Developmental Reading Knowledge Connections and Applications by Sean Dowd

Oral Language

seandowd0325 — 2023-09-15 15:22:10 UTC

Definition: "Communication through speaking and listening" (Fisher, Frey 2014)

Application: In a secondary social studies classroom, the different activities that could help students' oral language capabilities are presentations, photo narratives, and conversations/discussions in class. The latter is one of my personal favorites because it allows for students to verbally explain what they think about a scenario while also teaching them basic argumentative skills, such as letting the other person finish their statement before a rebuttal.

How Oral Language Connects with Social Justice and Equity: Language can be an easy way to recognize members of different cultures, and this can be used to an educators advantage while in the classroom. Teaching students about the use of other languages and the reasoning behind those uses can help plenty of students become more aware and accepting of those languages and cultures. Unfortunately, most classes in the U.S. are taught in English, which can cause difficulties if the student does not fully understand the language, but there are plenty of resources for both teachers and students to use so that there is a clear understanding of the content being presented.

Sources:
Fisher, D & Frey, N. (2014). Speaking and Listening in Content Area Learning. The Reading Teacher, 68(1), 64–69 doi: 10.1002/trtr.1296

Phonological Awareness

seandowd0325 — 2023-09-15 15:22:28 UTC

Definition: "Helps kids recognize and work with the sounds of spoken language" (Reading Rockets)

Application: In the secondary social studies field phonological awareness does not seem to have too big of an impact because most of the levels involved seem to be for students in lower grade levels. One way you can apply phonological awareness is through the practice of difficult terms in social studies that students are learning for the first time.

How Phonological Awareness Connects with Social Justice and Equity: Being able to help students that are learning English through phonological awareness is a way to promote equity in the classroom and encouraging other students to help the EL with their journey to learning English is a way to promote social justice.

Source:
Reading Rockets. Basics: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness. (n.d.)

Phonics

seandowd0325 — 2023-09-29 17:01:59 UTC

Definition: "Relationship between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language" (Reading Rockets)

Application: In a secondary social studies classroom, phonics instruction can be included through the use of reading various documents from different time periods. This can help students notice the difference in language between the past and present, especially compared between different ethnicities.

How Phonics Connects with Social Justice and Equity: Phonics connects with social justice and equity by providing equitable instruction to all students to help them with sounds they may not completely understand. In secondary grades phonic instruction is not as prevalent, but it "can be included in comprehension reading programs with students at risk for reading disabilities or who have been identified as having a reading disability." (Reading Rockets)

Sources: Reading Rockets (n.d.) basics: Phonics and Decoding.

Fluency

seandowd0325 — 2023-09-29 17:02:10 UTC

Definition: "The ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression." (Reading Rockets)

Application: In a secondary social studies classroom, there are plenty of documents to read throughout the year, so being a fluent reader can help students gain knowledge quicker than students that might have difficulties with their fluency. It is something that students can practice through the use of reading out loud, which is usually not something students want to do, but is important for them to practice.

How Fluency Connects with Social Justice and Equity: Fluency connects with social justice and equity because fluency is something that is taught and practiced from a young age, whether it is explicit or not, and from a young age there are classes to help students that have difficulties with their fluency, which promotes equity.

Sources: Reading Rockets (n.d.). Basics: Fluency

Print Awareness

seandowd0325 — 2023-09-29 17:40:45 UTC

Definition: "Understanding that print is organized in a particular way" (Reading Rockets)

Application: In a secondary social studies classroom, print awareness is essential because there are various forms of texts, letters, articles, books, stories and tales, and many more that are organized in specific ways. It is essential that students understand these organizational patterns to be able to distinguish certain types of texts from others.

How Print Awareness Connects with Social Justice and Equity: Print awareness connects with social justice and equity because not all students are taught that certain texts take on different formats than others, so it is important to explain why they take on certain formats and how the format can change purpose behind the text, such as a speech vs an argument.

Sources: Reading Rockets (n.d.). Print Awareness.

Reading Comprehension

seandowd0325 — 2023-10-20 15:56:22 UTC

Definition: Being able to understand and connect what you are reading to what you already know to form new ideas.

Application: In a secondary social studies classroom, reading comprehension is extremely critical as students must be able to understand the various words and phrases throughout history and be able to decipher the meanings behind them. Students must be able to connect what they read to what they know and make inferences about it. There are also certain texts from older time periods that can be very confusing to students, and even teachers, but can include very important information if broken down and comprehended over a longer time period.

How Reading Comprehension Connects with Social Justice and Equity: Reading comprehension can connect with social justice and equity through the use of examining various texts that discuss those topics. Examining texts with information about various cultures, genders, sexualities, etc. can help students with their inference skills and drawing on prior knowledge while also helping them know the importance of acknowledging you biases through inferring.

Sources: Reading Rockets (n.d.). Basics: Reading Comprehension.

Vocabulary

seandowd0325 — 2023-11-03 16:31:22 UTC

Definition: "The words we need to know to understand what we hear, read, and to communicate clearly and with precision" (Reading Rockets)

Application: Vocabulary in the social studies classroom is very important because there are many different aspects to social studies that have different vocabulary words. For example, the set of vocab words most important to geography are much different than the ones used for psychology. And even many of the vocabulary words we use to compare different parts of social studies have similar, but not exact meanings, such as the U.S. House of Representatives and the British Parliament. That is why it is important to study these differences in social studies contexts.

How Vocabulary Connects with Social Justice and Equity: Vocabulary connects with social justice and equity by teaching students words that can help them identify unequitable treatment or helping them know what words they should say when requesting social justice and reform. There are many different aspects in which vocabulary can be used in real life, so it is important to teach it, especially to high school students.

Sources: Reading Rockets (n.d.). Basics: Vocabulary.

Writing

seandowd0325 — 2023-11-17 18:11:48 UTC

Definition: Marking coherent words down to for sentences.

Application: In a secondary social studies classroom writing is important not just in the classic classroom aspect of writing notes, but also provides students with the opportunity to express their ideas, words, requests, etc. Writing also helps us communicate with the past as historians because more of the history we know today comes from written down accounts of those events. Examining a text written by Julius Caesar is different than examining text written by Albert Einstein.

How Writing Connects with Social Justice and Equity: Writing allows all people to provide their thoughts and ideas about situations, and considering social justice and equity are not often verbally, or physically stood up for, many of the thoughts that spread about social justice and equity must come from written text.