What I learned in Read 407

Along with taking our Reading Theory class this semester I was also enrolled in Teaching Writing; both classes were most helpful for they explored the thinking process that students go through when they read or write. I already knew that reading impacts one's writing ability, and I am sorry to say that I learned more in my Teaching Writing class than I did in our Reading Theory class. I already knew the reading process for I had to discover the process on my own when I was only four years old. Our Reading Theory class only reinforced the information I learned when I was four.

My Teaching Writing class was more helpful for one because I was required to tutor students in their writing skills. I worked as a tutor for fifteen hours in Mt. Hebron Middle School this semester either reading a student's draft and then discussing what they wrote, pin pointing what i liked, what they might want to change, and what I would like to know more about so that they could rewrite their draft; or sitting in an office and reading the papers that the students wrote and filling out a response sheet that allowed me to explain to the student in writing what I liked about their paper, what I would like to know more about, and suggestions I might have for their revision process.

I know how helpful my tutoring experience was for me in understand the student's writing process and perhaps if the Reading Theory class also required that we tutor students in a school on the reading process that we could better understand the reading process that students go through and where they struggle the most when they read, what factors are an issue for the student, for each student processes the information that they read differently and different factors upset the understanding the student has about what they just finished reading. When I took my Grammar for English class we were also required to tutor students in reading and writing on the elementary school level, and learned a lot with that experience as well. I know that I could have drawn on these experiences from my past and incorporate them into our Reading Theory class, but it is easier to learn when you are allowed to apply what you learn at the time you are learning the information.

I did learn the difference between phonics and phonic awareness and was able to explain the difference to another English major that was having difficulty understanding those concepts. Also, I was able to have the opportunity to write and create my dream unit on teaching Romeo and Juliet and I know if I didn't take this course, that I would not have had the opportunity to create the tragedy unit that I will be teaching next semester.

I wish that I had learned more about the reading process, why people read and interpret information differently, why do students misunderstand what they read, how to improve a student's thinking and interpreting skills, and how can I as a teacher reach my students if they are all at different reading levels. I think I could have gotten more out of the class if I was able to research what I was interested in learning as an English teacher trying to improve student's literacy skills.