Reading Next: Online Activity

1. Of all the research and statistics presented in Reading Next that startled me (particularly the information regarding the growing competition in "blue-collar" jobs and the necessity for even those seeking low-level positions to pursue secondary and collegiate degrees), much of it read similarly to what we have read from the rest of the course.  The passage focuses on the importance of not only relaying literacy skills to those in elementary and middle school settings, but also reinforcing them so as to prepare students for collegiate environments (including the shocking statistic of only 32% of incoming college freshman being "prepared" for reading comprehension in college).  These passages reminded me of Chapter 8: Reading Guides, because of the emphasis that chapter carried of using differentiated reading strategies and reading guides for readers of all ability and grade levels, in order to not only facilitate reading but to also increase critical reading/thinking skills.  Reading Next, taken holistically, deeply values an instructor willing to self-reflect, and this practice is encouraged in Chapter Three: Getting to Know Your Students, Your Materials, and Your Teaching.  Tying these ideas into the S of the RSVP framework of the College of Education is quite easy: self-reflection is a must for teachers looking to regularly, and effectively, differentiate their instruction to reach as many students as possible.  Finally, many of the Instructional Improvements suggested by the chapter could be related to Chapter 9: Curricular Inquiries, such as using "diverse texts" and "intensive" writing to emphasize independent learning by students of all grade levels.
2. The most obvious inclusion to be made is the use of "intensive writing" within an English Language Arts classroom.  While the instruction of reading and writing fluency should, ideally, occur in every class, the English teacher is often tasked with the heavy lifting of this instruction and intensive writing can ease this process.  If writing is made constant, and collaborative between a teacher and students, the stigma and fear of writing is taken away, replaced by zeal and excitement at possibilities each day: students can write short stories or questions about the homework for their warm-up; readers can write profiles of characters or poems/songs about them while also conforming to a specified rhyme scheme.  Using "diverse texts" within an English Language Arts class also helps to confront the disparity between what students have to read, and what they are interested in: some female students may not relate to The Outsiders as well as the boys in the class...but they may enjoy some Edwidge Danticat short stories.  There is no homogeneous group of students, so the classroom libraries offered to them should also be diverse.  When students interact around one another using a variety of texts, "text-based collaborative learning" occurs.  Jigsaw literature circles could be a great way to incorporate this practice, allowing students to use trade books from the library to acquaint the rest of the class on historical contexts surrounding some of the poetry and novels at the time.  For a unit on MacBeth, students could research the history of the Globe Theater while other groups read a biography of Shakespeare (and others still could read and present the history of Scotland).  Having a small group of students become excited about a particular text could aid in the reception of that work with other readers, as well.