https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty Authentic texts en-us 2017-10-12 17:51:55 UTC 2026-01-13 00:28:15 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/File.png kaitlynlafrence https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196566677        During my interview with two Normal Public Librarians, Julia and Randi, I learned that they interact with a variety of texts throughout their day. They interact with texts such as academic journals, reviews on novels, and websites for programming research and technology programming. They use all of these different texts for programming and collection development. Julia and Randi gave me copies of multiple authentic texts that they use in their daily work. For this reflection, I chose to focus on an academic journal, "Beyond Bilingual: Making Storytime Inviting to All English Language Learners" by Rachel G. Payne and Jessica Rall. Julia and Randi introduced me to this article because they are always trying to expand the library to meet the needs of the community, and it relates back to education. ]]> 2017-10-12 18:00:19 UTC https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196566677 kaitlynlafrence https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196582019 2017-10-12 18:28:03 UTC https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196582019 kaitlynlafrence https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196584287        In order to understand this article, readers would have to know specific vocabulary used in it. For example, people outside of the education world may not know who English Language Learners (ELL) and English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) are or what bilingual, multilingual, and monolingual means. To fully comprehend this article, people, in general, and students would have to know what these words mean. While it would be relatively simple for librarians or people within the education field to define these words because they interact with them consistently, students, on the other hand, would need some background knowledge on these specific vocabulary words. Furthermore, the general vocabulary words used in this article are rather complex for middle school students to comprehend. If one were to use this article in teaching, he or she would have to provide scaffolding and supports for students. If I were to use this article, I would scaffold the reading and have the students read it in class in short sections. This would not be an article that students could interact with on their own because it would be too complex and long for them to read. ]]> 2017-10-12 18:32:37 UTC https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196584287 kaitlynlafrence https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196584783        The discourse of this article for the general public is mostly reading. However, if librarians or students were to read this article, there would most likely be an oral discussion about it. For example, librarians might discuss with each other about how they would incorporate the ideas in the article to their library. After this discussion, the librarians might need to do more research on the topic to make a decision on the topic, or they may have to physically demonstrate to their bosses that this program needs to be implemented by having a mock trial of the program to see if it would be beneficial to the community. In this example, the discourse of the librarians goes further than just reading the article like someone from the general public might. The librarians would need to research and explain the text further. Furthermore, if students were to read this article in the discourse of language arts, they would most likely also have an oral discussion about it or there might be a written part where the students would express how their school library could incorporate some aspects of the article for their ELL peers. In both of these examples, there is a similar discourse in that they would both have an oral discussion about the article, but going beyond that, the discourses would be different. Teachers would want students to understand the content of the article, while librarians would use the information in the article to reach their end goal, whatever that might be.]]> 2017-10-12 18:33:43 UTC https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196584783 kaitlynlafrence https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196585032        The syntax of this article would be easier for students and people, in general, to comprehend because the structure of the article is set up similarly to most articles. However, one aspect of the article that the students may need to know explicitly is to read the blue box on the side of the article. Some students may skip this box and think that it is not important. Nonetheless, the box is imperative because it provides examples for the reader about ways for families to use books and videos for their ELL children to read. Furthermore, when looking at the syntax of the website as a whole, students would need to know the structure of websites to use them. While this may seem like a tedious skill, it is essential for students. They need to know why there are drop boxes and buttons on the top of website pages and how articles are structured if they were to use it for a citation. Explaining these small aspects of websites to students helps them comprehend and explore them faster and easier, especially when the look of websites can vary.]]> 2017-10-12 18:34:09 UTC https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196585032 kaitlynlafrence https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196590356        The authentic textbook that I chose to interact with is The Language of Literature by McDougal Littell, a traditional, seventh grade language arts textbook. In the textbook, the authentic text that I chose to interact with is "Eleanor Roosevelt" by William Jay Jacobs because it seemed like an interesting biography that incorporates language arts and social studies. ]]> 2017-10-12 18:43:38 UTC https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196590356 kaitlynlafrence https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196593806 2017-10-12 18:50:42 UTC https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196593806 kaitlynlafrence https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196594153        In order to comprehend the text, "Eleanor Roosevelt," it is imperative that one can define words such as sanitarium, diphtheria, syndicated, tenement slums, etc. One aspect of this text that I like is that it defines more complex words at the bottom the page. I think this is helpful when students are reading the text. They are able to easily understand meanings of complex words and continue reading. Furthermore, with the social studies content-specific words, the students will need to have prior knowledge of World War I to fully comprehend the context of the text. Without this context, the students would not know some of the social studies specific words. If one were to teach this text, he or she would most likely do it during or after the social studies teacher teaches World War I to the students. Besides that prior knowledge, the students would not need as much scaffolding as the other article. Depending on the students' reading level, I believe that some students could be able to interact with this text on their own. However, others would need some supports to fully comprehend the text. Additionally, the students would need more time to read this text because it is relatively longer than the article. ]]> 2017-10-12 18:51:28 UTC https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196594153 kaitlynlafrence https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196594225        The syntax of the textbook is more difficult for students to comprehend than the article and website. The structure of the textbook is set up in a way, where students would have to interact with it multiple times to fully understand it. For example, within the text "Eleanor Roosevelt," there are numerous pictures throughout the text that at first glance may not seem important. However, the pictures are imperative because they help further the narrative with captions underneath them that explain who is in the pictures and what is going on in them. Some students might skip over these pictures because they think they are not important. Furthermore, going back to the vocabulary, there are words that are defined at the bottom of the page that some students might skip over because they do not see them. For these examples, it is crucial that as teachers, we teach our students the structure of the textbooks that we are going to use in our classrooms. This might seem like tedious work, but it will help our students to fully comprehend the text when they understand the structure of it. ]]> 2017-10-12 18:51:37 UTC https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196594225 kaitlynlafrence https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196594260        The discourse of the textbook is slightly different from the article because for the textbook, the discourse will focus more on oral discussion and written work. For example, at the end of each reading, there are short answer questions that the students can answer, if the teacher assigns them. With this, there is intentional written work involved in every reading, which is different from the article. For the article, the teacher would have to create questions for the students to answer. In this scenario, the teacher would decide to include a written section for the discourse of language arts. Furthermore, there is almost always oral discussions based on reading within the language arts discourse. Additionally, within the language arts discourse, there would be an assignment based on the vocabulary words used in the reading. This could be implemented through a traditional or non-traditional assessment. Either way, they assess the students on their knowledge of the vocabulary words in the reading, which is important in the language arts discourse. ]]> 2017-10-12 18:51:42 UTC https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/196594260 kaitlynlafrence https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/215106903       After analyzing these different texts, I saw several comparisons and contrasts between the two texts. On first look, it seems that they are more different from similar; however, there are some similarities between the two. Some comparisons between the two texts that I saw was how important it is to teach the vocabulary and syntax in texts. Even though the vocabulary levels of the two texts were on completely different levels, it is still extremely important to teach these to our students. As teachers, we need to remember to teach our students these words, so they can understand the text better. Especially, in the seventh grade language arts textbook, it is imperative that students have background knowledge on World War I, so they can fully understand the text. Another comparison between the two texts is the syntax of them. Even though one is a text and the other is a website, it is extremely important for students to learn the syntax of both texts. Both have syntax specific to the type of text. For example, for the website, the students need to know how to search it efficiently and know the ends and outs of the structure of it. Similarly to the website, students need to know the structure of the textbook, in order to fully understand it better. Students need to know where to look to help them define vocabulary words or know why they should examine the pictures. Again, even though these two texts are on completely different reading levels, it is incredibly important that we remember to teach our students these basic functions for the text. 
      Furthermore, I would say that there are more differences between the two texts, rather than similarities. The two texts are on completely different reading levels, and the librarian text would be incredibly hard for the students to read. The students would have to have a lot of scaffolding to completely understand it. Another contrast between the two texts is the complex vocabulary words in them. While students will need some background in World War I for the textbook, students would need a lot of background knowledge on the vocabulary words for the article (English Language Learners, multilingual, bilingual, etc.). Again, with this, students would need scaffolding to fully understand this vocabulary words. Additionally, with these two texts, students would need to learn the differences between the two discourses to fully understand it. One text is specifically meant for librarians and researchers in that discourse, while the other text is specifically meant for middle school students. They would need to learn why the discourses of the two texts are different and how that impacts the reading of the texts. This will be harder for students to understand; however, it is extremely important for the students to have a deeper understanding the texts. 
  Finally, I think the textbook could be beneficial for teachers to use within the language arts discourse. However, I would caution teachers to fully rely on the textbook for their instruction. While there are benefits for using the textbook for students, I do not think that it is totally an authentic text within the language arts discourse. I would argue that texts such as novels, poems, short stories, etc. are more authentic within the language arts discourse because they were written by people within this discourse. I feel like textbooks are not as authentic because they were forced to be written by certain companies. This could be another lesson for the students to analyze different texts within the language arts discourses - for example, textbooks vs. novels. Overall, I think it is important for students to interact with a wide range of texts within the language arts discourse, so they can become more fluent within this discourse. It is imperative as teachers that we give our students these opportunities to explore multiple texts, so they can be more well-rounded within our specific discourses. ]]> 2017-12-11 16:52:22 UTC https://padlet.com/kaitlynlafrence/wr2qn2o2xbty/wish/215106903