Reading+for+Meaning

Reading for Meaning Chris Bernsen

Chapter 1

I thought this chapter was particularly relevant for one of the biggest challenges in teaching AP World: reading primary texts for meaning and writing the dreaded DBQ (document-based question) on the actual AP exam.

Even though I have had in my mind the kind of distinction between referential and causal/logical relations discussed at length here, I'm sure that I have not thought about it enough. Since so much of the emphasis I place is on what I call "understanding" and then several rubric-specified "interpreting" efforts, this distinction is very helpful for me in revisiting how I teach this stuff.

I found the section on "comprehension difficulties" particularly helpful in understanding the obstacles certain lower-skill students face in the very stressful environment of a DBQ essay. If there ever was a time when allocating limited attention efficiently to the most relevant pieces of information is needed, this is it. I know that some students struggle to understand the documents, let alone conduct each of the more involved sorts of analysis. I'm not sure there is a solution presented here in the chapter, but it sets the issue out clearly.

The section "Why Comprehension May Fail" was also helpful. Broek and Kramer point out the risk that students will sometimes struggle with a particular reading strategy because they localize it to the immediate curricular context in which they learn it and don't transport it into other contexts, as in other reading comprehension tasks. This got me thinking that I might enable this a bit. I tend to teach the general DBQ rubric/approach first, and then we essentially apply in to specific DBQs we do during the year. I suspect that I need to emphasize a bit more in each particular context the general approach to reading comprehension, so they don't lose sight of the woods for the trees. I have had a few students have difficulty transitioning from a Rome/Han DBQ to a modern Olympics one, for example, because the documents are so different, and they felt almost trained to do the Rome/Han DBQ and not a DBQ as such. They have been, of course, but this reminds me that the woods need ust as much tending as the trees.

This chapter also led me to look at my textbook a bit more critically in the "Properties of the Text" section. I use a college level text that is fairly difficult (the most widely used AP text). I got in the habit of just accepting the difficulty of it, rather than identifying exactly why it is difficult and reflecting on how I can help the students through it a bit more. According to the authors' standard of "user friendly," it is not so great. AP is all about comparisons, and this textbook almost goes out of its way to make the students work hard making them by not presenting "earlier content restated when important for understanding the current section." Textbook reading comprehension in my class is all about drawing in material from earlier assignments into specific pre-established categories/key concepts, etc. I need to remember that the textbook does not really help in this very much.

"Reading context" as an obstacle? I asked my students last year a "no wrong answer" question: how many of you read your AP textbook in a quiet room? Well over half said the MUST have music playing or the TV on. I won't go down the road on the social/generational implications of this, but, man, that is some obstacle.

Chapter 2

Fortunately, I don't have as much to say about this one, since some of it is a bit remote from what I do, but I will say this: 1. the whole concept of meta-memory is fascinating, and I never really thought about it. My students have to memorize a ton if info, and I would really like to learn more about teaching them how to do this. Up to this point, I have offered a few basic tips, but what if I could really help them to understand their own storage/recall abilities and maximize them. That would be awesome.

2. What became clear to me in this chapter is how long is the process of teaching word recognition and comprehension. I take my hat off to all of you who are involved in this multi-year process. When I get them they are already literate, and I try to tweak it and teach them history, but to MAKE them literate is something else. Thank you!