Chapter 2: The "So What?" of Reading Comprehension

In this chapter the author starts off talking about her struggle with a student in the classroom that finds the material to be irrelevant and dry. Whenever a student proceeds to point out a connection they found within a text she proceeds to ask "SO WHAT?" in the most sarcastic, demeaning way possible. The author, being the teacher, was having other teachers come to observe her class tomorrow and she did not know how to retain the disruptive/blunt student. As she shifted through the students connections that they found through the text, she found herself asking the same question: SO WHAT??

From here, she found that she had not shown them how to create/find a meaningful connection to a text. She then created the double-entry diaries. The double-entry diary consists of two columns, the left column consists of a quote or description from a scene in the reading and the second column possess the record of the strategy being taught for example: I'm wondering...., This reminds me of....., I'm confused and this is how I got unstuck...By allowing the students to find a meaningful connection we are allowing them to deepen in their understanding of the text and helping them to remember. Just like the author, I too learned a lot of facts in high school and college but I only remember a certain amount. The reason being exactly this, without a meaningful connection no one has a reason to remember material but if you find a way to relate it to yourself or to see how it is interesting to you in a personal matter the material will be more likely be remembered and recalled.

Recalling information is very important especially in undergraduate years. I remember having to learn a broad spectrum of biology terms and models. At the time I never saw the meaning for all of the memorization, extremely late night studying and 4 red bulls in one study session until I came to my final years. In my final semester as an undergraduate student I had the opportunity to take Virology (study of viruses) with Dr. Hofkin. In this class, I finally found the purpose behind all of what seemed to be meaningless work, which was to better my education in my secondary Discourse so that I may tackle more complex material and come closer to literacy in my field of biology. I went from draw the stages of DNA replication to if you had the chance to find a vaccine for a virus would you rather work with a single stranded DNA, double stranded DNA, single stranded RNA or double stranded RNA virus and why. I finally saw the amazing mysteries and findings within the field of biology which all came at an ease with my ability to recall information. Now I know that the only reason why I was able to recall certain information was that I only found meaningful connections with certain information. If I knew that this was the most efficient way to remember material in my classes, I might have approached school in a more proficient way. Therefore, I hope to show the relevance of finding a meaning full connection to material so that my students won't have to struggle or relearn material later on. Instead they will recall information that they found a meaningful connection and will be able to build on their secondary Discourse and move towards mastery.

Chapter 1 continued..... Introduction: "I'm the Stupid Lady from Denver..."

My Roots of Learning About Comprehension and Understanding Content Teaching

The author talks about her struggle to find out how students could decode a text but are unable to comprehend. She found that she had to make the students more aware of their thinking process. She also saw the necessity in teaching them how to properly highlight important words/phrases in a given text and how to take concise notes. She came up with her thinking strategies through analyzing the process that "good readers" use to better understand what is lacking when others read a given text. She found the following to be the essential "thinking strategies used by proficient readers and writers:

1) Activating background knowledge and making connections between new and known information.
2) Self-questioning the text to clarify ambiguity and deepen understanding.
3) Drawing inferences from the text using background knowledge and clues from the text.
4) Determining importance in text to separate details from main ideas.
5) Employing fix-up strategies to repair confusion.
6) Using sensory images to enhance comprehension and visualize reading.
7) Synthesizing and extending thinking.

From number 1 I can see a strong connection to Gee's Theory where background knowledge equals primary Discourse and new and known information would be secondary Discourse(s). Number 2 shows the thrive for further understanding of a secondary Discourse towards mastery and from there onto literacy. Number 3 shows how you can use your primary Discourse to better understand a secondary Discourse and by finding clues one is learning/creating tools to master a secondary Discourse. Number 4 talks about comprehending and mastering the understanding of any given text. Number 6 uses multiple approaches to comprehending a text through sensory images and visual aid. With number 7, synthesizing and extending thinking is the mastery of comprehension and what is seen in the Academic Literacy Model.

Number 5, on the other hand, has to do with fix-up strategies which are used to repair confusion. A fix up strategy as quoted from the text: "is any strategy used by a reader to help get unstuck when the text becomes confusing." This is what I believe defines a "good reader". A "good reader" to me is someone who can properly analyze a text and who is not afraid to ask questions. Asking questions is something that I have found to be a problem in the classroom. For example, I taught a lesson on punnett squares for a science class. I would start by going over a few examples on the board and would then ask the students if they understood. I saw a few students acknowledge and yet I would continue to scan the class for perplexed faces. Once I noticed these students I would do a more detailed example and would continue until students were able to walk me through the steps and there were no more confused faces. Noticing that students feel uncomfortable asking questions in front of their peers, I have found a discrete way to go about this so that no individual student is pointed out. I have also found that by doing this students become more comfortable and are therefore more likely to ask questions free from embarrassment. All in all I think a huge crutial point is promoting students to ask questions so that they may in turn become "good readers" and come to a better understanding of texts in general.

Chapter 1: Introduction: "I'm the Stupid Lady from Denver...."

I really enjoy how this author talks through her own vast experiences. She has experience ranging from being a teacher in a classroom setting to teaching teachers how to incorporate reading into every content area.
At the beginning of this chapter, she talks about how she goes from school to school in the hopes of showing students and teachers how to incorporate reading in every content. About a week before flying out to a class she asks for the reading/ lecture material ahead of time. In this case she was sent reading material that had to do with viruses. She talks about her struggle in that she has no interest in the material and finds the read to be very dry. It wasn't until she got on her flight and sits next to a man that sneezes on her that she realizes her sudden itch for information on viruses. She finds her self flipping through her virus text and looks for answers. This is when she realizes that the only way to be interested in material is to come with an open mind and to ask questions that one is interested in learning from a certain area of study. This is the tool that she uses in the classroom to enlighten the students that feel the same way she does with the material. Through this I am able to see that not everyone is interested in the same area of study. For instance, I have a hard time finding the fun in Physics. Since this is a course that I may have to teach I need to find questions that I find to be relevant to Physics. Like we have all experienced, if a teacher does not have a passion for the subject they are teaching the students will lack to have interest as well. Therefore bringing enthusiasm and showing the students how to make a dry text informative is a very strong tool for the classroom.
Another interesting part was when a teacher came up to Ms. Tovani (the author of this book) and asked her why she was not interested in viruses, since she had mentioned how she found the material came off as very bland to her at the beginning of the class. He went on to tell her well did you know that they are using viruses in hopes to cure cancer? There are great informational texts out there. And she replied by saying no and why aren't you using those articles with your students? I am so happy that she mentioned this! I subbed many times for a middle school science teacher that relied minimally on text and mainly on articles, hand outs and mini lectures. I was shocked by the material that was being absorbed through these students. They were comprehending material that I wasn't introduced until my undergraduate years in college. They also seemed to have a stronger interest for science and participated fully in the classroom during activities and discussions. Therefore I strongly agree with this stand point of showing the needed material through a more interesting manner in which the students can become enlightened with the material and see the big purpose or "so what" behind science.

Blogging and Freedom of Speech

Through my findings, I found there to be a broad spectrum of blogs from political to personal interests to diets to support groups to product reviews. I find myself having mixed views on blogging. With freedom of speech we are allowed to blog about issues that others may find to be harming yet the bloggers themselves defend their stand point and see no wrong.

Blogs that I found to be more harmful than in any way beneficial are the ones found on pro ana and pro mia webpages. Pro ana is a site that allows people that want to fight obesity with thinspiration to share tips and tricks on how to lose weight, become/stay thin, and stay alive. Pro mia (Pro Bulimia) providing the same services to bloggers. The bloggers are very motivational and support each other through fasting and will do this as a team. They give tips to help decide what your inner ana wants and not your personal wants and needs. You will also find inspirational readings that talk address your inner thoughts on food and tell you the responses to have to these thoughts in a way to help one succeed.

I found these blogs to be scary and sad for our future generations. For one of my prior papers I found a personal account from an Anorexia survivor that had the disorder before the blogs existed. She talked about the difficulty of the disorder in her time and stated that she couldn’t imagine a time with pro ana and mia sites that allow fellow anorexia and bulimia people to share stories and support for one another. She thinks that recovering from the disorder in today’s society would be unimaginably harder than it was for her when she was battling the disorder.

A blogging site that conflicts with these blogs is called Medusa where they show pictures and stories of people that suffered with anorexia and bulimia. This site allows survivors to tell their stories and how they battled their disorder. It also shares stories of people who unfortunately ended up dead at the hand of these eating disorders. This blogging site I think is much needed since there is such a huge support group on the opposing sites.

Two other blogging sites that I found seemed harmless in nature. One of the blogging sites was BoingBoing that had many blogs for a broad area of interests one in particular was about a ring that branded the word married upon the wedding ring finger. On this blog I found there only negative blogs that all seemed to come from men. The other blogging site that I found was on Kelley Blue book website. On these blogs one is able to see personal blogs from people that have had experience with a particular vehicle which helps in the decision making on choosing a vehicle.

                I think that there are a lot of components that go into deciding the quality of a blogging site and differ from blog to blog. Some of these qualities are pool and number of bloggers, reliability of site, and references.

http://www.2medusa.com/2009/08/jeremy-gillitzer-shadow-of-his-former.html

http://thinspirationproana.com/category/pro-ana-blog/

http://gettingthinsoon.wordpress.com/

http://boingboing.net/

http://www.kbb.com/mitsubishi/eclipse/2001-mitsubishi-eclipse/?r=912905544782697900