Topic: Learning Principles

One-minute review: Motivated learners learn more readily. Reward is better than punishment. Intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic. Failure is tolerated if there is a backlog of success. Set realistic goals. Active participation is better than passive. Repetitive practice is needed for overlearning skills. Know what is good performance. Transfer is more successful if relationships are discovered by the person himself. Spaced recalls for retaining knowledge.

“Learning Principles and the Reading Process.” Psychology in Teaching Reading Smith and Dechant.. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1961.

Comment: These principles are a reminder of what I already know, but I need to think of their implications again and again. RayS.

Topic: Reading Defined

10-second review: “Reading is the perception of graphic symbols. It is the process of relating graphic symbols to the reader’s fund of experience.” p. 44.

Title: Psychology in Teaching Reading. HP Smith and EJ Dechant. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc. 1961.

Summary/Quote: “The symbol without the perceiving individual is meaningless. It is his biological inheritance and his present physical status, his learnings and his immediate environment, his culture and his needs that make a word meaningful.” p. 44.

“We know that perception always involves an interpretation. This is so because words can only ‘stand for’ experiences; they are substitutes that must be integrated in terms of the perceivers’ experiences. Rarely do words communicate perfectly.” p. 44.

Comment: Clearly defines reading as an interaction between the author’s words and the reader’s experiences and, because those experiences differ from individual to individual, differences in interpretation occur. RayS.

Topic: Levels and Skills of Comprehension.

10-second review: Ruddell’s (1974) levels of comprehension: factual, interpretive, applicative. Skills of comprehension: events recalled; sequence of events; facts recalled; details recalled.

Title: “Reading to Children: A Communicative Process.” JL Gren and JO Harker in Reader Meets Author/Bridging the Gap.” Ed. JA Langer and MT Smith-Burke. IRA. 1982. pp. 196-221.

Comment: The “applicative” level of comprehension means applying the information read in some way. This step, in my experience, is usually ignored after students have completed factual recall and interpretation. Skills of comprehension involve recall and are divided into events and facts and details. Probably a useful way to define comprehension. RayS.

Topic: Comprehension Lesson

10-second review: Five steps in developing comprehension using an article or book.

Title: “Extending Concepts Through Language Activities.” MT Smith-Burke in Reader Meets Author/Bridging the Gap.” Ed. JA Langer and MT Smith-Burke. IRA. 1982, pp. 163-179.

Summary: Establish purpose for reading. Silent reading for the purpose. Writing out what has been learned. Discussing what has been learned. Comparing original response with the last response and write the final interpretation. Author defines comprehension as “…resides not in the page nor in the reader but in the encounter between the two.” (Shaughnessy, 1977).

Comment: The difference in comprehension between the initial and later responses will result from the discussion. Discussion alters comprehension. RayS.

Topic: Teachers and Censorship

10-second review: Some points of view about dealing with censorship: “Ken Donelson lists several responsibilities teachers who select reading materials must accept. These include implementing a formal policy for handling any attempted censorship, preparing a rationale and defense for any work to be taught in any class by any teacher, communicating to the public and to students what is going on in the classroom and why, and recognizing that the censor may sometimes have a legitimate complaint.” p. 502.

Title: ERIC/RCS: “Censorship and Selection.” T Olsen. Journal of Reading (March 1974), 502-503. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Comment: I think this advice needs a good deal of thought. In my experience, few would disagree with a formal procedure for dealing with censorship. On the other hand, few, if any, teachers prepare a rationale for selecting materials to teach. Teachers rarely communicate what they are teaching—and especially why. And most teachers with whom I have worked think there is no good reason for censorship at all or ever.

Of all of these responsibilities, it is my strong opinion that teachers need to prepare rationales for any materials that might be objectionable. The NCTE recommends the following steps in a rationale: a brief summary of the book. Brief description of the controversial parts of the book. Appropriate grade and maturity level of the students who will be reading the book. A detailed plot summary. Value of the book to the students who read it. Literary qualities of the book. Objectives in using the book. Teaching methods to be used in reading the book. Assignments to be completed by the students while reading the book. Possible objections to the book. Critics’ and educators’ opinions about the values of reading the book. RayS.

Topic: English Language Learners (ELLs) and Cognitive Ability

10-second review: Do not equate difficulties in learning English with cognitive ability.

Title: “Mexican American Bilingualism and English Language Development.” Ricardo L. Garcia. Journal of Reading (March 1974), 467-473. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Quote: “Despite the spirit of the times and a desire to alleviate racial and ethnic tensions, the misconception still persists among teachers of Chicanos that a Spanish home language is a handicap for school success and that Chicanos with a Spanish home language are bound to experience academic failure in school, a self-fulfilling prophecy that has relegated an inordinate number of Chicano students to classes for the educably mentally retarded because many teachers have tended to equate English linguistic ability with cognitive ability.” p. 467.

Comment: A basic principle when working with children whose native language is not English: Do not confuse problems with language and intelligence. RayS.

Topic: Poetry.

10-second review: Why don’t students like poetry?

Title: “Writing Communal Poetry.” AV Manzo and DC Martin. Journal of Reading (May 1974), 638-643.

Summary: Students don’t like poetry because the language of poetry is “foreign.” Students lack knowledge of allusions. They have little knowledge of poems or the process of writing poetry. The students write a group poem to help them understand the process.

Comment: Of course, reading interesting poems aloud with the students following at their seats will help. But the process of writing poems is also interesting. I used a cinquain as a model for how to write a poem.

Model of a cinquain. Five lines. The first line is one word, the topic. The second line is two words, adjectives. The third line is three lines consisting of verbs. The fourth line is four words, a phrase. The fifth line is one word, a summary. Snake/ Slithery, Slinky/ Squeezes, Strangles, Stabs/ Slides on ground slowly/ “S.”

Students study the model. They vote on a topic. Students as a group brainstorm the topic, each student offering something they are thinking about concerning the topic. They then fill out the cinquain. They revise and edit and produce the group poem.

Then they write their own cinquains, beginning with a topic, brainstorm, and completing their individual cinquains. The results are often exceptionally good. Create a class book of cinquains. RayS.