Memo 5, Week 6

 I learned that disciplinary literacy refocuses attention from how well one reads to what one reads well. I really resonated with this point; it reminds me greatly of working from students’ current knowledge rather than trying to force the creation of entirely new knowledge without using current knowledge as a stepping stone. Similarly, asking what one reads well allows instructors to build off of what students already know how to read well; from that point, small steps can be made to improve! Without this method, all knowledge that students previously have is considered meaningless, which is a waste of time for students (why gain knowledge alone if teacher will just reteach later) and for teachers (re-teaching what students already might know partly). Embedding disciplinary literacy everyday into lessons is also paramount to demonstrate the necessity of this skill.

I haven’t previously thought too much about the importance of reading in science, but it is imperative that I emphasize the significance of reading in science as a future teacher. For example, scientific articles contain astounding amounts of information, and since science is perpetually changing its important for all learners to be able to gather information from scientific text easily. In the classroom, I’m excited to use scientific text to help students make connections and see the big picture. At times it can be difficult to piece different scientific facts together into one giant concept, but text will be the vehicle for this aha moment.