Strategies For Teaching Reading and Writing in Secondary Education By Sarah Soebbing

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Strategies For Teaching Reading and Writing in
Secondary EducationBy Sarah Soebbing
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Part OneReading Strategies
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Teachers Are Guides

• We should never stop reading or being curious
• All different kinds of text can potentially
  expand on the curriculum
• Teachers guide students in their articulation of
  a response

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Good Readers

• Take risks, challenge texts, interpret, inquire,
  look at alternative perspectives, are willing to
  change their minds, monitor their own
  understanding.
• All readers, even adults, have questions.
  Teachers need to let students know their own
  doubts about meaning.

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Selecting Literature

• Students and teachers should work together
• Students need to have choice sometimes
• Everyone in the class doesnt need to be reading
  the same thing at the same time.
• Multiple texts allow for multiple perspectives.

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Pants Down Reading

• Sometimes, the teacher should collaborate with
  students on a text that the teacher has never
  read before. This way, he or she will likely
  experience difficulties in understanding, and
  they can work together to construct meaning of
  text, allowing for the teacher to model traits
  and good reading skills.

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Students Relating to Text

• Literature selection needs to be diverse so that
  as many students as possible can see themselves
  in the text
• Although the classics are important, teachers
  should try to provide a balance in order for
  students to relate to the text. Quality Young
  Adult literature is one way to do this because it
  deals directly with teenage issues.

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Part TwoTeaching Writing The Writing Process
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Prewriting

• Teach different brainstorming techniques and
  allow students to choose what works best for them
• Balance organization with depth of voice
• Consider the pros and cons of open-ended topics
  v. specific prompts.

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Audience

• In some cases, it may be helpful for students
  to have a particular audience in mind from the
  beginning to assist in brainstorming. At other
  times it may be better to consider audience
  during the drafting stage, where it can help to
  focus issues such as diction, syntax, and tone.

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Drafting

• The process of writing is not continuous
• Teachers should provide time and support for
  composition, possibly offering drafting days
• Consider that students will not all be at the
  same place in their drafts on the same day.
• Drafting days allow teachers to monitor and
  assist in the writing process
• Drafting days can also reduce the temptation to
  plagiarize, especially while students are writing
  their initial draftsand allows the teacher to
  see the students ability to write independently

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Revision

• Help students remove themselves from their work
  see it as an outsider
• Distinguish between editing and revising editing
  is superficial save it for the final draft
• Model analyzing and revising drafts show
  specific steps in the process so that peer
  reviews and own revisions are more meaningful

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Part Three Writing Assignments
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Choosing Assignments

• Our choices in assignments and assessment send
  messages to our students about what we value in
  writing
• Just like with reading, students need to be able
  to see themselves in their writing
• Students will be more engaged in their writing
  when it is personal and meaningful
• Assignments should try to match interests and
  experiences of students

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Part Four Issues of Diversity
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Multi-ethnic literature

• Teachers shouldnt be color blind students are
  different colors. Instead we should embrace our
  differences and learn about each othera great
  way to do this is through literature!
• Diverse literature covers a wide range of groups
  (religious, gender, ethnic, etc.)
• Avoid engaging in overkill or romanticizing
  minorities
• Students should have access to literature about
  themselves, as well as literature that teaches
  them about other people and cultures in a
  realistic way.

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Broadening Our Understanding

• Teachers inevitably harbor unexamined prejudices
• We need to develop real links to the lives of our
  students their families, communities, etc.
• To truly make these connections, teachers need to
  explore our own beliefs
• By constantly broadening our knowledge of
  different literature, we can begin to provide
  meaningful literature to all of our students.

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Final Thoughts Thats all very well and good,
but a bit idealistic, dont you think?
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Dont Abandon the Idealism!Sure, its hard to
make these ideas work practicallyWe must adapt
them to meet the realities of high school!