Framing Our Reading - Part 1 (Engagement)

Framing Our Reading- Part 1 (Engagement)

ED 620

  

Text citation or link	Rationale for Choosing	Text Frame(s)	Strategies Used and Resource
http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/past-issues/archive-2012-2013/open-for-discussion-tattoos.html	We chose this article because it is applicable to our students. We have observed numerous students that already have tattoos within our classrooms. This article was not difficult to read and is short in length. This is good for a classroom where little reading is currently done. Many activities can stem from this topic and can be completed in one class period, including reading the article.	Concept/ definition (Buehl, book)	Making Connections/ Coding the Text (McLaughlin, 2015)

My partner and I spent a good deal of time discussing qualities an article would need in order to be an appropriate choice to be used in our classrooms. The two main qualities we decided on were that the article needed to be on the easier side and it also needed to be short in length. In both of our experiences, our students are not accustomed to reading during class. In order for this assignment to be successful, it would need to be easier in order to engage our students. Currently, in my classroom, my students do not use a chemistry textbook. Asking them to read a difficult article would be more than they would probably be able to handle. Although it is important to have students practicing literacy, I believe it is important that literacy is introduced gradually. When students become discouraged, they shut down and progress cannot be made. We also liked the idea of the article being short so that an accompanying activity could be completed in the same class period. This is helpful so that students can maintain focus. Through our personal experiences, we have found that activities that span over several class periods are more difficult for our students to complete. As our students develop better strategies and skills, including critical thinking and problem solving, our students will be more able to complete longer standing projects. 

The strategy I chose to use for this article is coding the text and can be found on page 65 of the McLaughlin (2015) text. I chose this strategy because I want my students to be able to connect to what they are reading. As students create connections, they can better understand what is being read. In coding the text, students indicate "where we are able to make text-self, text-text, and text-world connections" (McLaughlin, 2015, p. 65). Each student would write directly on a text hand out where these connections are and briefly describe the connection (McLaughlin, 2015, p. 65). After they completed reading the text, they could discuss their connections in small groups. Whether or not a student currently has a tattoo, they are more than likely be able to connect to the topic in a variety of ways. 

I believe the hardest connection students would be able to make is text-text. As discussed above, our students have limited reading experiences within our classrooms. While they might have connections with outside the classroom reading selections, not everyone would be able to do this. With my class, I would explain what each connection type is and ask students for examples. I would also encourage student to consider notes and topics that were discussed in class as possible options for text-text connections. Although I believe text-text to be the hardest connection for my students to make, I think making connections in general is difficult. I really like this strategy because it asks the student to explain briefly the connection as they are reading. This is really important so that students will be able to participate in group discussions afterwards.

Reference:

McLaughlin, M. (2015). Content are reading: teaching and learning for college and career readiness. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.