It Says-

Academic Journals are can benefit students in a wide variety of ways. There are multiple forms of these types of journals, such as response journals, double entry journals, and learning logs, but they all serve the student the same purpose which is to help students informally write about ideas or concepts from "informational contexts". Teachers should encourage this writing to be informal so that students do not feel judged on their formal writing capabilities such as correct grammar, good vocabulary, and neat handwriting. This allows students to get their thoughts across with no stress, and enables them to put their thoughts on a subject where they will not be judged by peers as well. These are also good for teachers because they do not have to put any emphasis on grading the essays for accuracy. Instead, teachers can use these as a tool to make sure that students are doing the appropriate amount critical thinking with the text. 

I Say-

I do not find anything more beneficial to students than informal responses journals. I personally love to write, and I think that it is important for students to do. These journals can be used across all content areas, and I have found them to be grade savers in some subjects I have not been too strong in. For example the textbook gives examples of math response journals. I had to keep one of those when I was in middle school as well as my junior year and high school and I can say I owe passing those classes to the points I was able to earn in the journal. I was able to show the teacher that I understood some of the concepts, and I was able to write down specific questions I had about the material. As a future history teacher, I think these can come in handy. In my history class right now I have an informal writing assignment due each week, one of them being a learning log as described in the textbook.

And so-

I want to find a way for my students to use response journals. I think that these journals can also help with formal writing assignments especially research assignments by allowing the students to write informally on a topic. After thoughts about the topic have been expressed I would ask students to expand on the topic more by providing details and research to back the details up. With more practice in informal writing, formal writing will come easier to students because the main ideas will already be there, and more time can be spent practicing the technical stuff like grammar and spelling. 

The thing with textbooks...

Textbooks have been a blessing and a curse for students for quite some time, at least in my own personal educational experience. There was nothing worse than seeing assignments on the chalkboard that included reading the textbook then answering questions. At the same time the thought would run through my head that all I had to do was look for bold headings and copy my answer for the question word for word from the section. Not terribly difficult at all because no real thought was involved, just annoying and time consuming. Unfortunately the class that that mostly occurred in was history. I don't want to be that teacher that makes students do that, and after reading chapter 11 in Content-Area Reading I now know for sure that there are other more effective alternatives to reading and answering questions from the textbook that may be much more beneficial especially in a history classroom.

I like the idea of using a textbook, but as the Content-Area Reading book pointed out, not all textbooks are written the same way. I think that it will be important to choose a book for my classroom that is written in a more enticing way than just jumbled facts that are poorly organized and way over all of my students' heads. I find that that is common in many history textbooks. I love history books and read many books that most people would consider boring, but even for me some textbooks are too dry, and can only imagine how bad it is for those students who aren't even interested in history in the first place. I like the idea of trade books because it gives a different, possibly more interesting, angle on a topic, and they could also be easier to read and relate to since authors seem to be more adept to kids' emotions. Another strategy I really agree with is the use of nonfiction and fiction books in the classroom. I always liked when teachers gave us a "book list" and we had to read two or three books either fiction or non fiction over the course of the year that pertained to a certain topic. I think that it is important to do reader response writing as well when using these kinds of supplementary readings.
I thought that the statistic introduced in the Content-Area Writing book was very interesting when it showed the percentage of people who remember things after they read, hear, see, hear and see, etc. I thought it was surprising that generally people only remember 10 percent of what they read, and that 70 percent of people remember what they say and write. After seeing those statistics, I think that it is important to require some kind of "doing" after reading. I also liked the comparison this book used to taking class notes and training a monkey to do that. I think writing assignments need to be more engaging allowing students to actually put thought into it instead of answering monotonous textbook questions or taking mindless class notes that students probably won't remember writing anyway. 

How effective are standardized tests?

While reading through Chapter 4 of Content Reading, a lot of emphasis was put on high stakes testing and how the different levels of government use that information. The emphasis that the government has put on test scores is much higher than it ever has before. Government programs such as No Child Left Behind have been put in place to ensure that students are meeting certain benchmarks in school. As a result of these various programs, it seems as though students are under pressure in order to achieve scores that are deemed passing. After reading through this chapter, I am not fully convinced that standardized testing is the most appropriate way to demonstrate what students have learned.

I agree with the authors of the textbook when they suggest that a major concern over these standardized tests is that too much emphasis gets placed on test preparation. Teachers will simply teach what the students need to know in order to do well on the standardized tests. This results to neglecting other subjects like fine arts or social studies, all of which are equally important to the subjects that are on standardized tests. Personally, I have never been fully convinced that standardized testing was the best way to show what students know. I personally do not perform well on standardized tests, and my ACT score would not reflect my GPA in high school. I think that it is important to have the government involved, and to have standards that need to be met, but I think that some of the legislation needs to be revised.

It was very interesting to read about the criticism for No Child Left Behind. I had never really considered the fact that some states may lower their proficiency standards in order to continue to receive federal funding. This gives an illusion that schools are making progress when in reality no significant progress is being made. I like what North Carolina is doing with their ABC model.  I like that there are opportunities given to students to retest as well as personalized plans with more monitoring. The high school level requires end-of-course exams which I believe would be effective because teachers could then test on their own curriculum instead of teaching to the test.

I think that a much more effective way to demonstrate students performance is in portfolios. I like this idea because it allows students and teachers to work together to include different pieces in the portfolio. It is also continuously being built throughout a semester. There is far less pressure put on students to perform well as they would have to on a standardized test. Portfolios also allow students to evaluate themselves which could help motivate them in the long run. Portfolios would also enable teachers to see where certain students might need more help, and where they excel. I believe that in the future student portfolios will give the government a better idea of how well students are doing rather than the standardized tests. 

Literacy in School

          After reading the first chapters in Content-Area Writing and Content Area Reading, I have really come to appreciate the importance of being literate in the classroom. I am studying to become a social studies teacher, and reading and writing are major components in that content area. It has really come to my attention that I will be just as responsible as any english teacher to ensure that students are comprehending what they are reading. The authors of the Content Area Reading text do a great job in laying out a strategy to teach students how to read like a historian. I really liked the questions that Doug Buehl has laid out for the Wisconsin sate-wide project called "Thinking Like a Historian". This question outline emphasizes cause and effect, change and continuity, turning points, "through their eyes", and "using the past". I have been a beneficiary of these techniques as a student, and want to use the same tactics for my future students. I personally have always hated when teachers would make me read history books, then answer questions about the reading, and then finally talk about what we were supposed to have read and answered in class. The assigning and telling technique was ineffective for me, and I am sure it would put my students to sleep as well.
          Writing is equally important in students' literacy. I found it interesting that the authors of the Content-Area Writing textbook seemed to put little importance on what standardized test scores show about a students' ability to write. I agree with this as well. Even as recently as my last MTLE exam, I found myself writing about topic that I could not connect with. I personally like writing, and writing that essay was extremely painful for me. The authors gave the example about students from Illinois having to write about inline skating. I am from Illinois, and know first hand we call it rollerblading, and nobody does that in Chicago as the authors pointed out. Since kids write all the time whether they are passing notes, keeping a journal, or talking on facebook, all teachers need to be able to do is find a topic that would be engaging for the students to write about. Writing is a skill that everybody will need to have nobody what their profession is. I think the authors do a great job in pointing out how important being able to write a scholarly essay is, but at the same time they do a great job in pointing out that just because the test scores are bad doesn't mean students do not know how to write.