As we are quickly approaching toward the end of our journey together, I would like to continue to give you the tools necessary to be an effective and a better learner.  Do you remember the first step of the Study Cycle is to preview the materials before lecture?  Many students said they read the chapters in the textbook, but they often did not recall what they read.  Thus, it did not improve their learning. Professors assume and expect you to read the chapters and texts in their classes on your own, especially in upper division classes.  Are you reading the text the right way?  What are some reading strategies that you can try?    

We are going to explore a few reading strategies for a few weeks.  One of the reading strategies is “talking to text”, which I use often in reading STEM articles or solving chemistry problems in lecture because we often need to read very “dense” scientific literature or problems.  Scientific writing or problems is often concise and precise.  Therefore, we must actively engage in the text while reading so that we do not miss any meaning and/or information to solve problems.        

Reading Apprenticeship (RA) Framework

What is Reading Apprenticeship?

We first have to come to an understanding about what reading is?

• Reading is a complex process.
• Reading is problem solving.
• Student who read well take a code-breaking stance.
• Fluency in reading is not the same thing as decoding.
• Speed and approach which make up reading proficiency vary with the reading text.
• Proficient readers share some of the same key attributes.

Support Reading with the Four Dimensions of RA

The dimensions of the Reading Apprenticeship® (RA) Framework include the personal, social, cognitive, and the knowledge-building dimensions.  These four dimensions are necessary to support reading development at all levels in your classroom.  Let’s review the four dimensions:

Personal:  Who are you as a reader?  

The personal dimension deals with helping the students develop their reader identities and become self-aware of their purposes and goals of reading.  This also has to do the ability to take on a wide variety of disciplinary texts with confidence, in a fluent manner, and with the ability to handle the rigor and demands of the text.

Social:  How will the group support your reading skill development?  

The social dimension builds the community of readers by recognizing the reading resources and contributions that each class member brings to the text.  The social setting must offer a supportive, safe classroom where students can discuss their misunderstandings and challenges with the readings.

Cognitive:  What techniques will make the task of approaching text easier?   

The cognitive dimension works to give the readers the tools to develop their mental strategies, monitor comprehension, apply problem solving strategies, and adjust reading processes for various texts.

Knowledge- Building:   How can we build schema together and learn the reading skills of our technical professional fields?   

The knowledge-building dimension is the key to identifying and increasing the kinds of knowledge that readers use to approach text and persevere when reading is a challenge.  

Initial Post

1. Watch College Success Strategies: Talk to the Text (4:36) for a demonstration how to stay focus and actively engage with what you are reading.
2.  
3. In case you don’t have any software to digitally annotate your text, you may want to watch this video to learn about Kami, a very useful annotation tool.
4.  

Respond to this discussion prompt by Tuesday 11:59 pm. Select the Reply box and write a paragraph for each of the following questions:

1. You will report on something good that happened to you, or an accomplishment of yours from the last 5-7 days. It doesn’t have to be chemistry or science or even school-related. Please keep it appropriate!
2. Take a 30-minutes self-care (walk, jog, gym, yoga, mediate, etc.) break before Tuesday. Report to your classmates what you did for your self-care.   
3. Did you annotate while you are reading the textbook?  If so, please describe how similar your style vs Talk to the Text.  If not, it is time to annotate what you are reading for all your classes.
4. I strongly encourage all of you to annotate the textbook as your preview activity routine.      

Reply

By Friday night at 11:59 pm, please reply to at least two of our classmates’ posts with ideas or suggestions as feedback by doing two of the following: 

1. You will share your reaction / emotional response to the poster’s good news, and/or ask follow-up question(s).
2. Provide specific feedback about your classmates’ plans to implement the techniques in this discussion.
3. Ask a probing or clarifying question in response to one (or more) of your colleagues’ posts, or
4. Describe a different technique that you have used.