Blog 6

            There was a lot of information presented during the webcast, but there were definitely some points that stood out to me as a future teacher.  I want to focus on Pat Johnson’s part of the webcast that discussed instructing students how to read.  It is important that teachers teach students more than just how to read, but how to understand the material that is read.  Often times students will read the text without any mistakes, but they have no recollection of what the reading was about.  Students need to learn how to actively make meaning of the text, and it is the teacher’s job to make sure students do so. 

            Pat discussed three main ideas about how students read using the methods of meaning, syntactic, and visual.  Students may use the pictures to help understand the text, which is the meaning method.  Students will sometimes just know the text from speaking words, which is the syntactic method.  Lastly, students may use their phonics skills to help read the words, which is the visual method.  All students are different and learn differently, and they should all use the methods of reading that works best for them.

            Pat also discussed how teachers need to realize that reading is not always about accuracy, but it is about looking ahead to see how the reading will help the students grow as better readers.  This is something I will really need to work on as a future teacher, because I want my students to read the correct information right in the beginning, which is definitely not realistic.  I need to focus on the big picture and help my students be the best they can be.  Reading takes practice and time.  It is also about meaning making, and I need to make sure the students comprehend the text that is being read.  This webcast was very beneficial, because it allowed me to look at the full concept all the important aspects of reading.