Chapter 9: Vocabulary

Part of me really likes this chapter and part of me does not. I like this chapter because it gives more examples of how to teach vocabulary effectively. Yet, part of me keeps thinking about how Vocabulary is one of the most overdone standards. I remember in my Principles class that Vocab is one of the areas that is over done where as other areas are more likely to be neglected such as "Reading Applications: Informational, Technical and Persuasive Text Standard." I do understand that having a strong vocabulary base is crucial to increase understanding. I really like the strategies such as the Vocabulary Tree to help construct meaning around root words. I found that the strategies given in this section would have benefited me more than just a blank worksheet if I would have used them in high school. I think the reason why I didn't like this chapter quite as much as the others is because my high school teachers never used these strategies and I wish they would have. All they ever did was give us a worksheet of words to define for homework and memorize. Honestly, I feel like it did not help me. They were words kind of like the Vocabulary Casserole recipe. So I guess I'm a little resentful toward them, but this chapter also really helped me realize that I can save some kids in the future from being subjected to Vocab Casserole, which in the long run will make me a better teacher.

Chapter 8: Extending Meaning

I feel that this section is really important because it is after-reading strategies that will help cement the more abstract ideas in a student's mind. When you read a poem, you are only engaged for a few minutes during the reading, but you can be engaged for much longer AFTER the reading is over. My favorite part of this chapter was the scales section. I feel that these can be used multiple times, especially when reading a novel. I hope to use scales so that the students can track their changes in beliefs throughout the story. Maybe at the beginning, the student thinks that what one character did was wrong, then throughout the story the student realizes that maybe what they did was actually right or the only option so their beliefs can change. I also like that in the Likert Scale picture there is no "Neutral" option. I feel like it forces students to pick a side and then you can use these results to potentially debate the subject.

Later on in the chapter I really liked the "Most Important Word" exercise. I feel that if you can get students to identify themes or main ideas, it will be easier to work them down to finer details in the text. You need to start with big ideas then work down toward more specific ideas. By using the worksheet for the Most Important Word exercise, you can help them apply the big ideas to the smaller details, such as characters, settings, plot, and conflicts.

One quote that really stood out to me is in the reflections part of the chapter. Beers says, "I'm most frustrated when I visit classrooms in which the teacher obviously still views comprehension as a product and not a process." From a student's standpoint, I hated it when teachers just expected you to know what to do and how to do it. When you treat comprehension as a process, you would use different strategies and modeling to get the students to where they need to be, instead of just handing them a question sheet and turning it back in as just a homework assignment or just giving a quiz over the previous nights reading at the beginning of class. I feel all teachers should keep this quote in mind when teaching in order to become better educators.

Chapter 7: Constructing Meaning

I feel that this chapter had a lot of good strategies to use in the classroom. The "Say Something" strategy seemed like a nice strategy to use but I would have to see it actually work before I think I would use it. I could see it working with students who know how to make inferences and be engaged with the texts but I am not sure how it would work with students who cannot do these things. I could see student becoming easily distracted if they are not engaged in the text. I liked how Beers pointed out some ways of grading the strategy and using it as participation points, which may be an incentive for students to actually do the strategy. I really like that she was using "The Tell-Tale Heart" because it is by Poe, who is one of my favorite authors.

Another strategy I really liked is the Character Bulletin Boards. I am a firm believer in having visual aids in the classroom. I really hated it when the posters on the walls had NOTHING to do with what we were actually doing. They were just inspiring quotes about success or from famous people. They became more of a distraction than anything else. Instead of adding to my knowledge, they just gave me something irrelevant to look at. If you have the Character Boards on the walls in the classroom, I think that it would help those students who may get bored or become uninterested in the class to at least look at something that pertains to what they are learning.

Chapter 5: Learning to Make an Inference

I found this chapter to be pretty straightforward. It makes sense that in order for kids to be fully engaged in a text that they must be able to make inferences. It found the “Step Inside a Classroom” section gave a great image of what it looks like when kids can and cannot inference. The ones who could make inferences were able to carry on conversations about the text and read into the text. Yet, this image also shows a great divide between Honors English classes and regular English classes. The honors class was able to go more in depth and become involved with the text, thus getting more out of the class. The regular class with the students who have not passed the reading portion of the TAAS shows how they are not being engaged in their texts and not furthering their knowledge. I feel like it’s almost like the saying “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” These kids who struggle to make inferences need to be guided how to make them as well as be exposed to people who know how to make inferences. It can almost be an argument for why tracking hinders kids. Because the struggling students are not being exposed to the students who know how to make inferences, they cannot learn from their peers. In the opposite respect, the students in the honors class who can inference do not know how to defend their inferences against someone who cannot see their inferences.