Chapter 5

Chapter 5 reiterates the importance of selecting the appropriate text in the classroom. I agree with the author that before the technology revolution most text in the classroom came from text books and basal readers. However, in today's technology savy society, teachers need to be looking for other forms of text to interest their students such as digital text. Just in the first month of this class we have been exposed to a few different types of digital texting such as Blogger, Twitter, and Goggledocs. These applications can be enjoyable. In my clinical class the teacher has set up a yahoo class account and the students write letters back and forth to the afternoon class. The teacher overseas what is talked about, but she looks for all the letter parts for instructional purposes. The students really seemed to enjoy writing and recieving emails from one another. I don't think the students really see the frameworks behind what they are doing. I thought it was a clever idea.

With different types of texts teachers need to be aware of the readability of the text. If the text is extremely hard for the student frustration occurs, and the student just gives up. But if the text is too easy for the student, the student will become bored. I also believe students' interests in texts also play a huge role in student comprehension. I experience this tonight as I overheard a student complain about a story she had to read in a basal reader, so I decided I would read a page or two to get the idea. And yes I completely agreed with the student. It was like torture for her to have to read this story. What I don't understand is: we are taught that we need to get our students interested in the topic, but practicing teachers just use basal readers for their lessons. How do we get around school implemented reading programs? As long as teachers are dictated what they need to teach and how they need to teach it, how can we practice all these wonderful scientifically-based teaching strategies?