Content Area Literacy, Design Thinking and Biopoems

At the first glance on the content area literacy article I was grinning with the fact that concentrating and reading this with meaning would be a challenge for my short attention span.  In my attempt to begin my learning journey I prepared a Microsoft Word document to outline what I found interesting and useful out of the article to post here on my blog.  Strategies for success, people. This helped me get the most out of reading and put a lot of really great ideas in my head about implementing design thinking and content area literacy in my own classroom.


Content Area Literacy


The content area literacy article was long, but packed with important information and just dripping with potential projects.  I loved that this article really stressed that content area literacy is MUCH more than reading and writing to learn along with textbooks, but learning skills to be successful in life.  The ability to read and write well affects every area of success in a child's life, educational career, and far beyond.  It was also very interesting to read about the shift between third and fourth grade and how reading changes.  I personally experienced a rough transition between these two grades and never really knew why.  The explanation in this article helped me to better understand how the transition is so drastic and how students need tools to help them ease in to informational text and using that text to gain meaningful knowledge.


By providing students opportunities to use skills and strategies they can better understand how to breakdown those long wordy passages in science books and gain something from them.  Personally, I struggled with textbooks and using them to read for content.  The layout was boring and I stumbled across paragraph after paragraph, looking for the bolded words to gain some insight on what is meaningful.  Hopefully I can use strategies to help my own students to read to understand, not just read to fulfill a "reading" assignment.  Pairing and sharing, tea party reading, note taking, jigsaws, and think alouds are all great tools that help me in college now - I could only imagine how they could improve young children's reading and comprehension.


I enjoyed reading about the 3 ways to incorporate content area literacy and promote student success.

• Early Exposure - How amazing is this? I actually experienced this in elementary school and never knew it.  For the longest time I was obsessed with trying to be a grown up and loved to read the newspaper.  I was so thrilled to get a Weekly Reader at school all throughout my childhood and read about things that were geared to my age group.  I was also privileged enough to have grandparents that really cherished reading and my growth; they also loved buying yearly subscriptions to Zoo Books and National Geographic.  It's so amazing what interesting formatting and enjoyable articles can do in a child's ability to read and enjoy reading about a multitude of topics.
• Informational Text Motivate Children - Another weird quirk about me - I love children's informational text books. Especially non-fiction biographies with fabulous art. I could sit it my mother's classroom library all day and live the lives of Rosa Parks, George Washington, and Jackie Robinson. These books truly motivate children to experience reading in a new way and live through the pages of books.  This allows the students to also find their passions not on in reading, but about different subjects.  Books ignite fires in children to find their deepest interest whether it is polymer science, baking, or landscaping. 
• Information Text Increases New Knowledge Domains - This allows students to find a niche for using the lingo of other subjects like a pro.  Students can pass for scientist, mathematicians, and historians.  By reading and using informational text in cross content areas students also gain an enhanced vocabulary and make connections in everyday life.

Learning logs popped up again in this article and again, I loved it. I adore the fact that students take control and own their own learning.  This is a way for students to use meaningful writing in more than just the regular subjects of English and reading, but in all subjects.  Teachers can pose open ended questions about the content that the class is studying and students can respond using any means that they can.  This is a great tool for teachers to use to self assessment of the learning and teaching that is going on in the class.  Another use for learning logs could be a self study tool. Students can use it as a study guide and also as a self checking tool.


Cross content area literacy and using information text is a great opportunity to allow students to research projects and share with their class.  This all falls under the category of reading and writing to learn.  Several ideas can include - Famous American, My Historic Hero, Super Scientist, and Citizen City.  These projects require research, writing, public speaking, presenting, and  a major emphasis on reading and writing to learn with using informational text in a meaningful way.


Design Thinking: Lessons for the Classroom


The design thinking process can be used for just about anything and everything, not just the classroom.  I love that students (and teachers alike) can take this information outside of the classroom and apply it.  I really like the rules that were stated for collaboration - using yes,.. instead of yes, but.  This allows for free range for all ideas an all possibilities, not just limiting the thought process to what we think is possible. All ideas are welcome, even extremely innovative ones.


I love how this article also used the steps in different examples - the way it was used in BIF2011 and the way that it could be implemented in a classroom.  This process could be used for anything big or small within a classroom (and beyond!) The first thing that I thought of when I saw the process was something like addressing a problem in the school, like bullying or implementing new class rules.  After reading this article again, I then thought of how this was a lot similar to the scientific method that I was introduced to in middle school.  It automatically brought me back to the infamous old egg drop experiment.  It started with brainstorming ways to best protect the egg, testing the way you thought was best, getting feedback, readjusting the variables, and then presenting your findings to the rest of the class.


I really think that this method of thinking and designing is a treasure for teachers, as well as students.  This allows students to have creative freedom that they are sometimes deprived of in the classroom.  It also provides students a way to test and troubleshoot anything and everything their heart desires- from a new invention to finding a way to get more allowance.






Two Questions:

1. What is the best form of information text for the class to receive as a whole? I received Weekly Reader throughout elementary school and Zoo Books at home.  What are some new up to date materials that could expose students to world events and other interesting news topics that are age appropriate and interesting enough to engage them?
2. What age is ideal for students to start using the design thinking process?