Reflection Paper

During this lesson, students will learn about the various text features found in nonfiction text. Furthermore, students will apply those learned text features in order to understand the purpose of each feature.

To assist students to “read with purpose and anticipation,” Vacca et al. (2014, p. 173) suggests, in their book Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum, that teachers need to “create an instructional context” that activates their students’ “prior knowledge” and helps them to become interested in a lesson. Throughout chapter six, “Activating Prior Knowledge and Interest,” Vacca et al. (2014, pp. 172-173) explain instructional strategies that can lead students to “read with purpose and anticipation.” This chapter presents the reader with a plethora of instructional strategies and means for applying them, along with example for real educators. As I journeyed through this chapter, I discovered many instructional strategies,

Recently, according to Lucero & Montanero (2012) in their article Rhetorical structure and graphic organizers: effects on learning from a history text research on reading comprehension has evolved from not only strategy teaching to the analysis of activities to promote constructive learning (Lucero & Montanero, 2012). In order to comprehend an academic text, readers are required to consistently evaluate, elaborate and review text information. These types of inferential activities will promote an active role in the student 's task and in turn improve the quality of the process. This aligns perfectly with the basic definition of inquiry learning. Again, this supports how teaching nonfiction reading strategies early on to elementary students will help them be successful within an inquiry based learning system. Lucero & Montanero (2012) suggest that some of these engagement activities teachers could use are summarizing, asking and answering text-based questions , thinking aloud during reading and designing graphic organizers to aid student comprehension (Lucero & Montanero, 2012).

Students will learn sequencing and reading comprehension of nonfiction pieces of work. This will cover the learning outcome 2.RN.1 and the standard that we will be focusing on is 2.RN.2.1 for second graders. Learning outcome 2.RN.1 states that the students need to read and comprehend a variety of nonfiction within a range of complexity appropriate for grades 2-3. By the end of grade 2, students interact with texts proficiently and independently at the low end of the range and with scaffolding as needed at the high end. The standard 2.RN.2.1 states that the student will be ask and expected to answer questions about the main idea and supporting facts and details in a text to confirm understanding. To cover this standard the student will need

The fact that these nonfiction books that the students were reading had unfamiliar vocabulary words bolded and then a definition of the word was provided as well. This provided the students reading the books to read them with ease. It was amazing to see these students engaged in their books. I’ve seen many times that the teacher could have incorporated nonfiction into her lesson. When I was observing she read the students a fiction book about a fish.

Reading has the power to broaden my perspective, expand my mind, and take me on an adventure far away from reality. Unsurprisingly, I am very enthusiastic about reading and it has earned its title as my favorite pastime. Admittedly, before this class, I usually chose to read my favorite genre, fictional novels, and would only read nonfiction books on occasion. This was due to my illusory belief that only a work of fiction would have the power to whisk me off into another world and evoke powerful emotions. However, after the first three lessons, I was challenged to read literature from all kinds of different genres, including speeches. I was astounded by how much I enjoyed all of the different works of literature. They were able to take me on an adventure, regardless of the genre.

Using nonfiction text requires appropriate implementation strategies. Children need explicit instruction in identifying unique features to nonfiction text, such as print features, table of contents, index, and graphic aides (Moehlman, 2013). Close reading of nonfiction text is an approach to help students critically read increasingly complex texts across the curriculum by exploring deep structures of the text. The Tools Approach is a strategy in which the teacher provides scaffolding to help students advance to the next learning stage and students develop new knowledge about nonfiction texts through interactions with peers and adults (Hall, 2016). Literature circles are excellent for students to explore nonfiction texts. Literature circles are small groups in which students all read the same story and contribute unique information about the story through an assigned responsibility (Barone & Barone, 2016). Teachers can assign students jobs within the group that will be appropriate for each individual student. Even struggling students can contribute to the group and learn from their peers at the same time. The use of graphic

When I enrolled in Introduction to Journalism and Nonfiction, I expected to be spending the majority of the time reading primarily political articles about happenings in the US and analyzing the structure to write our own. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find that we studied selections with a lot more creativity.

As with any area in curriculum and instruction, teachers should not be fully dependent on one source, but rather use a variety of resources to help students understand content. The same can be said with the use of textbooks. Teachers should supplement core curriculum with quality trade books (GCU, 2012). Trade books can offer a wealth of information such as a means to expand vocabulary, clarify concepts, explore real-world situations, and entertain (GCU, 2012). Furthermore, Johnson & Small, (2008) stated, “In contrast to textbooks, nonfiction trade books can support instruction in nearly every subject…which

Throughout my years at Mount Olive High School, I have watched English teachers that are insanely devoted to the English Language and teaching their students, not be able to excite their classes about the writings of Shakespeare or how J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, wasn’t able to catch any student’s attention in my junior year English course. I want to change that. See, I never was the best writer growing up, and am still not, however I love reading. One of my earliest memories about English of any sort is reading a Dick and Jane compilation book. This then sparked my eternal love for reading. I want to do that for the students of Mount Olive High School. I want others to be excited for reading and becoming so immersed within a story

One of the essential skills needed by students is the ability to deduce information from a non-fiction text. It is not just a question of concluding what message is being delivered by the author; it is the aptitude to learning keywords, understand text structure and become familiar with reading different types of texts. Module 5 provides a framework that will help instructors improve student reading and support learning in various content areas. Workshop 5 reduces this information in an understandable format that includes excerpts from sample test materials.

My main goal for my students in an English course is to feel that their story matters and that they matter. I have found through classroom observation, personal experience, and coursework that the majority of students do not enjoy reading and writing. I think it has become less of an outlet or an exploration of ideas and more of a “because I have to” task. I plan to begin my courses instilling the importance of story. I aim to show them that the way a novel, poem, or short story is set up is key to the message. I will seek to have them question what the author is showing versus what the author is telling. I then plan to funnel

In doing my second text analysis, I begin to see some trends in the ways that the Smithsonian Tween Tribune puts together current event articles for students to read. For one, each article grounds the text with images that link to the text, titles that lend themself to pre-reading predictions, and even critical-thinking challenges that engage the reader further at the end of each article. Furthemore, as I stated in my first text analysis, each article is also offered at various lexile levels so students and/or teachers can choose the level that best suits them.

Over the course of the semester, there has been numerous amount of areas where I believe I have improved in comparison to high school. What has helped me in my writing is the writing class and the in-class writing workshop. The writing class that is located in the Kremen education building has helped me with my writing greatly because in the writing center the person in charge teach us lenses and we apply those lenses to the writing, draft, or reading that someone brings in. The in-class writing workshop has helped me because other students get to read my writing. This is helpful because I get feedback from many students and they let me know what needs to be fixed. A new tool I have been using is They Say I Say. The book is very helpful because of the information and examples it provides such as the templates. I have been applying the templates into my essays and I have seen a significant difference.

Since the beginning of the semester, my writing has changed and evolved to accommodate and sustain longer essays. With longer essays, there is more room for in-depth analysis. Further analyzing a topic has led me to findings that I did not know existed. As I continue to write, I uncover addition and superior methods to approach my writing to the benefit of me and therefore, my audience. Throughout the semester, I have incorporated techniques to further my narrative throughout my writing.