I was a bit embarrassed when I took the digital natives quiz; I've utilized blogs, wikis, and instant messaging but couldn't give a solid definition-and I had no clue about modding, massive multiplayer online games, and smart mobs. So I am very much an immigrant to digital literacy; I have learned the definition of all six terms on the quiz, but in my opinion, knowing the definition without seeing its broader context does not classify me as an emergent learner.
I think Tompkins intertwines emergent literacy with the active scaffolding role of teachers. Tompkins constantly argues that teachers are pivotal when it comes to facilitating assessment of students and modeling new strategies; she also reinforces that teachers are constantly implicit facilitators of classroom activities. Thus I have direct responsibility to facilitate my own emergent learning so that I can simultaneously scaffold emergent learners and digital natives in their technology literacy; by developing my digital literacy, I will be able to relate to many students' active participation in digital culture and facilitate a vital learning trajectory amongst my future students.
As stated in my first blog, I have seen how useful technology can be in classrooms. I have appreciated how useful technology can be in providing alternative forms of education for special education students. However, our New Literacies projects as well as our subsequent analysis of peer projects reinforced how stimulating technology can be when combined with academic knowledge-how a daily lesson can come alive due to the sensory appeal of technology. Thus I am personally motivated to incorporate multiple explorations of different technologies into my professional development plans.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Old Blog ?/New Post on Comprehension
Dear all,
I had not written a post on digital natives or on comprehension, so I wanted to contribute; better late than never :).
It's interesting to me how everyone in this group struggled with comprehension, whether it be in terms of vocabulary or just being overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of information. I also struggled with reading comprehension, but this struggle centered around comprehending non-fiction work as opposed to fiction. I was an avid fiction reader as a child; my lack of interest in non-fiction definitely played a role in my comprehension struggle. Obviously my shaky conceptual knowledge and lack of vocabulary in the non-fiction schema catalyzed my lack of comprehension as well. My mom would often read my non-fiction texts for me and 'translate' the concepts so I could understand them; this was definitely counterproductive, as I didn't gain long-term strategies for how to actively comprehend non-fiction. My parents eventually hired a study skills tutor; I now utilize the tutor's suggestions in my everyday reading.
In terms of my current reading habits, I wouldn't say that I exercise pre-reading strategies like examining titles and subtitles or reading comprehension questions ahead of time (this is not a commendable trait, I know.) But I do a first reading of the assigned text and then go back through to analyze headings and highlight main ideas. This helps me in many ways; for instance, the material is more familiar upon a second glance than when I am first reading, so I am able to focus on sentence level ideas and word choice as opposed to worrying about broad concepts. Secondly, since I have a much clearer idea of what the main ideas are, I have a much clearer idea of what I should be taking notes on than when I am first reading. Thus this reading strategy has greatly enhanced my reading comprehesion for fiction and non-fiction.
I found Gibbons to be particularly interesting in terms of her take on comprehension. For instance, I am intrigued by her statement that "without knowledge of the topic and with limited linguistic resources, a young reader has no choice but to rely on graphophonic knowledge" (83). I find this statement to be very true of my experience with reading Spanish literature. I took Spanish classes up to the four hundred level at MSU; I feel that I was provided with a shaky level of phonics and very little complex reading. Thus I greatly struggled when I did encounter complex readings; as Gibbons eloquently argues, there was no bridge of cultural and contextual knowledge that helped me grasp the concepts behind the task. However, I feel that these struggles helped reinforce Gibbons' argument in my mind on the utility of challenging ELL's comprehension while paving the path for their understanding.
I also found Gibbons' multiple comprehension strategies to be very interesting, as I have experienced many of these strategies in my own elementary and secondary years; I liked the fact that these strategies are not restricted to ELLs but that they can be utilized by all learners. In terms of seeing these strategies in the field, I can't say that I have seen my CT explicitly utilizing these strategies. She does have weekly reading packets that focus on different aspects of reading; comprehension is definitely part of the packet. However, I recently saw her doing a neat lesson where she focused on the 'awesome adjectives' and 'descriptive verbs' in the book Owl Moon. According to Gibbons, this would be a "rereading for detail" strategy. The students had to listen to her read a page aloud and then name off the verbs and adjectives that stood out to them. I feel that this exercise innately touched on many of Gibbons' arguments, such as the necessity of repetition for struggling readers-students who were struggling with the concept of verb vs. adjectives showed greater understanding through their verbal answers by the end of the lesson. Thus I feel that comprehension is taught in all types of ways; it is our job to recognize and model those methods as future teachers :).
I had not written a post on digital natives or on comprehension, so I wanted to contribute; better late than never :).
It's interesting to me how everyone in this group struggled with comprehension, whether it be in terms of vocabulary or just being overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of information. I also struggled with reading comprehension, but this struggle centered around comprehending non-fiction work as opposed to fiction. I was an avid fiction reader as a child; my lack of interest in non-fiction definitely played a role in my comprehension struggle. Obviously my shaky conceptual knowledge and lack of vocabulary in the non-fiction schema catalyzed my lack of comprehension as well. My mom would often read my non-fiction texts for me and 'translate' the concepts so I could understand them; this was definitely counterproductive, as I didn't gain long-term strategies for how to actively comprehend non-fiction. My parents eventually hired a study skills tutor; I now utilize the tutor's suggestions in my everyday reading.
In terms of my current reading habits, I wouldn't say that I exercise pre-reading strategies like examining titles and subtitles or reading comprehension questions ahead of time (this is not a commendable trait, I know.) But I do a first reading of the assigned text and then go back through to analyze headings and highlight main ideas. This helps me in many ways; for instance, the material is more familiar upon a second glance than when I am first reading, so I am able to focus on sentence level ideas and word choice as opposed to worrying about broad concepts. Secondly, since I have a much clearer idea of what the main ideas are, I have a much clearer idea of what I should be taking notes on than when I am first reading. Thus this reading strategy has greatly enhanced my reading comprehesion for fiction and non-fiction.
I found Gibbons to be particularly interesting in terms of her take on comprehension. For instance, I am intrigued by her statement that "without knowledge of the topic and with limited linguistic resources, a young reader has no choice but to rely on graphophonic knowledge" (83). I find this statement to be very true of my experience with reading Spanish literature. I took Spanish classes up to the four hundred level at MSU; I feel that I was provided with a shaky level of phonics and very little complex reading. Thus I greatly struggled when I did encounter complex readings; as Gibbons eloquently argues, there was no bridge of cultural and contextual knowledge that helped me grasp the concepts behind the task. However, I feel that these struggles helped reinforce Gibbons' argument in my mind on the utility of challenging ELL's comprehension while paving the path for their understanding.
I also found Gibbons' multiple comprehension strategies to be very interesting, as I have experienced many of these strategies in my own elementary and secondary years; I liked the fact that these strategies are not restricted to ELLs but that they can be utilized by all learners. In terms of seeing these strategies in the field, I can't say that I have seen my CT explicitly utilizing these strategies. She does have weekly reading packets that focus on different aspects of reading; comprehension is definitely part of the packet. However, I recently saw her doing a neat lesson where she focused on the 'awesome adjectives' and 'descriptive verbs' in the book Owl Moon. According to Gibbons, this would be a "rereading for detail" strategy. The students had to listen to her read a page aloud and then name off the verbs and adjectives that stood out to them. I feel that this exercise innately touched on many of Gibbons' arguments, such as the necessity of repetition for struggling readers-students who were struggling with the concept of verb vs. adjectives showed greater understanding through their verbal answers by the end of the lesson. Thus I feel that comprehension is taught in all types of ways; it is our job to recognize and model those methods as future teachers :).
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