Well, Week 4 has finished and we are almost half-way through the course (after next week). It always amazes me to turn around and realize that the course is half over.
This last week we focused on reading and writing. These are particular loves of mine--as I've been focusing on teaching reading and writing for a long time. I really love to teach writing--most teachers hate it. I believe in giving a lot--I mean a LOT--of feedback to my students on their writing. I also believe that students need multiple drafts of their writing tasks and a lot of scaffolding in the form of outlines and organizers. Organizers are particularly helpful as they give students something to write "into."
As I said, most teachers I know hate to teach writing because it means huge amounts of grading and marking and writing feedback. It takes hours and hours.
I also love to teach reading. I believe (and research backs me up) that students need both intensive and extensive reading. They need to be explicitly taught reading strategies. They need to intensively take apart difficult, academic reading material in order to understand it, and they need extensive reading. Extensive reading should be interesting, fun, and at or below their reading levels. Making students read material that is too difficult for them--without helping them with the content and vocabulary--makes them hate reading.
Finally, students must be taught vocabulary. Reading well requires a great deal of vocabulary.
Well---Week 4 has been a good week. I hope everyone has learned or been reminded of a few things.
Donna
Hi Donna,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, that extensive reading should be at or below students' reading levels. They must find reading a pleasure, not a torture. :-)
Sometimes, when we talk about reading (be it in Portuguese or English) I always tell them the most important is to start reading, no matter what. Most students don't like reading, even in Portuguese, and I believe this is also their parents' fault. It is difficult to ask a student to read if his/her parents don't motivate him/her.
I always tell my students (especially boys, the ones who read less) that reading a sports newspaper or magazine is fine. We do have some excellent well-written newspapers.
Celeste
Dear Donna! I think that writing help me to improve my English language skills, to learn how to summarize and paraphrase ideas and reflect on the activities that I do. Through reading I cannot do it , so why I consider the writing process as a valuable one for teachers and students. That week was very useful for me in order to support my opinion and find new ways of teaching for writing and reading (not only in science). Thank you for the course and for your positive feedback! The best, Natalia
ReplyDelete