Christi Shock

CIRG 653
Module 8: Reading and Writing in the Content Areas
April 1, 2019

I have always been taught that reading and writing go hand in hand. If students are good

readers, then they will be good writers, and vice versa. The Clay text suggests that, “Writing can

contribute to the building of almost every kind of inner control of literacy learning that is needed

by the successful reader.” (2014). Today, teachers are encouraged to direct children to learn to

write according to the simple tasks that they can make. They are also encouraged to make each

writing opportunity a rich and rewarding experience that will allow children to learn

developmental tasks such as attending closely to the formation of letters, accessing letter

knowledge in a variety of ways, and working with words, constructing them from letter, letter

clusters, and even patterns. It is safe to say that children begin this process of writing from the

time that they begin using a writing utensil to explore.

In early forms of writing, teachers can see gains of how a child is progressing by simply

allowing them to preview a book and draw, or write something about the book. Daily writing

will give teachers evidence of how children’s knowledge of print has changed. This is very

evident in my classroom at the beginning of the year. I like to begin an All About Me page in the

students’ journals at the first week of school. Students are read a book about a child and the

things that he or she likes to do. Then, the children write a page about themselves and share it

aloud. Throughout the year, additional writing prompts and tasks are added to the journal and the
students compare their writing and how they have progressed at various stages. For many, it is a

great eye opener.

Teaching reading can be difficult, and retaining the information for test purposes can be

even more complicated. The Gunning text suggests that one of the most effective ways to

understand and retain complex information is to use some form of graphic organizer. (2016).

Graphic organizers can be used to connect ideas to certain concepts, and even promote higher

level thinking. There are basically eight types of organizers based upon the cognitive skill that is

needed for the set of students. These include, compare and contrast, sequencing, classifying, time

lines, flow charts, semantic maps, Venn Diagrams, and tree diagrams. In my classroom, we use

the Venn Diagram most generally during a Science lesson when discussing the habitats and

environments of animals, or even a natural disaster, such as a hurricane or a tornado. Students

gain a great amount of information and insight when using the flow chart when writing down

research during a Social Studies lesson, and when studying historical facts, a timeline is the best

organizer that is most user friendly for my students.

Another strategy that I use in my classroom that enhances reading and writing instruction

is the use of trade books. As the Gunning text indicates, “trade books are not just for struggling

readers.” (2016). Many of these texts are written especially for higher level “achieving readers”

also. I have observed in my fourth grade classroom that when I introduce a particular genre of

trade book, for example one from the I Survived series, my students become more engaged in

reading and want to read all the books in the series. Books of this type allow motivation to read,

make predictions, and respond to open ended questions about the text itself. My students even go

to the library to check out the other books from this series, and when we begin to write in our

journals about the information asked, the students are all engaged and are wanting to write more!
 Chapter 9 of the Gunning text also addresses some ways that students can foster good

memory and recall of the information using particular memory devices. (2016). In my classroom,

we use acronyms on a daily basis to help students remember how something connects and

interacts with another topic or strategy. One handy acronym was needed when I taught the

process of long division. It was: DMSC, which stood for Does McDonalds Sell Cheeseburgers?

This was an effective process for the steps in the long division process of Divide, Multiply,

Subtract, and Check. The students caught on to this concept quickly by including something that

was catchy and one that they could relate to.

Teaching reading to students can be challenging, especially when some students do not

like to read on their own. Therefore, I have found that many students, even lower leveled readers,

like to read more literature based books, rather than a basal reader. In my classroom, I like to

teach thematic units that specialize upon a particular topic that students are interested in, and

bring in many reading and literature activities that engage the learner and help promote

connections that can be made while reading, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing activities

among different pieces of literature. For example, the students had a story in their basal reader

entitled, Antarctic Journal. This was a narrative nonfiction piece published by a famous scientist

who travels and studies the Arctic continent frequently. However, after the text was complete,

we began an intensive unit on Antarctica. The students learned about the geography, land,

animals, environment, and even fun facts that had everyone wanting to read, write, and present

more. Overall, the students were reading and writing and didn’t even realize how much they

were learning in the process. My favorite way to teach conceptual skills is using a thematic style.

Writing is not a separate subject. Reading is not a separate subject. Whatever one reads about,

one can write about. This is what true learning is all about.
 References

Clay, M. M. (2014). By different paths to common outcomes: Literacy teaching and learning.
Aukland, New Zealand: Global Education Systems (GES).

Gunning, T. G. (2016). Creating literacy instruction for all students. Ninth Edition. Pearson
Merrill Prentice Hall.