Curriculum Unit Planning for Reading and Writing

I can still remember having one textbook for every class when I was in middle school and high school. There was a book for Social Studies, Science, Math, French, Spanish, Music, and Language Arts. I remember how heavy it felt to have all these books in my backpack. I can still remember getting the books at the beginning of the year and feeling overwhelmed at how I was going to learn and remember all the information inside these books.

Now that I’m in my teaching program, I am tasked with planning how I will teach the content. Whether I’m in a school that has district adopted curriculum, or I have the opportunity to choose my own books, I know that I will never be dependent on one textbook per subject. Tompkins (2018) states, “Content area textbooks are resources that many students use to learn about content areas, but they aren’t a complete instructional program” (p.402). It is essential that students are able to engage their background knowledge and are exposed to various types of literature. While textbooks are read throughout school, including in higher education, students will most likely not be engaging in very many textbooks outside of school.

I want my students to develop a passion for reading and I want them to be e exposed to different genres and subjects that appeal to different interests. I do think that there is value to textbooks and offer a format that can be used to help students locate information, such as the glossary, headings and subheadings, illustrations and graphs, and margin notes. Tompkins (2018) suggests using the five stages of reading process to teach minilessons when using textbooks (p.416). This is incredibly helpful, as a new teacher looking for various ways to teach information.

In today’s digital world, the resources that we have access to are incredible! While text sets are encouraged in the classroom, they can be costly and sometimes hard to come by. Teachers Pay Teachers is a great website to support other teachers who have self-created worksheets and curriculum. It is also so much easier to pull media from YouTube or other streaming services to show videos and documentaries to students. I remember only watching a handful of videos in school “on special occasion” because you needed to have a VHS, which could be costly or get ruined. It’s great that we have technology at our fingertips as teachers.

While reading, it is helpful to engage writing. It has been proven that you remember more information when you write it down. Even as I read the Tompkins (2018) textbook Literacy for the 21^stCentury, I write down notes from each chapter to help me retain the information. After I write the notes, I go back and refer to my notes before writing out my blog. I want to give my students the same opportunity to utilize writing before, during, and after reading. Reading and writing go hand in hand; by reading more, you can learn different writers’ styles and formats. By writing, you can improve reading comprehension to synthesize what you have read. As a teacher, it also helps you assess students’ comprehension by reading what they wrote.

One of my favorite activities is quickwriting. Quickwriting allows you to put your ideas to paper, without worrying about grammar or revisions. When I’m feeling writer’s block, I love to just get on the computer or pull out a pen and paper to just write. Sometimes I’ll even write, “Nothing I’m writing makes sense, I don’t like writing.” After five minutes of just typing, though, I’m able to break past feeling crippled and not feeling like anything makes sense. I want my students to have the same opportunity. Writing can be intimidating and I want my students to understand that it’s a process. The key is to start!

Reference:

Tompkins, G. E. (2018).Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach 7^thEd. New York: Pearson