Reflective analysis and personal learning outcomes

Art

Reading and Writing - a Review of Experience and Reflection

This paper reflects on my experiences tutoring two 6th grade students for 10 sessions. Half needed reading comprehension help and half needed help with writing skills. Overall the experience tutoring others was positive. One of the students, Jessica, was an exceptional reader, but experienced difficulty when trying to put her thoughts to paper to provide adequate writing samples. Nathan had difficulty with both reading and writing. The course taken introduced principles of learning that enabled me to tutor these students positively. Reading and Writing in the Content Area helps students understand why content is so important to reading and writing. Content helps shape a story in the mind of a reader, whereas when writing, content helps form the foundation of one's written word, whether they write an essay, a reflection paper, a novel or any other form of writing. At the beginning of the course I felt I did not need to review my reading and writing skills because I had already been a student for a dozen years; each year I learned I had to take reading and writing courses or had to turn in papers relative to the subject I studied (like History). However, this course introduced new theories of writing I had not learned and was surprised about. These key theories or concepts I learned included KWLS theory, pre-reading strategies, and strategies for composing, drafting, revising and evaluating papers using a proper critiquing methodology.

Previous to this course I assumed that there were universal guidelines that govern the evaluation of writing. Now I realize this is only partly true. While there are guidelines that govern writing, these guidelines may vary from subject to subject. They may also vary depending on the type of writing or reading one engages in. For example, a scientific paper would have different content than a paper written for a history class. The writer would have to present information for the science paper in the form of brief narratives, tables and graphs to help make a point. For a history review however, the writer must incorporate a thesis or main idea, and then support that idea with adequate content. The information provided must also be verified; the writer can incorporate verification into the body by citing authors or the research of other writers that influenced the writer's work. All guidelines should encourage students to engage in oral reviews, or to review the material they read or write aloud, so they better understand or comprehend, and better remember what it is they are learning. This is a learning strategy that helps solidify what is learned in the classroom with what one thinks in the mind. Far too often it seems students drift in and out of lecture; they may or may not pay attention. However, if one must read aloud, then they must pay attention; and, if they write something they then read aloud, they might be able to discover any mistakes or misunderstandings they had when attempting to write on the content area they are developing.

K-W-L-S theory can be utilized by the writer to "organize their knowledge" or the information they learn based on questions or interests the writer has; pre-reading and pre-writing techniques can enhance the writer's vocabulary, making their work more interesting; other theories including "oral-written" and retelling suggest the English language or reading and writing author will learn how to build on their writing skills using the terminology they already know by speaking in English (Freeman, Ghiso & Hamayan, 2006). These skills all encourage the reader and the writer to provide content that demonstrates their language acquisition skills resulting from their personal experiences with the language in oral form.

As a student of writing I know it is important to develop reading and writing skills that allow the writer and reader to understand how cultural and linguistic factors may influence one's language development and one's ability to comprehend the written word. Often people fail to realize the way they speak is much different at times than the way the write. However, it is possible to write in a way that reveals an understanding of what a person reads or what they hear during lecture. Lecture in the classroom provides an ideal opportunity for learners to reflect on what they have learned in previous sessions and to decide how they will use that knowledge to further their understanding, or to help them make decisions related to the content they have learned.

As I plan to become a history teacher I now realize how important reading and writing skills are to the student's comprehension of the content covered in lecture and in class. Students learn in many different ways. One reason that Nathan may not be doing well in both reading and in writing is because he simply does not understand the content or the context in which information is presented in the classroom. While he may not understand much from lectures, he may be able to improve his reading and subsequently his writing be relating what it is he learns to personal experiences that he has. It could be that Nathan will require different methods of teaching other than the standard model to improve his reading and writing skills. One way to help facilitate these skills would be to have Nathan select the subject he is most interested in, and then have him summarize why he has an interest in this subject. He should also read the material selected so his writing reflects his comprehension of the selection he made. His writing should also reflect why it is he enjoys the subject selected.

The same concepts may help Jessica learn how to write better. She is already adept or very good at reading. What she needs to learn now is how to associate what she has read with what she wants to talk about when writing. The best way for her to do this is to try to associate what she reads with experiences she enjoyed or did not enjoy in her life. When the content and context of reading becomes something that students are familiar with, and something the student can relate to, then they are far more likely to excel in both reading and writing skills, rather than one and the other.