Reading Next Online Activity

Reading Next, talks about literacy issues amongst America’s youth, correlates dropout rates
to literacy issues and a lack of interest in school, it offers ways to help teachers be more aware of the diversity in their classroom and how the idea of diversity needs to reflect in their teaching styles, and it offers, The Fifteen Elements of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs, which are designed to recover the literacy rates of middle and high school students. Topics that are offered in the Reading Next article have been a reoccurring theme in most of the readings this semester. It has been suggested to create strong and cohesive/content heavy lesson plans that help the = teacher and the student, to help the teacher to prepare for different learning styles, and to organize the teacher with an arsenal of classroom/teaching techniques that improve their efforts and make them more confident in the classroom. There is mention of EL, ESL, and special needs learners, throughout the readings, though in the Reading Next article, I find that there was more emphasis on including these students’ needs in the lessons and instruction in order to create a balance in the classroom for all learners. I found that Reading Next was formatted similarly to the IRA, Adolescent Literacy: A Position Statement reading. Introducing the reason for the text, along with the contributors, and offering different “elements or principles” that suggest literacy assistance to adolescents. Lastly throughout the readings, there are many scenarios or dialogues that are mentioned in order to make the suggestions in the readings more real for the “learning teacher”, so that they can see how these foundations can be used effectively in the classroom.


As a photography/art teacher who works with students that have special needs, such as ADD, ADHD, Autism, Aspergers, emotional disturbances, and OCD, the groupings that are assigned to my classroom are always at multiple levels; academically and socially. Due to this diversity, my instruction and the materials that I use during my instruction, vary; they range from elementary (3rdand 4th grade) to high school levels (10th grade). I always use graphic organizers, step by step processes, chunked material and instructions, repeat directions, and more. This helps students understand information in more practical ways; ways that they can appreciate. In my experience, I find that even with students that have higher literacy and who are capable of handling material on their grade level, they still tend to have major issues with executive functioning. So even if they understand/comprehend the material, and may even get the deeper/more conceptual meanings of some of the assignments, it’s very hard for them to organize their information and represent the material the way they understand it in their own
minds.

Due to the subject matter that I teach, it is necessary to always include a technology component in the classroom. This includes digital cameras, computers, website and internet searches, Word, Photoshop, etc. For many students that have trouble with literacy, it is subjects like photography and art, which add an aesthetic/more visual element to the instruction, that make the learning easier and more experiential for the student. Of course, depending on the students’ levels and processing abilities, I have to use similar tactics as listed above to help the child achieve successfully. In addition, depending on their literacy abilities, I also use programs like Kurzweil and Read Naturally; these are assistive reading technologies that help the student to be more independent when working on various reading/writing assignments.