But, but, but, ... I'm Going to Teach Science!

To aid in distinguishing between what my selected book’s author says and my comments about what she says, I’ve used a different font color. Red font indicates my comments.

My book is:  Benjamin, A. (2007).  But I’m Not a Reading Teacher:  Strategies for Literacy Instruction in the Content Areas. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

 I chose this book because of its title.  I wanted something as pragmatic as possible, to give me some tips to increase reading comprehension of textbook for teaching science in high school. 

Benjamin points out that we learn in layers over time, connecting new knowledge into an existing structure of old knowledge.  For science, this assumes two things.  That students have had some science education, and that they remember at least some of the jargon from prior years!  

She describes techniques such as reading buddies to make reading a more social activity, and reading in phrases instead of discrete words.  I think a lack of vocabulary would sabotage the phrase idea until they begin to accumulate some of the new jargon.  Perhaps later in the school year or as a review activity this might work. 

Benjamin states that “comprehension results from the reader’s emotions, cognition, motivation, ambient physical conditions and experience,” (p. 7).   It reminds me of Rosenblatt’s stances.  However, while I might agree, it doesn’t give me any clues about how to implement specific reading strategies to increase comprehension.  Or if it does, I’m missing it.  Does it mean if students aren’t getting it, I should encourage them to change their physical location to put them at ease?  I often read outside for a change of pace, and can enjoy the fresh air.  I don’t know if it’s practical at school though. 

She emphasizes that reading often builds fluency, and encourages teachers to have reading time in class.  She calls it quality time.  Her premise is that reading often, even if only for 15 minutes a week will build fluency over a year’s time.  Hmmm, fluency.  We read about that in Gee’s paper.  Seems like we’re building a science Secondary Discourse, doesn’t it?  She further states that the only way to raise students to the level where they need to be in high school is by building on what they already know to scaffold them up to what they need to know. 

She addresses vocabulary by telling us that having students look words up and write definitions is the wrong way to teach vocabulary.  She says a better way is to look at patterns in words and put words into categories.  This will help students characterize words’ meanings, and give them the ability to find relationships between words, helping them understand future words.  You do this by teaching Latin and Greek word components.  She advocates introducing new words, whether of Latin or Greek derivation or not, by relating them to other synonyms and words they already know.  Doing this sparingly is a great idea.  Pointing these derivations out as they occur would be helpful, not as a whole lesson.  It would take just a few minutes to pull a word apart and analyze it.

In general, I like how Benjamin is developing her ideas.  She started very broad, and is getting more and more specific as the pages fly by.  I have great hope that this book will give me what I’m looking for.