I can't figure out how to make it stop highlighting my text. Anyway, I picked out what I thought were the more important blog posts.

Week 2: What is reading?

We discussed the idea of being an active reader. This is something I do constantly but I realized that not every student is aware of active reading. I tried to use an analogy that encouraged students to pretend that they were actors on their favorite movie set rather than a passive audience. I was trying to correlate the reading process with this approach but I don't like the analogy I used. I was trying to explain that students should be as "active" as they are reading as actors are when they are filming a scene. Students shouldn't just read a text for information as if they were watching a movie; they should question it and analyze it to find its meaning. This way, students should have a much deeper understanding of the text in addition to a superficial summary.

Week 3: Debates about remediation and basic writing

This was an interesting topic because every incoming college student is coming in with a different set of skills, but the expectations are largely the same. College students will need basic skills such as reading strategies, critical thinking abilities, and know how to manage their time. I mentioned community colleges in my blog and I'm starting to like the idea that most students should be required to attend a community college. The expectations and demands of a traditional four-year university dwarf the responsibilities of a high school student and many of them are not ready for such a drastic change. Being in an environment where they are forced to take on additional responsibility while having more low-stakes grades (and less student debt) can ease the transition and reduce stress.

Students who need additional classes or help to prepare for their first semester of college should be allowed to take a remedial course. This course should emphasize the skills they will need for success while providing them with positive encouragement. The class should focus on general study skills and basic reading and writing. I think two semesters is the longest any student should be allowed in remedial courses. This blog assignment was particularly useful because it helped me think about a diverse student population with various needs.

Week 4: Theories of reading and writing

We had a brief discussion regarding how are class should approach our blog assignments, but most of it was self-explanatory.

I found the McCormick reading for this week very difficult but extremely useful. Actually, to say that it was useful seems like a bit of an understatement because our approach to teaching reading and writing were based off her ideas. I'm still finding new information or details that I missed when I go back to the reading. Nevertheless, the blog was helpful because it helped me organize some key thoughts from the reading.

Week 5: McCormick and Lesson planning

This week's blog was useful because it was the first time I received serious feedback from classmates. Having their input on ideas that I wasn't sure about or had difficulty expanding was very useful.

Week 8

This blog was a good spin on making note of difficulties. By deliberately picking something that was challenging to read, it helped me attempt to understand the mindset of students who struggle with reading. It helped me analyze what I was doing when I struggled and it gave me a glimpse of what students might try or feel when they come across material that is either uninteresting or just plain difficult.

There were some weeks where the blog assignments were meant to be reading summaries or platforms for sharing ideas. Those blogs were useful in that they helped me retain or remember the material, it felt like it could have been done in another format other than a blog. I thought some assignments could have just as effective using an iLearn forum.

A course memo:
There are some areas that need some further developing

Hello,

I don't want to sound like I have all the answers, but I believe that we should start implementing an IRW English curriculum. I have been inspired by recent readings that suggest that our "traditional" approach may not be as effective as we once thought.

My primary inspiration was from Kathleen McCormick. She outlines a study she took part in that was meant to analyze student responses to writing assignments. Students were given an intentionally vague writing assignment and asked to respond. She found that the overall student response made it very difficult to neatly categorize them into groups. Most students did not just "summarize," "respond freely to," or "interpret" the text. Most of their essays were hybridizations; most responded with a "review and comment" paper in which students summarized the reading and then offered their opinion or observations.

She did find, however, that students often struggled with "integrating one's own ideas and knowledge into the written conversation with one's sources" and "interpreting source texts for a purpose of one's own". I think this proves that there is a link between reading and writing that we are currently missing. Students can be misunderstanding "the nature of writing by confusing the thinking process with the written product." They view writing "as a procedure whereby the writer puts closure on ideas rather than explores and develops new ones."

McCormick also brought up some assumptions that typically guide or influence student writing:

Their need for closure - Students often feel that they must come to an explicit conclusion regarding a particular issue. They strive to achieve closure through arguing against the alternatives

Their need to be objective - Some students struggle because they are torn between a desire to remain "objective" while developing their own ideas. 

Their avoidance of contradiction - Most students did not mention that contradictions existed in their text and only a small percentage briefly acknowledged them.

San Francisco State has a IRW program that is a year long. By maintaining the same group of students for two semesters, it givers teachers more time to diagnose and address the needs of their students. Also, by keeping the same group of students together, it helps create a sense of community and encourages students to communicate and cooperate. Students in such an encouraging and welcoming environment are likely to learn and retain more.

This idea of IRW isn't brand new; it certainly is not the first time that somebody has tried to argue that reading and writing are inextricably intertwined. It's just that the social and educational contexts are different.

Our developing unit

The main goal of our lesson plan is to start familiarizing students with academic writing. They will learn pre-reading strategies and note taking skills which will later help them generate ideas for their papers. Unit one will cover the notion of audience and the basic components of the standard academic essay. Unit two will involve more student generated content and peer feedback. Here they will fine tune and solidify their understanding of the essay components such as the thesis and supporting paragraphs. Unit three will continue focusing on peer reviews while bringing in outside research. Students will learn and practice how to incorporate other ideas into their writing. Students will be expected to continue revising and proofreading their work on their own or with classmates. Unit three and later unit four will also attempt to teach students how to evaluate their sources and selecting texts for their assignments. The final unit will wrap things up with self-reflection.

The reading/writing skills are meant to start relatively light with a larger focus on content generation then develop to include deeper analysis and critical thinking. For example, students start out with strategies that will help them look for and retain the key ideas from their readings. Ideally, students will not only be able to then retain and paraphrase the ideas, but also analyze and compare such thoughts with other readings from their outside research.

The paper assignments range from simple narratives to more complex position papers where they must support their argument with logical and textual evidence.

placeholder for discovery of competence reading

content will be posted shortly..

Brief points on community building

Studies have shown that a strong sense of classroom community contributes to a positive student outcomes; they will do better than those who don't. Unfortunately, many American schools traditionally use competition, awards, and achievement based grouping to encourage learning -- which likely undermines a child's sense of community.

Students with a high sense of community showed:

Greater academic motivation and performance

They liked school better and enjoyed class

Empathy and motivation to help others

increased conflict resolution skills

More altruistic behavior

Teachers should consider:

Use welcome notes

Visit children and their families

Celebrate success

Use class meetings to take notes and identify possible issues

Down play competition

Display everbody's work

Use non-competitve games

Involve all children

Rotate classroom responsibilities

For school principals:

Organize schoolwide acitivities

Start a buddy program

The Bartholomae reading

I like that much of the writing was low stakes. The teachers seem to put an emphasis on strategies that would get the students to start thinking. I was actually somewhat intimidated by the expectations the students were expected to meet. The reading material was not particularly  demanding, but I was intrigued by the part where they must sit down for an hour and write. I have  never had to do such an assignment outside of the classroom. It made me think about how such material would be graded. The amount of writing a student can produce usually varies from individual to individual. How would teachers know that the student produced as much as possible within the allotted time? It usually takes me a fairly long time to write anything. I feel like some students will be unfairly penalized or forced to rewrite the assignment when they have, in fact, written as much as they could. I started to wonder if assigning a minimum word count that students are required to meet but free to exceed. And on a slightly unrelated note, I also questioned legibility. Some students are notorious for having illegible handwriting. What would be the appropriate response in that case? I definitely want to include this part into my own unit but I think I will use a word count requirement rather than a timed session.

It correlates well with our discussions in class because much the material and class discussions are student based. The course is designed to get students reading and writing but it also does it in a way that will get students engaged. There are some handouts, but they serve as a space for writing down details and class isn't lecture driven . I like that the students were able to read new material with a more critical approach by the end of the semester without being intimidated. 

Chapter 7 introduced perspective as another approach for editing or correcting mistakes. The text suggested that students often and usually have a method behind their mistakes; there was logic behind their mistake. It might have been wrong, but once analyzed, it becomes much easier for teachers and tutors to help the students realize and fix their own mistakes. But I think this "logic" is very difficult to find. The example student and tutor initially struggled to make smooth progress. The student knew he had to change his sentence structure, but he couldn't distinguish his commas from his periods. The tutor did make some key suggestions and seemed to follow the text's approach of switching perspectives. She asks the student to explain his usage of commas but he wasn't able to explain his logic very well. I think the most he could do was explain his original intent and the tutor had to guess what he was trying to say. I like the idea but I felt that the success rate is largely dependent upon each tutor's abilities and the student's ability to explain their position.

Nevertheless, this translates well for any prospective teacher or tutor. Since students who are in developmental English often don't know enough formal grammar to understand their mistakes, it gives the teacher new insight into the problem. It felt a little bit more psychoanalytical. It's a fresh approach for many teachers because they are no longer looking for mistakes and meticulously correcting them with red ink. By attempting to understand the students' thought process, they just might be able to gain new insight into the students' struggles. 

These are some ideas I started toying around with. I know I started rambling at one point. I felt like I was desperately trying to explain something and it got much too wordy. If anybody is interested/confused about any of it please let me know.

I like the idea of a technology related theme. It is a theme with plenty of real world applications and seems like a easy topic to introduce in a classroom setting. And given today's technology obsessed youth, it should be an interesting topic for students. My one worry is that that schools and teachers everywhere are thinking along the same lines. Students might think that the topic was chosen purely because they are expected to like it. Given that this year is an election year, I like the idea of having a unit on social class, but I feel like that would be very difficult to pull off without becoming blatantly political; a social class related theme would feel too much like a political science class. I think it could be interesting and informative for students, but they would likely disagree. I think the best theme would be a combination of technology and the environment. The government is becoming more wary of climate change and more and more people seem to be taking a step towards becoming more self-conscious about the environment; "going green" is becoming more accepted (hopefully it hasn't reached overkill yet). Any theme that brings up current issues, however, runs the risk of becoming too preachy. To avoid that risk, I think it is a good idea to bring in two themes. The first half of the semester could focus on new technology and it could slowly transition into issues with climate change and the environment. Any ideas or topics discussed in the first half could then carry over by illustrating the solutions new technology has to offer.

As for class orientation, I want to focus on a cognitive approach but I would probably try to find a good blend of cognitive/expressivist. I like expressivist activities such as reader responses because they are very good ways to get the students thinking about the reading and can also help students come up with writing topics. The cognitive approach should cover most of the significant sociocultural contexts related to a reading. I could be confusing the perspectives, but it seems difficult to provide students the background information necessary to fully understand a particular literature/reading piece without providing a good snapshot of that particular time and place in history. I want to make sure that students get all the necessary information they need so that there isn't any confusion or misunderstanding of the text. I wouldn't be so concerned about students obtaining the "right" answer. I would, however, expect them to come to a conclusion with enough textual evidence to support whatever claim/conclusion they came to. I'm going over this idea in my head again, and it seems counter-intuitive to claim to take a cognitive approach without teaching students to find the "right" answer. I like the critical thinking and textual analysis students are expected to do as a part of the cognitive approach. Their acquisition of such skills supersedes them finding the "right" answer.  

This unit would likely take place in the middle or near the end of the semester. The course workload would assume that students have solid reading and writing skills. That being said, it doesn't mean that they won't learn additional material, but they would be expected to be able to read and write at the college level. I would like to plan a course that can refine and expand on those skills and strategies that students have learned. So I suppose I am looking for students who would be enrolled in freshman composition.

Reading something difficult

There is a Buddhist temple in Korea that has an incredible collection of Buddha's teachings. I had the chance to visit the temple with my family in 2000. Engraved on 80,000 woodblocks, it is considered the most complete collection of Buddhist texts, laws, and treaties. My parents bought the paperback version. I don't know why because I don't think they ever read it, but it was cool to have.

I could read the text, but I struggled to understand it. Even if I read the sentences out loud I would retain close to nothing. I understood some of the basic sentences like "do not kill" or "do not drink" but I couldn't get a sense of the overall meaning of the text. It didn't help that there was a fair amount of Chinese calligraphy in the text as well.

I'm certain that one of the reasons why I wasn't able to understand much of the text was historical aspect of the text; it was written in the mid 13th century. Additionally, it isn't a traditional historical text. The text focuses on the teachings of Buddha. I'm familiar with information dense texts, but all I can do here is pick out some generic sentences. I feel as if I am missing too much cultural and historical context to be able to read and retain the information. I would have to take the reading a couple pages at a time. That would give me the time I need to make sense of the material and ask my parents for help. I would likely need a database and a dictionary. My Korean is getting rusty and I can't read Chinese calligraphy.

Potential ideas for IRW

I really like the idea of starting with strategies such as self literacy narratives. It seems like a great way to get students engaged while gauging their abilities. Developmental writers can benefit from sentencing combing, imitation exercises, and Christensen rhetoric. They all seem useful but balance is key. While some approaches are more applicable than others, I don't think there is one particular method that is best. It would be wise to cover a bit of everything; each approach has its strengths and weaknesses that complement each other. Grammar could be covered through interactive  exercises like the examples we tried in class. For essay writing and organization, I would want to cover strategies like PIE format, outlining, and reverse outlining would be great.

My main concern is that I don't really know what kind of reading material to assign. I have to admit that it is a huge roadblock for me. I can't think of anything that would be relevant for an IRW course. All I can think of is American literary figures like Hemingway, Hawthorne, and Poe. How do you know what is a good related reading?

Themes that can hold students' attention would be ideal. I think students would find practical themes the most engaging. In my experience, students will lose focus and motivation if school is the only purpose of the activity/concept. I'm not sure how I can design and implement such themes, but I would like to emphasize practicality and usefulness. A theme like "Transitioning into the Digital Age" seems like it would be something engaging and useful. The teacher could assign related readings while the draw of new technology could keep students interested. The readings and materials in class could give students something to look forward or talk about. Additionally, it is a relevant topic that students can take into the "real world." They will likely find more applications for technology centered themes than the five paragraph essay.

McCormick reading

Here are some thoughts I thought were important. I tried to only include what I thought was a key point. I will most likely revisit the text to see if I missed anything

• Cognitive
• Readers must actively draw on their prior knowledge to be able to process texts
• "The heart of reading is the access of word representations, the central recurring process of reading."
• There is an assumption that comprehension is something that occurs as a result of a reader's purely "mental" capacities, and that it has nothing to do with the reader as a social being
• Schemata affects comprehension: music students reading a passage vs. weight lifting students

• Expressivist
• Privileges the reader and the reader's life experience in the reading process
• Many teachers perceive this as a viable alternative to the cognitive model, but it cannot seriously challenge it since it lacks a theory of the text
• "reading requires children to make sense, explore possible worlds, invent, sort out what is not said."
• Reading is primarily an activity in which readers create their own 'personal' or 'subjective' meanings from the texts they read
• 'close reading' - developed by Leavis and the Scrutineers was a method of reading literary texts that involved detailed analytical interpretation as if the words on the page spoke directly and profoundly to the reader
• There is a difference between 'aesthetic' and 'efferent' reading in which 'the reader's selective attention during the reading is focused mainly on the public referents of the words; the literary text is no less a product of a particular cultural formation than any other kind of text
• The primary danger of treating the literary as a separate kind of reading is that insights about the ways readers construct literary texts will not be seen as potentially relevant to other kinds of texts

• Socio-cultural
• It privileges the cultural context in which reading occurs
• Reading is not seen as a narrow task performed in school to learn, but something done all the time and in all kinds of rich contexts
• The view of the reader or spectator as balanced between autonomy and social determination is one that has gained validity in part due to the difficulties researchers within cultural studies have had predicting the ways audiences would negotiate a text on the basis of their class, gender, or race.
• Re-theorizing discursive positions of audiences could have significant impact on education practices
• It is possible to pursue a pedagogy within which students are treated as recipients of pre-ordained information and ideas, rather than active markers of meaning
• The differences between a student's response story and the original do not indicate 'wrong' readings, but readings from a different cultural perspective.

About our blogs

I want my postings to have something other than a simple summary. If the blog posting is meant to be a response to a reading assignment, I want to add my own thoughts to it. It would be nice if my commentary included some original idea or concept that was mind-boggling or thought-provoking. Of course, realistically, that doesn't happen. I think a good post should have a basic summary and commentary that raises more questions and answers.
 
As a reader, I am drawn to posts that are easily readable. I tend to grow bored with blog posts that sound overly academic because I am not expecting to read an online essay. I want a good sense of voice (one that doesn't detract from the main idea) that can talk about the given topic in a conversational tone. I'm not sure how I feel about the author explicitly raising questions in the blog.
 
I think comments that challenge or agree with the ideas posted in your blog would be helpful as long as there is some evidence. For example, somebody could say "I agree and I like these ideas" or they could disagree and bring up opposing evidence. Such responses would force the writer to analyze what the commenter wrote and revisit his or her original idea. Revisiting the idea could lead to more support to reinforce the idea or the writer could realize that the original thought was flawed. I would look for comments like this because they are the type of comments I would try to give to others.

I think commenting can be a tricky subject to manage. On one hand, if there is no requirement, blogging almost becomes pointless because students' posts won't be read by other students. But there is also the risk that commenting becomes a chore; students will comment out of necessity rather than genuine interest. The comments they leave might not be very helpful. I think commenting largely depends on the blog topic. If it's something particularly engaging or controversial in some way, students will naturally peruse other blogs out of curiosity. If they come across something that piques their interest, they just may leave "good" comment. Maybe it's something that teachers just have to trust students to do it on their own, but who knows how much will actually get done. 
 
I don't want this to sound like I'm looking for an easy grade, but I think blogs should be graded with a "you did it or you didn't" approach. Since our blogs are not literature response posts, there usually isn't a right or wrong answer. A blog entry should count as long as the main point is sufficiently developed and laid out. I think there should be some requirement in regards to length, but at the same time not all blog posts need to be several hundred words in length. I think some can be shorter and still be considered a complete blog.

Here's a potential course

Here's a rough outline of what I thought could help under prepared students adjust. I still want to shift some ideas around but I couldn't quite decide on what to move where. I wanted to keep the reading strategies relatively close together so students retain as much information as possible, but then I felt like the grammar exercises were too spread apart. I think it's a relatively good balance focusing on both reading and writing.

Week 1: Self-narrative and assessment
              Cover general study skills needed to succeed in college

Week 2: Grammar!
              Practice Christensen rhetoric

Week 3: Reading strategies (pre-reading)
              In-class reading to practice


Week 4: Topic sentences
              Paragraphs

Week 5: Reading strategies (during reading)
              In-class reading and practice annotating

Week 6: Simple Writing Assignment Due
              In-class reading and discussion

Week 7: Reading strategies (post reading)
              Assigned reading and respond

Week 8: Thesis statements
              Read an argumentative piece and take a position

Week 9: Grammar
              Imitation writing exercises

Week 10: Essay 1 Due
                In-class reading and discussion

Week 11: Incorporating textual evidence
                Citing evidence

Week 12: Grammar
                Sentence combining exercises

Week 13: Assigned reading
                Respond to the reading

Week 14: Peer review essays


Week 15: Essay 2 Due
                In-class reading and response


Week 16: Self-reflective piece in class

The reading and a thought

The first Goen article that I read, “Critiquing the need to Eliminate Remediation,” discussed how maximize the efficiency of remedial programs while working to improve the readiness of incoming college freshman. The article mentions the Integrated Reading/Writing program as an alternate method of remediation. The program was formed on the basis that if the link between instruction in reading and writing is as crucial as thought, students would reap greater benefits by integrating the two. Originally, students who were scored in the lowest quartile on the English Placement Test started with a 3-unit basic writing course concurrently with a 1-unit reading course. In the following semester, they took another 3-unit basic writing course with another 1-unit reading course. During this time, students had two different writ­ing instructors, two different reading instructors, and four different groups of classmates by the time they entered their first-year composition course. The curriculum of the reading and writing courses was mostly separate. The texts students read in the reading course, and the strategies they learned to guide their reading, were rarely used in the writing course. The IRW program sought to increase the efficiency and practicality of this process. The course tries to break down the barrier between text reception and text production by inviting students to look at a text they read for clues to its production, and a text they produce for clues to how it might be received. An important strategy Goen mentions is K-W-L+ based on what students know (K), what they would like to know (W), what they have learned (L), and pose additional questions (+). The IRW program showed a remarkable retention rates and remediation pass rates. Goen also mentions initiation taken to improve the overall readiness of current high school students through measures such as the Early Assessment Program and the Expository Reading and Writing Course.

Goen’s next article also mentions the IRW. It also goes into more detail concerning the six principles based on the research on basic reading and writing. Integration, where instructors sought to combine strategies and texts used for teaching reading and writing; time, the program’s yearlong course creates time and space for students to develop a sense of community; development, the program allows teachers to quickly identify groups or single students that need closer attention and work with them over the year; academic membership, the program’s inherent design allows students to meet the freshman composition requirement that will count towards graduation; sophistication, teachers can help students become adept at sophisticated literate activities; and purposeful communication, the program doesn’t solely focus on grammatical clarity and essayist forms. Goen also laid out the objectives for the curriculum: 

Understand ways that readers read and writers write in and beyond the university across a range of tasks. 
Develop a metacognitive understanding of the processes involving reading and writing
Understand the rhetorical properties of reading and writing, including purpose, audience, and stance. Understand and engage in reading and writing as a way to make sense of the world; to experience literacy as problem solving, reasoning, and reflecting 
Develop enjoyment, satisfaction, and confidence in reading and writing

The only thing I really questioned was the reluctance of universities to start programs like the IRW. Obviously, it takes funding to do so, but all evidence seems to suggest that the IRW course is a much more efficient way to bring students up to speed. I can understand the universities’ reluctance to implement such programs because I also assumed that prospective college students should be able to read and write proficiently. But I also started at my local community college. It could have been vastly different for me if I had gone straight to a four year college. Although it makes sense that students admitted into a four year university should be able to read and write at the expected level, there are always exceptions. A maximum of a year’s worth of remedial classes seems like a fair chance worth pursuing.

For prospective college students

These skills focus on reading and writing.

College bound students will need skills such as reading strategies, critical thinking, and time management. The most obvious but somewhat unimportant change from high school is that students are no longer going to class every day. They are expected to be able to plan and schedule their tasks accordingly, and for students who went through high school with a significant amount of hand-holding, they may lack the ability to plan for themselves. Students have to be able to plan ahead so that they will have enough time to complete assignments on time. They should be able to read, understand, and retain more than just a plot summary. Their writing skills will have to grow beyond superficial text summary but also incorporate ideas such as themes and character analysis which is supported by textual evidence. Their note taking and organization skills should allow them to revisit and study material discussed in class in order to prepare for exams.

In a society that champions equal opportunity, students will never have to worry about being denied their chance to go to school. It’s always the logistical problems that complicate matters. Plus, it’s just morally wrong and a brutally blunt way to telling students they don’t have what it takes. I suppose, even if a student were to fail spectacularly, he or she should at least to given that chance.

Starting out at a community college may help them groom the skills they need because a community college often feels, for a lack of a better term, like “high school 2.0” while offering lower division college level courses. While still inherently different from high school, the expectations are not as rigorous and instruction is not as fast paced. There is, however, an element of risk; the transfer rate from community colleges to four year universities is alarmingly low. For students who do not attend a community college, four year universities could help them adjust by offering remedial courses for a semester or two at most. The student would then be expected to assimilate into regular classes. Universities shouldn’t prohibit students from take other courses while they work on their “deficiencies,” but they should prioritize their remedial studies first.

A brief summary of sorts

The era of conditioned learning (1950 - 1965)
This is when people first began to identify reading "problems." The primary approach was very straightforward and somewhat barbaric in a sense. The text mentions an example where a student is taught that C-A-T spells cat while encouraging little to no cognitive involvement. Students learned through rote memorization of visual cues that were translated into sounds and later assembled into words/phrases. If the student struggled it was because he or she wasn't able to acquire the necessary skills.

The era of natural learning (1966 - 1975)
People began to think that reading was perhaps a skill better taught and retained through discreet instruction and practice. There was an underlying idea that humans were innately born with the capacity for language regardless of their environment; reading was an inherent ability rather than the product of a particular skills. Researchers placed a bigger emphasis on how readers would come to different conclusions. Some were particularly interested in how to decode that process because they wished to translate that mechanism onto machines.

The era of information processing (1976 - 1985)
Federal funding began to increase. Researchers were interested in the relationship between our system of symbols and the mind. This was also when schema theory began to gain momentum. There was a shift in focus towards the individual as opposed to the bigger group. It was later determined that students' knowledge could be modified through direct intervention, training, or explicit instruction.

The era of sociocultural learning (1986 - 1995)
Literacy research shifted towards a holistic and aesthetic stance. There was an underlying tone of distrust towards formal knowledge and the traditional mode of scientific inquiry. Learning was about creating a mutual understanding amongst a group of individuals in a specific place and time; it was meant to be a sociocultural, collaborative experience. Instructional procedures were also modified so that they focused on the social interchanges in the classroom.

The era of engaged learning (1996 - present)
Learning factors were studied in relation to a student's knowledge, strategic abilities, sociocultural background, and the features of the learning context. Reading is no longer limited to print; it now encompasses audio and visual material as well. This range of materials should also be reflected in their immediate learning environments. Engaged learning pertains directly to the students' meaningful and goal-directed participation. It reinforces the idea that learners are more than passive receptacles absorbing information.

Some other important information:
Membership within the reading community is flexible and it alters the basic identity of a particular community and its stance towards research and practice. Prevailing trends within the research literature reflect the influences of sociopolitical forces outside the community. The history of reading research shows a shifting emphasis on physiological, psychological, and sociological factors. These factors are always present but each era will weigh them differently. Lastly, the field is becoming progressively more sophisticated and inclusive.

Being an active reader

I’m not sure if this is an entirely correct metaphor, but this is how I interpreted the reading. I would like to begin describing the concept by telling students to pretend that they are the characters from their favorite movie or TV show. Rather than approaching the text like an audience passively watching a film, I would tell students to imagine that the ideas are the setting and they are the characters. I would ask them to reflect on the reading and try to apply to them. Students should consider how they would be affected by the text. A short, written response should be enough to for students to practice this concept. If the reading material was related to the war on drugs, for example, students could try and think about how it would affect them. Whether they imagine themselves as the cops looking for that big bust or criminals taking advantage of the system, it would stimulate them to reflect on the ideas in the text. Follow up discussions could take place in class or online on a forum/discussion board. These conversations could become fun and engaging because each person would likely create a different scenario: some would launch into a carefully worded lecture explaining the dangers and risks involving drug use and other would likely counter with diatribes against the government’s dimwittedness and inefficiency. Assuming the arguments are substantiated with some form of evidence, such discussions are likely to prompt both sides of the argument to think critically and garner interest in the assigned topic. Of course, this “method,” if you could call it one, isn’t foolproof and it certainly has its limitations, but I was hoping it would at least serve as a catalyst for more ideas. Some students tend to groan whenever they are told they will be learning a new concept. I think this would counter that by subtly encouraging students to practice active reading; it would force them to focus and reflect. Some ideas may even challenge their previous assumptions.

I’ve been rereading my post and I fear that it could be a good idea but I didn’t explain it very well. Please feel free to share your thoughts.

A literacy narrative...

I remember being in elementary school and trying to write a story. My story was going to be the adventures of a courageous tiger cub which would inevitably become a nature documentary narrated by David Attenborough. I had the perfect story in my head: an abandoned tiger cub dodging dangers and prowling through the undergrowth in search of food. I never realized that I had the story, but lacked the means to vividly tell the story. My climactic moment of triumph was nothing but “then he jumped on a rabbit.”

I wanted to be the next David Attenborough. My favorite shows were on National Geographic or Wild America. My reading material mainly consisted of books on the animal kingdom and the Berenstain Bears. This would often start an argument with my mother; I wanted to read for fun whereas she wanted me to read something more “educational” – like the dictionary. She would give me books to read and have me write a summary and a response. We were living in Korea at the time, so I think she was concerned that I might forget English.

Sometime after that I started writing for myself. It was mostly nonsense. These periods of doodling never lasted very long because I eventually grew bored or didn’t have very good material. Nevertheless, I wrote a few journal entries and even a poem. At one point, I even tried being my own version of Harriet the Spy. I thoroughly enjoyed having a notebook with secrets. It was empowering. Best of all, since I was living in Korea at the time, I didn’t have to worry about my notebook being discovered. I don’t think it had much of an effect on my voice as a writer, but it’s always amusing when I come across a dusty notebook half filled with the grandiose wisdom of a fifteen year old.

When I came back to the United States, high school writing began with “a topic sentence, a concrete detail, and two sentences of commentary.” English was never a subject that I prioritized. It was always about getting good grades in biology, chemistry, or math. So, I never gave it much thought when I had the highest grade in my freshman English class, or when my sophomore English teacher wanted to read my essay aloud to the class as an example of good writing. My junior year certainly did not encourage me; I enrolled in AP English and struggled. The red ink on my essay never seemed to say anything useful and I couldn’t figure out how to improve my writing. I think the best essay I ever wrote in that class was a B-. I didn’t even pass the AP exam. Oddly enough, writing became easier after that class. My teacher must have subtly taught me how to refine my writing because I never felt like I had learned anything in her class.

She must have done something right because I never struggled with an essay again. My writing was the only thing that kept my GPA up when I was getting D’s and F’s in Zoology and Calculus at Las Positas College. It took much longer than it should have, but I eventually switched majors from Biology to English. I like to think that it was my pursuit of writing that reignited a thirst for reading. Upon transferring to CSU East Bay, I noticed that their English department didn’t have a very wide selection of classes; even the core requirements for my option hadn’t been offered in years. Their literature classes, however, were excellent. It is where I found a new appreciation for American, medieval, and classical literature. I even got to taste American drama with Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire but my personal favorite was A Long Day’s Journey into Night.

I like where I am now as a writer; I feel comfortable with what I’ve learned and what I have managed to achieve so far. I really should thank Mrs. Smith for helping me become the writer I am today, but I still think she could have done a better job explaining what I was doing wrong. Then again, it’s entirely possible that she did and I never paid attention.