week 8

Above is the picture I drew in Paint of what I think a Hoatzin looks like.

• 

This is a picture of what a Hoatzin really looks like. In this case I think the differences in the pictures speak for themselves!

 

 

 

After reading the paragraph I thought that a hoatzin was a bat like creature with reptile climbing attributes. Really a hoatzin is a bird that lives in the Amazon. The hoatzin eats leaves and lives in trees. Although the imagery in my mind was a little bit off, the basic idea of what I understood and what really was were not far off from each other.

 

  Assignment#2After reading, research further on each theory and describe how the following comprehension models and theories affect a leaner’s comprehension and strategies used to comprehend. (due on Blacboard Discussion Forum, Nov. 4, by midnight) 

 

Schema Theory: The schema theory dictates that all knowledge gained is based on previous knowledge and experiences. This affects reading comprehension because if a reader is able to link the text to a prior experience, he could understand what the text is saying. The process of activating these knowledge units can be done through providing students with as much background knowledge on the reading as possible. That way students will be able to associate something to the knowledge units that they already have thus improving their comprehension.

Situation Model Theory: Making a mental model or representation of textual information presents the information in a different way for students to relate to. This forces readers to think about the text in a new way and formulate questions to understand the text better. Students use this strategy to better understand the author’s motivations behind his writing.

Role of Reasoning: The role of reasoning connects students’ previous knowledge to the text that they are reading. Students are trained to use their analytical skills to better understand each aspect of the story. This increases comprehension because it enriches the meaning of the text being read.

Role of Attention: In order to comprehend students need to focus on the text that they are reading. For some students this is very challenging and they need to put forth a lot of effort towards only paying attention to the text in front of them. In addition, students need to be taught how to focus on the main ideas of what they are reading and not to get distracted by the smaller details. Students can practice summarizing information to sharpen the skills of picking out the important details.

 

Role of Surface Features: In order for students to improve their reading comprehension skill, their vocabulary and grammar skills need to be adequate. When students busy themselves with decoding the meaning of individual words they lose sight of the bigger picture of the passage. Therefore, it is important for students to have an extensive vocabulary and to train them how to pick over what they do not know. The goal is to minimize what they do not know in order to maximize their academic strength.

 

Assignment 3:

 

One of the things that I learned from the classroom in Montana is that it is important for teachers not to have an exact plan of where discussions should go. If teachers conduct discussions with an exact agenda, it impedes on their students' creativity. Furthermore, the students in this classroom were taught to write down different questions that they had during reading so that they can remember later and be able to answer those questions and contribute to the group discussion. This was a great learning tool because it is important for readers to always ask questions and dig deeper to gain more understanding of the material.

The post-it strategy and having the students make their own demonstrations seemed very beneficial. Student seemed to be engaged in the reading and extremely interested in the storyline. The teacher trained them to be eager to answer their questions about the text to enrich their reading. The small group discussions after with the webbing reminded me of what my teacher did in fifth grade. We did a lot of group discussions while being observed by our teacher. The teacher stepped back and let the students do the talking thus increasing the learning benefits for everyone. The teacher was there to guide the students, not mold their thoughts. I can also see how this can be  a way of boosting up students who would not normally participate in a regular class discussion. Since the group is smaller more people are willing to contribute.