Talk:Read and Write Across the Curriculum





Comment by Kourtney Fargason
The teaching of writing should be introduced at the earliest stages of a child’s life. I’ve been taught that children should be exposed to print everywhere! That means through grocery lists, which you mentioned, books, signs, the TV, etc. When children are exposed at an early age, I feel that they are more motivated to learn and they catch on easier than those students who have not necessarily been exposed to the amount of print that other children have. It is never too young to expose children to print and writing.

As a teacher, I think it is so important for students to see that the teacher writes too. Too often teachers require students to write and do this and that, and the students never see the teacher do the same. Students who see their teachers model writing, or even reading, are going to see that it’s “cool” or that it’s fun to do. Sometimes all a student needs is a little motivation, like modeling by the teacher, to get them involved in a lesson.

Reading should be involved in every course subject. It is so easy to incorporate reading in all subjects, and I can’t see why some teachers do not use it in science, art, etc. I think reading links all subjects together, and when a student is able to read well, research shows their writing improves.

I think it is so neat that our technology today offers chapters from a textbook through the Internet and books are now offered online, as well. I personally cannot read articles, books, etc. on the computer. Printing them out is much easier for me to see and to comprehend. I see the struggles that students might have with reading information from the computer screen, eyestrain being a big factor. It may be more interesting to read a book on the computer because it’s technology and cool for the students to do, but I feel that most of the reading should be done through printed materials, like books, articles, or pictures.

The information offered in this area, reading and writing, was very thorough and interesting to read.

Comment by Courtney Blackmon
I find this article rather interesting. I am a second grade teacher who competes daily with the appeal of video games and computers over the hard copy books. Instead of fighting with my students about what I might think they “should be doing,” I instead try to incorporate their love for technology into reading and writing. My students can read books online and even take comprehension quizzes on those books. In fact, the new reading series our county has adopted enables the students to access a large database full of levelized books and materials to suit their needs. It has always been said that if you find something that the student is interested in, they will fully engage in it and learn more rather than embarking on something teacher-led. Therefore, I find that using technology in teaching reading will allow my students to be more engaged and eventually retain more information. I have yet to use technology in teaching writing. Our school in particular just adopted a scope and sequence for writing this past year, so it is somewhat of a new issue for us. I think it is a definite need to teach my students to write well because writing is something we use everyday! If someone can suggest a good computer program, website, etc. to use for teaching writing, I am all for it! All in all, I think that we as teachers need to realize that this day and age, students are more prone to using technology and instead of fighting against it, we should embrace it and use various forms of technology to enhance our teaching.