Week11 Reading Blog

Technician – How do I crack this code?

1.3 Specifies the teaching approaches you’ll use & the learning environs you’ll create to support the social dimensions of early literacy/numeracy 

2.3 Sources further information; developing &/or collecting resources for literary & numerical teaching & learning 

Keywords:  Reading comprehension, teaching methods, mathematics education, jargon,

What?

The two readings I have selected for this week are the following two articles:

·      Proof, practice and promise: Comprehension strategy instruction in the primary grades

o   Dougherty Stahl & Katherine A.

·      Introducing young children to mathematical concepts: Problems with ‘new’ terminology

o   Amanda M. VanDerHeyden, Carmen Broussard, Patricia Snyder, Jamie Gorge, Sara Meche Lafleur and Candace Williams

So What?

Proof, practice and promise: Comprehension strategy instruction in the primary grades

o   Dougherty Stahl & Katherine A.

The aim of this article is to review research studies on strategies of reading comprehension instruction, involving students in the primary grades. The teaching methods used by educators are the key to children’s acquiring comprehension strategies, which can improve reading comprehension of beginner readers. Based on the results of the research studies they came up with four general categories of instruction for grades K-2.

1.     Comprehension instructions that were supported by research and widely used by teachers like the use of story maps, guided/instructed retelling, teacher-generated questions, question-answer relationships and reciprocal teaching.

2.     There were some methods that had strong research basis but were not utilized as much like targeted activation of prior knowledge, text talk, directed reading-thinking activity, literature webbing, and visual imagery training, video.

3.     Instructions that had limited research but were widely used by educators, selection of main idea, K-W-L chart and picture walk.

4.     Student-generated question and summarizations were two strategy instructions that should be further researched since they had positive results with the older readers but none for the beginner readers. 

“Phonological awareness and decoding are not enough if we want students to be able to read and make sense of multiple genres for multiple purposes.” (Stahl, 2004)

Introducing young children to mathematical concepts: Problems with ‘new’ terminology.

o   Lanssdell, J M

This study investigates the language utilized when teaching mathematics to young children.

Several familiar words used in our day-to-day vocabulary are given special technical mathematical meanings and young children are expected to understand and use these in a very precise way. (Burton, 1994) Critical mistakes can occur when new mathematical meanings are presented. By evaluating children's understanding of new mathematical concepts via their own use of the terminology, the teacher can then convey new meanings with them through practical experiences, introducing new word meanings only when the concepts have been understood.

Results of the study suggest that timely introduction of ‘new’ terminology plays a vital part in teaching mathematical concepts. Consistent use of vocabulary and the timely introduction of new meanings to already familiar words are important when introducing new concepts to children. (Lansdell, 1999)

Now What?

The research study on comprehension strategies is an eye opener. As teachers/educators we have a huge responsibility for teaching the novice readers to become competent literacy code breakers. It’s not enough for them to simple read we need to inspire them to make sense of what they have read.

The Numeracy article demonstrates how literacy and numeracy are connected with each other. The child in the study (Rosie) had to learn new terminology from familiar words and phrases that are used in order to make meaning of certain mathematical concept. In teaching young children to be competent numeracy code breakers requires them to be code breakers of the literacy terminology used in mathematical concepts.

Bibliography

Burton, L. (1994). Children Learning Mathematics: patterns and relationships. Hemel Hempstead: Simon & Schuster Education.

Lansdell, J. M. (1999). Introducing young children to mathematical concepts: Problems with 'new' terminology. Educational Studies , 25 (3), 327-333.

Stahl, D. &. (2004). Proof, Practice and Promise: Comprehension strategy instruction in the primary grades. The Reading Teaher , 57 (7), 598-609.