Subjects Matter: Chapter 5 Reading Strategies

The purpose of this blog post is to analyze two reading strategies from Subjects Matter, which are found in chapter 5. The strategy I like best in chapter 5 is the use of exit and admit slips in the class. These slips serve several purposes, but most importantly: they serve as a great anticipatory set; they can help multi-curriculum instruction, with a little guided direction; and they encourage writing in the classroom. Daniels and Zemelman note that teenagers have jam packed schedules; hence, jam packed minds. Slips "help connect one day's learning to the next, and last night's reading to this morning's discussion, across everything in between" (p. 124). Slips act as a catalyst, forcing students to further develop ideas enclosed in an instruction. They also help keep teenagers focused on the task on-hand or coming up. I see myself using slips both for anticipatory sets and class conclusions. I think of them as great tools to use in analyzing if my instruction met my objectives, without having to test the students. Who likes tests? Like Daniels and Zemelman suggest, I don't plan on grading the slips. I do however plan on using them outside of focusing reminders. Both types of slips can help foster all levels of Bloom's taxonomy. Most likely, I'll use exit and admit slips to help Bloom's two highest levels: synthesis and evaluation.

Though I like several of the strategies in chapter 5, the other strategy I know I'll definitely use in my classrooms is double-entry journals. I like double-entry journals, because they help all students participate in discussions and with the materials, despite if they are shy or not. Like with the slips, double-entry journals also can help all levels of Bloom's taxonomy. With the help of instruction, students can learn how to properly note take and how to engage with a lesson or reading through double-entry journals. Though I don't plan on grading these types of journals, they will serve as a tool to see who is actively participating in the class despite their voice. I hope one thing I can teach my students is how to express themselves; I want to teach them (especially those in need) that they have a voice worth hearing. I think double-entry journals will be a good starting point for me to begin my teachings.

 

Media Artifact

On September 24, 2007 I presented my SED 405 class with a media artifact. The media artifact assignment is designed to entice conversation about secondary education, schools, teachers, students, teens, etc. Thus far, we have seen four media artifacts in class: a segment of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, an article from the PROJO, www.hoboteacher.com (a hilarious teaching blog), and the back of a Kraft Macaroni & Cheese box (my artifact). The reason why I chose the Mac & Cheese box was because of the advertisement that appeared on the back of the box. The advertisement was for Caprisun (an all natural juice drink marketed for children). Its slogan was, "ADD COOL THE LUNCHBOX."

My objective in bringing in the advertisement was to have the class reflect on the roles corporations and their agendas have on students' perceptions of the purpose of school. In the case of my media artifact, Kraft helps students craft (I know, couldn't help myself) ideas that their roles in school is to be popular—COOL. We had a lively discussion about the pedagogies advertisements instill in the American population. Just recently, in USA TODAY, Men's Health advertising specialist stated that the average adult sees 3000 advertisements per day. Most likely, children see more than that.

The conversation ended with no one being satisfied, and all wondering what role corporations will have in the future of education. Will more schools funded by corporations, like the CVS Highlander Charter School in Providence, be in the states? Should there be a separation between corporation and state, like church and state, that disallows states from governing materials and bylaws inside private schools like CVS Highlander? Undoubtedly, the face of education will change within the next century; it has to because education is alive—never stagnant. Will its next face be a blank sheet of class that periodically fills with advertisements to help assimilate students into a thriving global, capitalist world? Or, does it already have that face, educators just use catch slogans like "MULTICULTURE EDUCATION" as makeup?