This post is a final synthesis of the course as a whole. I am to tell you what I've learned and how I will incorporate it into my classroom. Ready for it? Good.
In this course I learned many different strategies to use to bring literacy into the classroom. Some of my favorites have been with vocabulary instruction, BDA reading strategies, and the use of multiple types of text in classes.
Using critical literacy in Social Studies is gettin easier and easier. With the inquiry method, students have to think for themselves. They use documents provided to come up with a solution or their own answers to questions posed. Students use their critical literacy to be their own historians.
Using BDA reading strategies with a text can insure that a student comprehends what is being read. The Before reading could be some background instruction as a group, During could be a concept map filled out individually, and After activity could be a group discussion to find out what we have all learned.
Teaching Vocabulary in Social Studies can be easy. It can be used as a BDA activity, vocabulary worksheets and word comparisons and all kinds of other things.
Overall I enjoyed this course. Amy was great and had examples for everything that were all helpful.
Hi Liz,
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your comment that critical literacy and history are natural pairings. I think that critical literacy is possible in all content areas, but basically, it seems to me like history education IS critical literacy because what you're trying to do is to get students to look at past events from multiple perspectives.
Thanks for your final posting. :)