Reading Supervisors

Note: What struck me most were the roles that the supervisors who participated in the survey were least interested in.

Roles most desired: coordinate all aspects of the reading program, supervise reading personnel, knowledge of research, etc., support classroom teachers, participate in curriculum development, supervise reading programs, participating in setting policies in reading methods, and select reading staff.

Roles least desired: involving community; develop school recreational reading programs; interpret standardized tests for school board, parents, etc.; confer with parents; prepare reports; demonstrate materials and methods to staff; meet with other subject coordinators and staff; plan meetings to help parents support the reading programs.

Comment: To me, the “meat” of the roles for supervisors are the roles the supervisors least wanted to participate in. The roles most challenging. WOW! Of course, I did not see the questions and they could have helped to sway the direction of the answers. Still…. RayS.

Title: “Actual and Desired Roles of Reading Supervisors.” K Mack. Journal of Reading (April 1991), 568-570.

Adult Literacy

Question: Why don’t adults who need help with literacy enroll in adult literacy classes?

Answer:

30% Personal and family concerns

 27% Lack of confidence

13% Cost

14% Not interested in organized education

16% Not interested in available courses.

Comment: I thought these reasons were interesting. I especially noted “lack of confidence,” at 27%. I’m willing to bet that this reason is part of many of the other reasons as well. RayS.

Title: “What Keeps Adults Out of Adult Education Programs?” Journal of Reading (April 1991), 566-567.

"Scaffolding"

Note: The term “scaffolding” has become a buzz word, or cliché,  in education. This short note defines its meaning and tells where it came from.

Quote: “ ’Scaffolding,’ a popular concept in education today is a term coined by psychologist Lev Semenovich Vygotsky….”

“Scaffolding means that with the help of a teacher, you can do something that you can’t do on your own.”

Title: “ ‘Scaffolding’ Is Providing Support.” Journal of Reading (April 1991), 564.

Training in Paraphrasing

Question: How can teachers train their students in paraphrasing?

Answer: Students on an index card quote from the text. Next, they paraphrase the quote.

Comment: This training is necessary. Students should learn to paraphrase most of the ideas they cite. After writing the quote and understanding it on one side of the index card, the student turns the card over and tries to write the paraphrase. It’s too easy to quote the text and copying sometimes leads to lack of understanding. Students need to practice paraphrasing. They also need to learn to cite the paraphrase. RayS.

Title: “Using Paraphrasing Cards to Reduce Unintentional Plagiarism.” N Stahl and JR King. Journal of Reading (April 1991), 562-563.

Summaries

Question: What are some suggestions for teaching students how to summarize? What happens when students don’t learn how to summarize?

Answer: “ ‘Writing summaries? No. I don’t teach my students how to write summaries. They should already know that skill when they come into my classroom.’

                So says many a secondary teacher. English teachers spend much more instruction time on the writing of full narrative and expository texts or critical analysis than on the production of summaries. In content classes, writing emphasis is on research papers for which the use of summaries would be very helpful. But because they lack training in doing otherwise, many students copy verbatim instead of summarizing for their papers. It seems that even though summarizing is expected of most students in the United States, few receive direct instruction in summary writing.” P. 536.

 What are summaries? “Summaries are short statements that condense information and reflect the gist of discourse.” P. 537.

(1) “Summary writing must be initiated from the text pattern with which students are most familiar—narrative.

(2) Initially, summary writing is most effective if it uses a narrative or time structure.

(3) Direct instruction of summary writing has proven to be most effective.

 (4) When students are given a format such as enumeration and time sequence with text frames, they are usually successful.

(5) A key concept map is an effective organizational tool for summary writing in content classes.

(6) Most students, even adults, progress through developmental stages as they write summaries. Their summaries develop from chronology to ones based more on logical arrangements.” Pp. 538-539.

Comment: I’m guilty. I always expected students to know how to summarize and I never taught them how to. RayS.

Title: “Writing Summaries Promotes Thinking and Learning Across the Curriculum—But Why Are they So Difficult to Write?” Margaret Hill. Journal of Reading (April 1991), 536-539.

Reading and Thinking

Question: What is one step in thinking through reading?

 Answer/Quote: “Basically, teachers in the subject areas have begun to discover that visual organizers such as time lines, Venn diagrams, inductive towers, concept maps, causal chains, force fields, and flow charts help students recognize and take control of the intellectual processes which bring meaning to the study of academic content.”

Comment: In other words, designing a visual representation of the content encourages students to think through ideas in the chapter, article or book. Should perhaps be the first step after reading before discussing the ideas read. Of course, the visual organizer will vary with the purpose of the content material. RayS.

Title: “Using Visual Organizers to Focus on Thinking.” John H. Clarke. Journal of Reading (April 1991), 526-534.

Reading Process

Question: What is the reading process?

Answer/Quote: “The first thing that children acquire in learning how to read is sometimes called ‘access to word.’ They learn that the words of their language can be represented in print and that they can understand words in print in much the same way that they understand words in speech. The last thing that children acquire might be called ‘access to scholarship’—the ability to think and reason in response to print without deliberate consciousness of words. Between the initial accomplishment and the ultimate accomplishment of any reader lies a rather long transition period, roughly the time between fourth grade and adulthood. The success of this transition depends in large part on how well schools are able to nurture reading as a process of thinking and learning.” P. 508.

Comment: I believe that this quote summarizes succinctly the reading process. RayS.

Title: Journal of Reading: A Themed Issue on Thinking and Learning Across the Curriculum.” Guest Editor; Thomas H. Estes. Journal of Reading (April 1991), pp. 509-509.