I know this is a blog about young adult books, but I wanted to mention a great resource that helped me teach reading in the content area of history. Subjects Matter by Harvey Daniels and Steven Zemelman provided me with fresh ideas to help my students become active readers and how to get students to critically analyze a boring textbook. The strategies presented in this book include: a KWL chart, Anticipation Guide, Dramatic Role Play, Post-it-note questions, Coding text, Bookmark, Double Entry Journals, Sketching your Way through Text, Exit Slips, Writting Conversations, and many more activities. I think about many of the activities outside of "school" that my students excel at. Some are talented artists. Others are skilled athletes. The process of learning their skill sets was not neat, easy, or passive. Learning how to read needs to be active and messy. I am all about marking up texts. (Then again, I was the kid who colored outside the lines.) In tutoring, I tend to have my students loop syllables of words, underline key vocabulary words, or write author responses. In history class, I photocopy parts of texts and have my students react to what they read using some of the the ideas mentioned in Subjects Matter. How do you create active readers in your classrooms or tutoring sessions? Please feel free to share ideas.
LmC
I want to read about these double entry journals. You and Jess have both talked about them, but I know nothing.
ReplyDeleteI can put some literature in your mailbox if you want. I am doing them with my Lit class and they seem to be going great for the students who buy into them- a couple think it is silly, but they are the same ones who sleep in class....
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