{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"50885852","dateCreated":"1330095949","smartDate":"Feb 24, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"christinepeters13","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/christinepeters13","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/ctge5549spring12.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/50885852"},"dateDigested":1532919298,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Christine P's Post","description":"I began this reading on a good foot. In the introduction, it rang true to my ears that "teaching students how to remember and reuse the information we ask them to read." That is, we are not reading teachers, per se, in our content areas, we needs our students to be able to be successful readers to understand the content they need to understand and "become better readers of the textbook."
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\nOn that note, this reasoning justifies the use of the "so what" for content comprehension discussed in the following chapter. As learners, we truly access material by "constructing meaning while learning about something new." This is important to stress in a social studies\/history classroom because this type of comprehension allows students to effectively analyze and make informed arguments. Unfortunately, I was never very certain how to get students to do this with reading. However, as the text states, reading strategies should yield in students thinking. I think this makes me more reflective of the strategies I used in my classroom instruction. Thinking back to some of the worksheets or activities I have my students complete, I do not think they all facilitate true thinking while reading. Just because a student fills out an organizer does not mean they learned the key points to a reading or why it's important. Consequently, I need to ensure that I am more intentional in making this happen to set my students up for reading comprehension success and real thinking.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"50874954","dateCreated":"1330059278","smartDate":"Feb 23, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"AvaMarron","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/AvaMarron","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/ctge5549spring12.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/50874954"},"dateDigested":1532919298,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Ava\u00b4s Post","description":"Tovani\u00b4s first three chapters were very informative in how to make your classroom a literacy friendly environment. He gave specific examples of how every teacher should and can be a true literacy teacher everyday.
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\nTovani specifically compliments how trademen use technical texts in their everyday lives so vitally. Why do we not think outside of the box when it comes to literacy? Everything is reading and understanding. Comprehending a nutrition section on a food label to reading a subway map is literacy. Students need to be able to code switch in reading just as they do verbally.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"50862238","dateCreated":"1330039192","smartDate":"Feb 23, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"Martin.mintz","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Martin.mintz","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/ctge5549spring12.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/50862238"},"dateDigested":1532919298,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Martin Mintz - Post","description":"As a Social Studies teacher, I was still able to identify with the struggles, questions and overall experiences of a literacy teacher. While I do not have the pressure of pace and a test at the end of the year (so I am not able to identify with that as much) I do have many of the same questions I assume a literacy ELA teacher would have.
\nA lot of questions that I had were about what to cover and how much to cover... luckily I do not have to worry about pacing (strictly for myself and my own planning) but it did help address many of my questions in terms of what to teach them and how to best bridge that ELA literacy into Social Studies, as ALL of my students need to improve.
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\nTovani was helpful for me in understanding how to incorporate skills into my unit plans... I want to help them with specific literacy goals, but I want to do that through long-term plans... not with a specific activity, but with how I approach the long-term education of these 8th graders this year. That has been really helpful for me as I get to planning my next units and I will keep Tovani in mind as I apply these ideas. It has been clear to me that Literacy was an important topic to be covered by EVERY teacher, but I had never had a reading specifically about it and I have just relied on guidance, so this was really helpful to read and see how I can apply these ideas and this way of thinking to a nonELA classroom and emphasize literacy to a much more successful point.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"50874992","body":"You are a literacy teacher. You too are responsible for the reading exam scores, not just the reading teacher. If one can not read a DBQ they cant pass your class either.","dateCreated":"1330059346","smartDate":"Feb 23, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"AvaMarron","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/AvaMarron","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"50886854","body":"I agree, but I think it is imperative to not lose sight that social studies not not just about passing an exam or a DBQ, but really having thoughtful understanding of content by being an effective reader. So, as a social studies educator, we are not teaching reading, we are teaching content comprehension and how to effectively engage with material.","dateCreated":"1330096807","smartDate":"Feb 24, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"christinepeters13","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/christinepeters13","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"51131514","body":"Ava- Yes, every teacher is a literacy teacher. I may have confused you when I misspoke in classifying "literacy teachers" when, obviously, that is much larger than the ELA classroom and network of teachers. My comments were more directed at how I help students become better readers and writers by incorporating these skills into my lessons. Clearly my focus is Social Studies, but including literacy in that format must always be in my vision.
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\nChristine- I completely agree. That is one of teh things I love best about social studies (especially as a history major!) One thing that I have been really trying to work on this year is comprehension with my students and what they will do with that comprehension... What do you think, why do you think it, and how are you going to express your opinion?","dateCreated":"1330572662","smartDate":"Feb 29, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"Martin.mintz","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Martin.mintz","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"50858668","dateCreated":"1330033691","smartDate":"Feb 23, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"dschall2","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/dschall2","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/ctge5549spring12.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/50858668"},"dateDigested":1532919298,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Douglas Schall's Post","description":"The first three chapters of the Tovani readings illustrate how literacy instruction can be conducted across content areas. She details several different strategies that can be utilized to teach literacy, and in the process deepen students\u2019 understanding of the material and the text. At the end of the introduction Tovani makes the point that, \u201cmeaning arrives because we are purposefully engaged in thinking while we read.\u201d It is this notion that informs Tovani\u2019s methods of literacy instruction.
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\nAs a teacher of math and science, I often struggle with the dilemma as to whether it is really my place to be teaching reading skills in a non-ELA class. But as I become more aware of the types of mistakes my students are routinely making, the need to address both becomes abundantly clear. That is, I must do something so that my students stop loosing points on their math tests because of low reading skills.
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\nShould I teach content or thinking? Obviously, I must do both. Thus Tovani\u2019s detailed plan for modeling textbook reading struck me as a worthwhile tool to take into the classroom. She provides a solid strategy for decoding a textbook\u2019s features. It is important for us teachers to model how one might best approach a text and stick with it. We often take for granted the extent of our background knowledge and pay little notice of textbook features, or our innate reading abilities. If we can slow down, and take note of what we do when reading texts, we can then model these textual decoding strategies for the class. Such an endeavor is bound to be time well spent in the classroom.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"50842588","dateCreated":"1330016089","smartDate":"Feb 23, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"cfinch45","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/cfinch45","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/ctge5549spring12.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/50842588"},"dateDigested":1532919298,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Chris Finch Post","description":"Through all of this talk on teaching literacy, my short-lived, untested view on my role as a teacher has been challenged. Our roles to find some purpose within our students\u2019 lives is often dotted by our attempts to relay our \u201cknowledge\u201d of the subject we are teaching. This now seems to me, selfish. Teacher talk-time should be limited and our content should come second to literacy if we truly wish to set our students up for success; success not just on the Regents but in life.
\nMy school wants me to teach to the test. So our course focuses heavily on DBQ and Thematic essays and multiple choice questions. I highly doubt that this is the most efficient way to push our students\u2019 literacy skills. Tavoli\u2019s thoughts on teaching literacy and the last two weeks\u2019 WTL strategies hint towards a healthier and more efficient way to teach. I believe, like Tavoli, that more literacy instruction in our classroom rather than repeating content-specific information is the way to go. If we can get our students to think and read, much of the content will be self-taught. Thus saving hours of instructional time for independent practice or even upping the rigor. More specifically, imploring self-questioning while reading, synthesizing information and extending questions will encourage students to read on; as they quite often give up on difficult and heavy reading.
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\nOur students are asked to complete critical thinking questions for homework once a week. They often fail to make the appropriate connections and instead take the short and choppy way, using the bold and underlined words in the text book to answer more specific questions. Yet Tavoli makes a suggestion that might solve such a problem. The idea that higher-level readers do not need end-of-the-chapter questions because they create their own could be implemented into a reading exercise. Because of this idea, I am considering switching the homework assignments. Having students read to generate questions and then quizzing them on the student-generated questions later in the week, perhaps would encourage a closer and more critical reading of the text.
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\nNonetheless, I can\u2019t help but think that we should be more facilitators of our students\u2019 growth, rather than spew-ers of information.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"50992912","body":"I think you brought up the exact point that I am struggling with as I work through the texts and my own performance. I know that I am not doing a good job of connecting the things that I teach to students lives or getting them invested in the subject matter (sometimes, that is the hardest thing, considering that I don't know how to relate them to cells or protein production). By not getting them to understand WHY they are learning something (other than the fact that it will be on the end of the year Regents Exam), I think I am letting myself down. When students don't have a reason to understand something, I think they are far more likely to just try to complete the work as opposed to being able to make those more complex, higher-order answers that you are referring to. I find myself getting frustrated when they are unable to answer certain types of questions, but I think I am not doing a good job of setting them up for that success. I am also planning to include more time for students to generate their own questions and show their interested in the topics that we are covering. I think that this will help them both understand what science is and also to become stronger readers of a text. I am hoping that helping them to understand what they want to know will also aide me in helping them use the information that they already have and push that information toward an outcome.
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\nI think that teaching to the test is both problematic and in many ways the easier route, but that pushing our students beyond that will in the end help them more in life, their future schooling, and even on the test that we have to prepare them for. I am hoping it will also make me feel more successful and keep me invested in the quality of my classroom and myself.","dateCreated":"1330386085","smartDate":"Feb 27, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"hkbergeman","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/hkbergeman","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"51128614","body":"Hi Chris,
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\nYou mentioned, "Tavoli\u2019s thoughts on teaching literacy and the last two weeks\u2019 WTL strategies hint towards a healthier and more efficient way to teach. I believe, like Tavoli, that more literacy instruction in our classroom rather than repeating content-specific information is the way to go." You advocate for a skills based literacy class that puts less emphasis on the content. I currently teach in this format and I've found that the students have little to no contextual knowledge about the world they live in, let along enough contextual information to frame the text that they chose to read in order to improve their literacy skills. We gave a mock state exam two weeks ago and the kids didnt understand the historical reading passages because they didnt have basic the historic contextual knowledge they needed to understand the passage. This is the result of us neglecting to repeat content and instead prioritizing literacy skill building.","dateCreated":"1330568547","smartDate":"Feb 29, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"amandajhall","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/amandajhall","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"51131430","body":"As a fellow social studies teacher, I think it is our gut instinct (at least right now) to be "spew-ers of information" as you so accurately put it. There's just so much the kids need to know! But if I stand there and talk at them and l let them listen and take notes...that doesn't mean anything.
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\nThough I understand where Amanda is coming from as far as prioritizing literacy skills, I think in content-area rooms it's more about USING the literacy skills to learn the information as opposed to just standing there and teaching literacy skills and letting them practice the skills. Our struggling readers are still learning-to-read as opposed to reading-to-learn, so I think we have to help them make that transition. Because on state tests and in college, the kids have to be able to read-to-learn across the content areas.
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\nSomeone pointed out to me a few months ago that the reason it's our instinct to just stand and lecture students is because the last time we were learning in college, that's how our teachers taught us. We had to sit in lecture halls and listen, maybe attend recitations, but do the heavy lifting of our own learning. As it happens, our kids aren't at that level. We can't expect them to be at that level unless we help them get there.","dateCreated":"1330572512","smartDate":"Feb 29, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"emilylynnmiller","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/emilylynnmiller","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"50834192","dateCreated":"1330007922","smartDate":"Feb 23, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"Cdoonan","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Cdoonan","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/ctge5549spring12.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/50834192"},"dateDigested":1532919298,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Christine's Post","description":"This week's reading really hit home for me because my school has been pushing stronger direct literacy instruction and consequently I have been running small reading groups throughout the day. The line, "meaning arrives when we are purposefully engaged in thinking while we read" really summed what I have been going for in my literacy instruction these past few months. I have been using "The 7 Habits of a Good Reader" as a reference sheet for my students so they are constantly reminded of the types of thinking they should be engaged in while reading. Something the article brought up that I had never thought about before, though, was the idea that we as teachers should give our students opportunities to "hold their thinking." I tend to shy away from taking breaks from reading to instruct on annotating or filling out a graphic organizer because it can disrupt the flow of reading, but I see now that giving students these opportunities to purposefully store this information is very valuable for reading with purpose. Especially for my children with learning disabilities, they often have trouble retaining information, so giving them opportunities to use tactics other than just reading to really process information is key. Tovani's discussion of teaching our students how to read texts in different context areas really resonated with me. Without even knowing it, I approach different texts with different lenses. For example, when I read a novel I am looking for things like symbols, allusions, foreshadowing, etc. When I am reading a non-fiction research article, however, I am more often looking to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information, making connections to prior knowledge, etc. We need to be explicit in our modeling of reading these different types of texts so that we can equip our students to be "armed" purposeful readers in different content areas. Finally, I found Tovani's discussion of teaching our readers how to get through difficult text really valuable. Inevitably, even as adult readers, we encounter texts that either do not interest us at all or are difficult for us to read. We pick out important information, contextualize why this information is included in the text, annotate, and have mental conversations with ourselves about why reading this part is important to our overal experience with reading the whole text. Young and developing readers do not yet have these skills nor the foresight to know why they are important, so teaching our kids how to employ them not only helps them to become better readers, it also helps them become more engaged in reading in general.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"50827000","dateCreated":"1329988352","smartDate":"Feb 23, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"davidkwan","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidkwan","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/ctge5549spring12.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/50827000"},"dateDigested":1532919298,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"David's post","description":"I was able to identify with aspects of Tovani\u2019s experiences and struggles as a literacy teacher. As a 7th ELA teacher, my primary focus is on teaching my students strategies to become better readers and writers. However, I feel like I am often more concerned with \u201ccovering\u201d literacy strategies at efficient pace rather than actually ensuring that my students have mastered each strategy. I feel like this focus on pace is constantly perpetuated by the pressure of standardized tests as well as the prevailing English teacher sentiment that reading skills must inevitably be taught repeatedly. While I believe that certain strategies may not be taught in a single class period, I now believe that the solution lies in slowing down the pacing of instruction and ensuring that my students have the necessary practice to master reading strategies because they are inherently imbedded in the content that they learn. For example, I will soon teach my students how to find the main idea in a non-fiction text and rather than breezing through foundational skill in a single period, I am going to spend consecutive periods immersing my students in the skill to ensure that they are able to apply it naturally with practice. In addition, I agree with Tovani that it is more effective to spend more time teaching a few key strategies rather than breezing through a plethora of strategies because as Tovani points out, the ultimate goal of teaching reading strategies is to get students to critically think as they read and not just decode. Furthermore, I agree with Tovani that teaching reading must be emphasized by teachers across all disciplines because it is a skill that is naturally embedded and expanded upon in every subject.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"50824886","dateCreated":"1329976906","smartDate":"Feb 22, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"emilylynnmiller","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/emilylynnmiller","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/ctge5549spring12.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/50824886"},"dateDigested":1532919298,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Emily's Post","description":"This book so far seems to be an excellent "next step" in regards to what we have been learning about\/discussing in class thus far. Tovani talks about different strategies, answers different questions, etc.
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\nThe strategies were all different aspects of "what good readers do." Though some strategies had been mentioned to me or I've used, it's nice to have them all in one place with an explanation.
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\nWhat concerns me when working with my students is how to transition them from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." I know this means our students need to automatically employ the strategies that good readers do: asking questions, drawing inferences, using background knowledge, synthesizing and extending thinking, etc. I have mostly been operating under the "If I keep making them do it in class, eventually they will do it on their own" mentality. I'm beginning to question if this is useful. My students are at extremely low levels, and I don't think they've never had a teacher who has tried to teach them or use these strategies. Were they operating under the same mentality? Because it didn't work.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"50824194","dateCreated":"1329974156","smartDate":"Feb 22, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"jmiller76","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/jmiller76","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/ctge5549spring12.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/50824194"},"dateDigested":1532919298,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Jason Miller Post ","description":"Tovani provides a great window into how to make skills based instruction engaging and yet at the same time meaningful for students and teachers. She relates how she, even as a literacy expert, constantly reflects on her own instruction to ensure that she is meeting the needs of her students. Two specific points struck a chord a with me.
\nShe relates that students are very good at completing skills based activities. However, the challenge is to make students better readers and still make the instruction engaging and meaningful. One specific strategy that she outlined that I plan on implementing in my classroom is the connection\/so what? journal\/worksheet. In this journal entry, students have to make connections to a text and then justify their connection in the second column of how the connection helps them better understand the text. Through this sort of reflection and instruction, students can become better readers and writers.
\nAnother point that resonated with me is that as instructors of content, we need to be cognizant to be explicit with our modeling and slow down our thinking. Sometimes when teaching history, I forget that I possess certain background knowledge that my students do not have. Additionally, parsing a primary or secondary source for me is second nature. Simply by being cognizant of those facts, I can better plan my lessons to address those knowledge gaps for my students.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"50858984","body":"Good points Jason. I too had remarked about how important it was for us teachers to take the time to model a text. I found this to be the most beneficial part of the readings -- at least for teaching math. When TFA was described how we might encounter students who lacked the ability to decipher textual features (not knowing that a graph or table related to the text, for example) I thought they were exaggerating. But I now know that they weren't. The need to teach reading strategies is a must, regardless of content area. I say this because I believe that students must be shown many different ways to approach a text. Simply looking at a text the way one does in ELA, for example, will not suffice. Our students need more lessons, more examples, of just how it is that proficient readers navigate a text.","dateCreated":"1330034337","smartDate":"Feb 23, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"dschall2","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/dschall2","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"50823558","dateCreated":"1329972065","smartDate":"Feb 22, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"terrencekumar","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/terrencekumar","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/ctge5549spring12.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/50823558"},"dateDigested":1532919298,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Terrence's post","description":"Cris Tovani proposes an accurate view of the role of content-teachers. Science teachers ought to be reading specialists of scientific literature, and history teachers ought to be reading specialists of historical literature. The role of these specialized readers is to model various reading strategies to students and in the long run teach students to extract knowledge from literature. In other words, the teachers should teach students to teach themselves. This is a purely honest sentiment. If teachers are preparing students for their lives to come, then they should be teaching them to deal with their own ignorance.
\n Cris Tovani then offers strategies for modeling these reading strategies, however, I find that they will be minimally effective. In fact, the most useful instruction she offers is that teachers must be adaptive. Consider the \u201cSo what?\u201d example she offers about Jo Anna and the tin cup. (pg 15) Jo Anna has filled out a double-entry diary where she was supposed to draw connections from the text, but she only recalled superficial facts about drinking from a tin cup. The reading specialist then asks a couple \u201cwhen\u201d and \u201cwhy\u201d questions and tells the student to think about her own life. Little Jo Anna then has a breakthrough in understanding.
\n What teacher has not asked the \u201cwhen\u201d and \u201cwhy\u201d questions? We so rarely attain these results, but they do occur. I believe that awareness is the first step to crossing this bridge. I do not believe that the double-entry diary is going to teach any student how to draw knowledge from literature. The best it can do is practice the skill once the ability is there. I do not believe Jo Anna learned anything from this double-entry diary, but she did learn to make connections when her teacher modeled it for her. This is where being an adaptive teacher comes in.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]}],"more":true},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}