Read Ch. 4 - 6

Dewey Week 2

Dewey Week 2

by Hunter Dewey -
Number of replies: 4

The inferences section in Ch. 6 stuck out to me.  What made an impact on you in these chapters?

I never thought about the importance of predictions. As a student, I always wondered why predicting was necessary because the only thing that matters is what occurred. I understand now that the more one can predict, allows them to connect experiences and prior knowledge to help improve the meaning of the text. 


I like the "She unnames them" exercise to remind teachers what students struggle with at times. I didn't find it interesting, so I skimmed the section and hoped the author discussed the meaning afterward. 


I never thought about students struggling and ;needing clarification with substitutions. I think that would be a good specific question students can ask, when they don't understand something they are reading. I actually had a history buff that struggled with this when I used a different name for the World War I alliances. I tried to explain to that student that they are the same thing. 


-How do you respond to students “who don’t get it”? After this reading, how will that shift?

I always ask them to be more specific, what do you not understand? My rationale, if they can ask more of a specific question regarding what they need help understanding, I can give them a better answer than a generic one that might not answer their question. Occasionally, I tell students to re-read a source because they got finished in a time that was way too quick to read in the first place. 

-Comprehension, understanding, and change is the goal of any reading.  What will you do differently in your teaching after reading this section?

I will make sure they make connections with their readings. I will work on inferences based on substitutions, close casual relationships, and distant casual relationships. I think it is very important to have students annotate when they read. 


I thought the history of the usage of spacing occurred with the rise of Christianity was interesting. I always thought spacing was a thing. I can connect that when I teach about the printing press in Global 9. 


In reply to Hunter Dewey

Re: Dewey Week 2

by Aimee Harkness -
I too struggled with "She Unnames Them". I was confused from the start and found myself checking out after a couple of sentences. I tried to persist, but ended up frustrated because I didn't understand how one part related to the next. Who was this person? Where were all of these animals? So many big words!!! It definitely put me in the shoes of my students for a brief moment and got me thinking about how to improve my interactions with them when working with word problems.
In reply to Hunter Dewey

Re: Dewey Week 2

by Emily Hunt -
Hello Hunter,
I also struggled with "She unnames them". I also skimmed and was glad the author addressed this at the end. We did something similar at PD a few weeks ago. We were all given a difficult passage about an unknown topic, and we had to guess what we were reading about without context.
In reply to Emily Hunt

Re: Dewey Week 2

by Hunter Dewey -
That sounds like a great thing to do at PD. Especially, if you are with other teachers and are suppose to discuss it.
In reply to Hunter Dewey

Re: Dewey Week 2

by Nikki Phippen -
I did the same thing with the text "She Unnames Them" and it was definitely eye opening to see how our students struggle with difficult texts. It made me think about how I can help my struggling readers to better understand a text that is difficult.