Studying Texts and the Essentials of Reading Instruction

Chapter 10 of Content Area Reading - Studying Text

The main idea from this reading is that comprehension in content area reading goes beyond strictly "being able o read". Our text tells us that the ability to read in a basal does not guarantee comprehension in content areas. Students may lack background of knowledge in our content areas,so we as teachers should supply a number of books on different levels dealing with our topic. We should use Writing to Learn activities that help us to assess our students' prior knowledge and figure out how we can relate our information to our students' lives. 

Another main focus of this chapter is determining the readability (approximate difficulty) of our reading material. We should be working hard to match each child with text readability. I learned from reading this chapter that readability is measure based on the number of words in a sentence, and the number of syllables in a word. Sentence structure, organizational pattern, interest level, and background knowledge of the students all determine readability.When assigning reading materials, we should use the formula (number of words and syllables), our personal knowledge of the child, and an informal check of the text based upon these four characteristics:

1. understandability
2. learnability
3. reinforcement
4. motivation

Vocabulary is another important factor for  comprehension in content areas. Content are words are interrelated. If students do not understand the primary vocabulary, it will be impossible for them to understand the secondary words. Often times, understanding the vocabulary requires systematic instruction. In order to make our content vocabulary stick with our students we must connect the vocab to known words, repeat the words at least 6 times, put them to meaningful use, and use visual aids. 

The last key component that I will touch on for gaining reading comprehension for our students in our content areas is the teaching of studying strategies. Our text offers many strategies that we can implement in our future classrooms such as B-D-A, reciprocal teaching, writing to learn and SQ3R. 

The supplementary article, "Essentials of Reading Instructions", has a lot of similar concepts as chapter 10. I really liked how it offered teachers a rubric. This could be very beneficial for new teachers to look at and determine how effective they are. 

If we want to be excellent teachers we are given "specific literacy practices necessary for success for adolescents to be successful in content area reading. The article reinforces the importance of activating the prior knowledge of our students and teaching them to become independent readers who know how to create meaning to their reading. We know that Round Robin Reading and reading complete texts to our students after 4th grade takes away from this. We as educators should be working to involve our students in critical literacy. To be exceptional we should be should be mindful of our students communities, use other reading materials other than just our textbooks, encourage multiple interpretations, and create opportunities for students to reflect. 

I plan on using this article to assess myself and my teaching practices in my future Spanish classroom.