Reflctions from readings (June 16 2009)

Chapter6. Designs for Literacy

Literacy plays a pivotal role in learning knowledge. Since ability to read and write is a very basic tool for learning, students learn them in the early grades. Today’s students have to work with modern electronic technologies such as the television and the computer. So, learners should be literate not only in print environments but also in multiple symbolic environments. Teachers should know how to design lesson plans to provide opportunities for their students to develop various kinds of literacy. In this sense, I like Mrs. Festa’s lesson plan for her third-grade classroom, one of the examples in this chapter. She taught not only how to read text, but how to read numbers, pictures, and music. This means her instruction enabled students to learn how symbol systems express meaning.

Furthermore, teachers should provide cognitive strategies that lead to development in comprehension. In the experiments of Eiser and Miller, students who played with the problem-solving software scored much higher in the test than other students who participated in traditional reading instruction. This shows that cognitive strategies such as logical thinking process learning, pattern recognition, and trial-and-error experimentation contribute to improving students’ reading comprehension. When I was a high school student, most of teachers were just transmitters who focus on conveying information related to the Korean SAT exam. But one of the teachers taught students kinds of cognitive strategies which enhance students’ problem solving ability by telling students that why and how students study various subjects in school curriculum. Although he did not provide problem-solving kind of software, his lesson was very impressive to me and helpful for my entire life.