Reflective Post EDC 532

STRATEGIC AND ENGAGED READERS:

What makes a strategic reader? I think that strategic readers develop personalized reading strategies to maximize their reading time. So, for example, a poor strategic reader might go about the task of a reading assignment the night before the reading is due and try to “just do it all” in one sitting. This is a passive attempt at reading and demonstrates little engagement with the text. They search for keywords or terms to show they have read the text but make no attempt at a deeper level of understanding.

A strategic reader, on the other hand, is going to know that they should read in blocks of time allowing for small breaks to pace themselves. They know how to interact with the text to keep their interest from waning and continue to shape understanding as the text presents new information. I like to think of this type of reading almost like sculpting where each new piece of information is more medium put on the table to sculpt. With each new piece, they continue to shape and mold until they achieve understanding.

These skills can be taught in reading instruction but the reader has to understand the benefit of these skills. Usually, in a home where reading is a cherished activity, it will come naturally and the attention span for reading increases. I also believe that a love for reading must start young. If children do not see the value in reading then they become adults who do not value reading. As a skill acquired from early in school most people assume the ability to read is the same about any topic, any text, any author. This is demonstrably false as dense texts require greater reading skills. Just having the ability to sound out words from the page is not reading.

The mistake I had made when reading the required text was I assumed that each skill area showed a new level, or tier, to greater ability to read. So, for example, a person who has shown to be able to comprehend words on a page were not as advanced as someone who can synthesize the text to formulate new thoughts. Doug Beuhl’s text illuminated to me that each skill area is independent and requires practice and reinforcement. When he discusses the skills needed to be a strong reader he demonstrated just how the skills interact with one another in the reading of a text. For example, Beuhl asserts that readers need to strengthen their ability to recognize important information and retain the information to long term memory. He also discusses that readers will frequently hit a “pause button” when they encounter difficult text to alter their reading to different texts. Unfamiliar words or concepts need to be evaluated for understanding and synthesizing. These show how all of the different skills when reading are in play during any one act of reading text.

 

CONNECTIONS:

There is a certain irony that the greatest skill to aquire with reading is also the hardest to instill in readers. Engagement with the text seemed to be the number one cited importance to the reading of any text. The reader needs to be interactive with the text; ask questions of the text; make guesses of the text; compile information and synthesize the text to form new ideas. I say this is ironic because most people believe that reading is a passive activity. That taking the words from the page to the mind is a passive word building exercise. Often times students can be heard saying, “I am just sitting and reading” but the mental activity, even if listening to someone read is quite extraordinary. I have often found when I encounter boring text that my eyes will read each word and I will move from line to line left to right but not be “recording” what I am reading. I have done this for several pages before I stopped to realize I have no idea what I am reading or what has happened. This, to me, is passive reading. There needs to be an engagement with the text to keep the process from simply mouthing words and sounding out syllables. Across every reading this week engagement was among the top of the list of skills needed for reading comprehension.

 

IMPLICATIONS/QUESTIONS/CRITIQUES:

This is going to beg the question of if it can be taught. As I said earlier, if a love of reading is fostered young the natural progression is an engaged reading mind. If A child grows up on television which is far more passive than reading can the skill be taught? I am not sure. I think to develop a love of reading the books themselves have to play a major role. Giving the child a selection of books of a personal interest will increase engagement but could this alone translate to engagement of required texts? I am not sure. We have become a culture of people who are intimidated and frightened by intelligence and intellectual pursuits. I am thinking of students proudly proclaiming they “can’t do math” or the critical backlash against Tim Rice (Hillary’s choice for VP) because he spoke fluent Spanish and therefore must be lenient of immigration issues. I wondered how the fact that he is bilingual be a bad thing. Some would say it was the chosen language of Spanish but others have a “speak English or get out” mentality. I don’t know when reading became the activity of the bored rather than a pursuit of intellectual improvement but I can say, in my experience, that when people see me reading a book they interrupt me as if to “save me” from reading. I have found that if I want to read in peace I need to load books on my phone and read on the screen as people are less prone to approach me if I am looking at my phone. Perhaps the medium is what makes the difference now. Again, I am not sure.