Reading and Writing Strategies

            In chapter five of D and Z we are introduced to various strategies for reading and writing. There are mental strategies that readers use to understand what they are reading, instructional strategies that teachers use to help students learn mental strategies, and whole class or individual strategies that combine both mental and instructional strategies. Teachers must introduce these reading strategies to students and guide them on how they are done then allow students to practice them on their own. While reading through all of the suggested strategies in the chapter five I was thinking about which strategies I thought to be the most effective and that I could see myself using in the classroom as both a teacher and a student.

            One specific strategy that I liked was brainstorming. With brainstorming the teacher gives a key word from the reading that is going to be done and the students tell the teacher words or ideas that they associate with that word. This give both the teacher and the students an idea of what they already know about a topic prior to any reading that is done. This also allows students to have input in the lesson right from the beginning. I think that this strategy would be very useful in a history classroom because students might have some kind of knowledge about historical subjects prior to learning about them in class and that information is useful for the teacher to know.

This made me try and think of an example of how I would use brainstorming in the classroom. The first subject that popped in to my head was the Civil War. I could possible start by asking students what words they think of when they think about the Civil War. Or I could narrow it down to a specific term and say slavery, freedom, or secession. The opportunities are endless when it comes to brainstorming about historical topics.

I felt that clustering which was the next strategy in the book could be used as a way to organize student’s brainstorming. With clustering students identify a key word, which they write down, and circle on a piece of paper. Then they think of words and ideas that they associate with that word and write them around and connect them to the key word. Students then connect outside words that are related to each other. Students get together in groups and share their ideas and draw connections between each other’s ideas. Again I thought of my Civil War example and how this strategy might work well in the classroom with this subject. Chapter five goes on to discuss various reading and writing strategies all which can be useful for both teachers and students in the classroom.

I found a website with blank graphic organizers that could be used for both brainstorming, clustering, and other strategies that were described in chapter five: 

http://www.eduplace.com/ss/socsci/tn/books/bke2/gfxorganizers/index.html

Finally here is a quote that I found this week and wanted to share just because...