"Tools for Thinking: Reading Strategies across the Curriculum" and "Book Clubs" Daniels and Zemelman

Daniels and Zemelman present twenty-four exercises in “Tools for Thinking: Reading Strategies Across the Curriculum.”  They are designed to engage students in active reading and to model the processes that experienced readers use to get the most out of texts.  I use the term experienced reader whereas Daniels and Zemelman call them smart readers because they are not any smarter than any other reader they’ve just had more practice.  The methods that experienced readers use come naturally with practice and using these strategies or similar ones, modeling thought processes, activating prior knowledge, and approaching reading methodically can make reading larger texts less laborious and more fun.  It might even create a passion for reading where before there was none. 

            Some of my favorite methods provided here were the KWL process, double-entry journals, it says/I say, mapping, and list-group-label.  I especially like the double-entry journal because when reading a dense text it makes it easier if you have a list of important information and a list of your thoughts while reading.  You really do want to keep them separate for easier reference later.  On one side you can make connections between other texts you’ve read or a personal experience and write down any questions or wonderings.  On the other side you have the most pertinent information you want to pull from the text, depending on the purpose for which you are reading.  I know it’s not really as fun as some of the other techniques but it is a good practice for reading history.  It can be used alongside some of the other strategies, or you can do as many of these strategies as possible with students, and see which they like the best because different strategies work better for different students.

            Chapter nine is about book clubs.  The authors present it as being optional and almost completely student-directed.  They seem to think less teacher involvement is better and that by letting students make choices they will be more interested in spending the time and effort on such an activity.  It’s hard to argue with that.  I did not like the example that they gave about the history book club because they included titles that were historical fiction.  It is the worst genre ever!  It is not history!  The students should read history otherwise it’s not a history book club.  But the idea of book clubs, obviously, is awesome to allow students to be actively engaged in reading and reading for enjoyment with friends.           

"Why Textbooks Are Not Enough" and "How to Use a Textbook" Daniels and Zemelman

I always enjoyed reading textbooks in school and often found them helpful and interesting.  So, either text books were better when I went to high school, or I am in the minority of students who like textbooks, or both.  My favorite texts were history books (of course, hence my chosen path) and I would often flip through them, sometimes a chapter or two ahead looking at the pictures, reading the captions, and looking at maps.  I’ve always been fascinated with maps.  So I was employing Daniels’ and Zemelman’s technique of pre-reading years ago and didn’t even know it.

 I can also vividly recall the first time I realized how to use a math text book, and that I could use it effectively to help me when I got stuck.  For many years, when learning math, the teacher would explain the concept in class on the chalkboard and then I would go home and use the text book to do the homework assignment.  I would never read the lesson part of the math text, I would only use the book for the problems.  Teachers never encouraged, and at times actually discouraged, students from trying to learn from the book.  They preferred to teach the lesson in class and we were to make sure we grasped the concept and learned the skill in class so we could do the homework the way they showed us.  If the text book showed another way to get the right answer, they did not want us to use it but instead to solve the problem the way they showed us.  In the eleventh grade, I became prone to excessive absences that hindered my academic achievement and I was in an advanced math class.  I was often behind and had little to no clue what was going on.  That’s when I realized that I could indeed use the book to learn the concepts and skills to solve the problems.  It worked to some degree and I think I got a C in that class after earning Es and Ds for most of the year.

So that’s my personal text book experience but as far as Daniels and Zemelman are concerned, I like their emphasis on heavily supplementing text books because, especially in history texts, there is just not enough depth there in any specific topic.  A lot of it is superficial coverage of many areas and to dig deeply into one specific area that you feel deserves the extra attention, supplemental materials are required.  They have a lot of useful strategies for using text books that I like and will use in the future.  However, I am not too sure about the jigsaw technique.  I think that is probably best used sparingly and in select circumstances with readings that are best suited for it.  On the contrary, I really like the idea of making reading guides to help students get the most out of a text.  It might take some extra time up front but if you are using the same text over a span of years it would be well worth it and if you are already familiar with a certain text it shouldn’t be too difficult.  The SQ3R method also seems like a very effective tool for helping students remember and interpret important texts.