Chatper 9 (The right chapter 9)

When I was in high school I HATED, DESPISED, AND LOATHED vocabulary. I thought it was a total waste of time to learn words that I most likely was not going to pick up and use later in life. And continuing to my freshman year of college, I was write. Yes, I feel that having an extensive vocabulary is important, but I feel it is more important of how one takes those newly learned words and works them into their writing. For me, my new vocab words seemed so foreign in my writing that it just felt unnatural in the piece, and teachers commented on it; "You're trying to hard." they would say. When I stopped trying to add in words that teachers shoved down our throats in high school I feel that I slowly became a better, more fluent writer. I think of good portion of why I didn't like the vocabulary part of school is that not one teacher I had made it interesting. It was just 20 extra points to memorize in homeroom and get by the end of the day. Going back to the book, I really like that the vocabulary tree gave a student a sense of creativity towards the words. It also could help the slowly progress to learning how to input these words into their writing.

Chapter 9

A major topic for a teacher to be concerned about when discussing their student's reading capabilities is how they construct meaning in what they read. The chapter gives a list of multiple things an independent reader need to be able to do to construct meaning such as: identify the main character, plot, and ideas, visualize the text,and know the difference between fact and opinion. A strategy the author gives that I really like is the "Somebody Wanted But So". This is a great way to help students keep the plot of a piece of writing in order, especially if it is on the longer side or if there is many similar characters. A good example to use this is The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane. Because most characters do not have specific names like John or Jim, and are commonly named "the young solider" or "the loud solider" students could get confused quite easily. I feel that this is a great way to keep student actively involved in the reading and also keeping it clear and concise. Retelling is also a great way to start a lesson. As many English teachers know, many students dislike Shakespeare because they have no clue what is going on. I feel that if teachers had student try to retell what they think happened in their own words or actions clarity may come with the help of fellow students and the teacher as a guide.

Chapter 7

As I said in previous chapter blogs, I really like to use the "Say Something" strategy in order to see my student I am tutoring for the OGT gain a greater understanding of what he is reading. After reading paragraphs or stanzas he tells me what he thinks he's read. Next time, I think I am going to try to have him make a prediction of what will happen next. I really like the idea of the double entry journals, because they are very similar to a class blog... but without the blog. I think that this can get the class very engaged with the material and take notes at the same time. I think the bookmarks would be a great way to ask questions about material. Personally, on various types of novels, I would like to have used bookmarks during readings at home, and use them in the classroom to help understand the plot, and characters. Although I think syntax surgery is a great idea in theory, I think that if a student would look back on the paper dependent readers could get confused, discouraged, and want to give up.

Chapter 5

I am really thankful I read this chapter before I started tutoring my student for Principals of Teaching. As we are given OGT practice tests, my student's main issue is to become aware of what is going on throughout the text. I had him read the selected poem and answer the questions that followed on his own at first. After he got a few answers wrong we went back together and went through the poem stanza by stanza. Together we discussed what he thought was going on throughout the play, and I asked him to show me where in the text if was getting this information. Taking a look back into the poem seemed to help him comprehend the piece.
I really enjoy that fact that inferences are based on the person, and past experiences. Yes, as the text gives guidelines of what type of inferences can be made; but it fully based on the persons thought process that different inferences come from.