Despite the many
ways that education has evolved throughout the years, our reliance on books and
other forms of texts as educational tools still holds a firm grip on our
lessons plans. It is because of the
importance of reading that close attention must be paid to both what, and how,
students read. Chapter 5 of D&Z presents so many great and creative ways to
guide readers through text but one technique that really spoke out to me was
the Anticipation Guide. It draws on what the student already knows and asks the
student to make predictions and make his or her own conclusions before even
tackling the reading. This resonates with me because one of the most important
skills for scientists, is the ability to take into consideration all
possibilities and either prove, or disprove, what was originally thought to be
true. After doing the reading, the students will either reinforce what they
already know or potentially realize what information was being misused in
drawing their initial conclusions.
The “It says/I
say” technique is also invaluable for me because lets face it, most scientific
articles tempt the most talented readers to skim through after the first couple
of paragraphs. I’ve seen students simply pull out answers and not really
understand the questions being asked and the answers they’ve provided. This technique encourages students to
interpret the information that is being presented which in turn requires them
to substantiate and explain the reasoning behind their responses.
I was even more so
impressed with the idea of hosting a Book Club in science class. I have been
playing around with the idea of incorporating new, real-life applications of
scientific findings into my weekly lesson plans via recently published articles
etc., but I wasn’t so sure how I’d decide which ideas would be most engaging and
the frequency with which I’d draw attention away from the “normal” curriculum.
A book club would solve both problems because the students are choosing the
topics and are already coming to class having read and prepared what they are
going to share with their peers, allowing for a quick and efficient weekly or
bi-weekly transfer of information between students and an even easier
opportunity for the teacher to assess students’ ability to think and lead
conversations.
Despite the many
ways that education has evolved throughout the years, our reliance on books and
other forms of texts as educational tools still holds a firm grip on our
lessons plans. It is because of the
importance of reading that close attention must be paid to both what, and how,
students read. Chapter 5 of D&Z presents so many great and creative ways to
guide readers through text but one technique that really spoke out to me was
the Anticipation Guide. It draws on what the student already knows and asks the
student to make predictions and make his or her own conclusions before even
tackling the reading. This resonates with me because one of the most important
skills for scientists, is the ability to take into consideration all
possibilities and either prove, or disprove, what was originally thought to be
true. After doing the reading, the students will either reinforce what they
already know or potentially realize what information was being misused in
drawing their initial conclusions.
The “It says/I
say” technique is also invaluable for me because lets face it, most scientific
articles tempt the most talented readers to skim through after the first couple
of paragraphs. I’ve seen students simply pull out answers and not really
understand the questions being asked and the answers they’ve provided. This technique encourages students to
interpret the information that is being presented which in turn requires them
to substantiate and explain the reasoning behind their responses.
I was even more so
impressed with the idea of hosting a Book Club in science class. I have been
playing around with the idea of incorporating new, real-life applications of
scientific findings into my weekly lesson plans via recently published articles
etc., but I wasn’t so sure how I’d decide which ideas would be most engaging and
the frequency with which I’d draw attention away from the “normal” curriculum.
A book club would solve both problems because the students are choosing the
topics and are already coming to class having read and prepared what they are
going to share with their peers, allowing for a quick and efficient weekly or
bi-weekly transfer of information between students and an even easier
opportunity for the teacher to assess students’ ability to think and lead
conversations.
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