the fact that little reading is assigned in their mathematics classrooms. Few students expect to construct charts and graphs about novels they read in English class.” this caught my attention because I believe this is how my some of my students feel. Even though students are making charts in reading class they do not connect it with math. We as teachers need to better integrate all subjects so students feel more “comfortable” learning even when they may feel that specific subject may not be their strongest.
Suzanne, it's interesting to hear that students in English do not nessesarily connect making charts in that class with their math class. I wonder if the math teacher and English teacher could work together to help students recognize this discipline crossover.
DeleteI agree with you, John, that the disciplines are all interconnected. I teach history, and I find myself drawing upon things from science, math, art, and literature. The great thing about history is that so much from across multiple disciplines come into play in the year I teach my freshmen world history. I may teach them poetry by having the students read "Gilgamesh" or art by examining a culture's art/architecture from that time period or math through the teaching of finding locations using math coordinates and how to understand timelines. Likewise, our freshmen read Elie Wiesel's NIGHT in their English class, so I draw upon their knowledge from reading that book to aid them in understanding World War II and the Holocaust. History lends itself quite easily to reaching out to the other disciplines. Other disciplines, like math, may not lend itself so easily, but it can be achieved through tireless efforts on behalf of the teacher that seeks new resources to incorporate into the classroom to promote and enhance various literacies. It also begs the question of why aren't more classes combined and taught as studies courses, such as history and English, or science and math. I have been involved in such course studies and the learning that took place is phenomenal, however, economics and politics interfered, dissolving such classes. It was a loss to all, especially the students.
ReplyDeleteAs Buehl wrote so well in Chapter One, we play a crucial role in building students' literary and academic identities. I never hesitate to suggest books or poems that may have nothing to do with the lesson in my on-going effort to get students to read more for pleasure and interest outside the classroom. Likewise, students may come to us for help on work for another class and we have to step up and assist them even if it isn't our specialty or field. Since their identity is fluid and still developing, we have an important role to help shape it in a positive way. And you are correct of why can't students use approaches (say the science approach) in a history class, or vice-versa. It's a mental exercise for them that strengthens their thinking skills through such cross-overs. We need to encourage that in our students.
Thanks for the response. It's interesting to hear about your experience and ideas connecting history subjects to others. I didn't think about the idea that students may come to us for help in other subjects. I guess that could be a great opportunity to show how our specific subject connects to others.
DeleteYour comments about the plasticity of identity, John, are really insightful. I think it is important to remember that students come to our classrooms with a certain paradigm that might include things like "I am a great reader," or "I suck at math," and it is our job to both utilize their strengths and try to address their resistances. Both Buhl and Moje focus on how literacy is tied to students' sense of "identity," with Moje emphasizing the importance of students learning to think of themselves as "historians," or scientists," while Buhl thinks more broadly about how students concieve of their strengths and interests as they relate to their own "profile" as a reader. Buhl's exercise of drawing an arrow from one of our "strengths" in a literacy discipline to some other aspect of a discipline where we struggle, in order to reify a potential avenue for improvement, is something we can use to galvanize our creative process of engaging students.
ReplyDeleteAs Shanahan and Shanahan explain in their article, the real goal is to help students find that space where they can begin to "think" and "create knowledge" like a member of that particular discipline. Once a student can experience that process and receive affirmation from his/her teacher, it becomes easier for even a resistant student to feel empowered and capable, rather than preoccupied with their aversion to a subject, or an awareness of their difficulty within a subject.
As someone else who is going to be a future science teacher I hold a lot of the questions you have too. When you usually think of literacy in terms of science it's usually doesn't spark that big of an interest. Usually journals and research based articles that have very little appeal to students. The ideas you have to make learning about science in ways that affect other disciplines are pretty nice, I have been trying to think of introducing similar things in my future classroom that connect science to other things since students who fall into your class might not even be one bit interested in the subject at hand. Creating readings and lesson plans that connect ideas to other subjects adds to enrichment and a more holistic approach at learning different topics.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally I do believe that adding technology is important to add more to lessons but I don't know if technology will always be an option that can be added. In CPS for example 86% of students are considered "economically disadvantaged" (CPS website) and almost 6% of CPS students are homeless, while influencing technology to help with literacy can be beneficial it has to be added with the thought that many students might not have access to technology outside of the classroom.