from VCCA Journal, Volume 3, Number 1, Spring/Summer 1988, 22-25
© Copyright 1988 VCCA Journal
The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into different groups. Of course one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next step. Otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well . . . . After the procedure is completed one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated (Bransford & McCarrell, 206).
Most readers find the above passage disconcerting. Although the words themselves present no problem, the meaning somehow fails to emerge. However, when the title, "Washing Clothes," is supplied, that sense of confusion vanishes; and there's an almost audible "click" of comprehension as everything falls into place.
This phenomenon suggests that reading consists of more than decoding. To understand what we read, we must recognize not only the words; we must also use our knowledge of the world to make sense of them. Understanding the above passage, for example, becomes possible only when what we see on the page and what we know about washing clothes interact to produce meaning.
Conceiving of reading as the interaction of mind and text has important implications for the classroom. As teachers, we typically do little to bring about that interaction. We require reading, but the pervasive "assign and test" approach to instruction (Read chapters 20 and 21 for the quiz on Monday) assumes the independence in learning that we want our students to develop. To foster that independence, we need to facilitate learning as well as monitor it--to play the role of catalyst as well as tester.
Effecting such a change in one's pedagogy requires good intentions, as well as sound methods. After all, how exactly does one create circumstances in which that click of comprehension will occur? For the faculty at Blue Ridge, the answer to that question has evolved gradually out of a series of workshops, meetings, and other activities supported by a $91,000 Funds for Excellence grant from the Virginia State Council of Higher Education.
Participating in BRCC's Funds for Excellence project involves signing up for what amounts to a year-long seminar in the relationship between language and learning. The heart of this development program is a series of workshops conducted by reading and writing experts during which the participants experience numerous ways to promote learning in their classes. The reading strategies introduced fall into three categories: ways of preparing students to read, ways of promoting interaction during reading, and ways of helping students discover and consolidate what they have learned. As can be seen from the following discussion, most of these techniques involve writing as well.
Through prereading strategies, students discover what they already know and what they don't know about the subject to be studied. For example, one method of activating prior knowledge is "clustering," a free association technique developed by Gabrielle Rico (1983). Clustering involves writing a word in the middle of a blank sheet of paper and recording around it all of the associations the word evokes. Because almost any word will elicit some associations, students can quickly discover, through clustering, that they know something (however little) about even the most arcane subjects. This process of discovery is enhanced when students share their clusters in pairs or small groups and then pool their knowledge through a class brainstorming. Organizing these random associations results in a categorical overview, a collection of subtopics with supporting details that comprises the class' prior knowledge and suggests fruitful areas of inquiry (Estes & Vaughan, 128-31).
By activating prior knowledge through writing and class discussion, this type of prereading activity sparks the interaction of mind and text through which learning occurs. It also builds confidence and piques interest by putting students in a position of authority. The students discover that they are not blank slates, after all. Rather, they are knowledgeable readers who, through further study, can expand and modify what they already know. Because any questions to be answered are generated by the class, not supplied by the teacher, the students actually find themselves reading to learn instead of reading to pass.
A student who has concrete and meaningful goals for reading is in a position to respond actively to the text, not just color it green or yellow with a highlighter. At Blue Ridge, many of the faculty introduce students to a notetaking system developed by Estes and Vaughan that encourages active reading (136-41). The system consists of symbols the reader jots in the margin to indicate agreement (), disagreement (x), surprise (!), and confusion (??), as well as to mark new information (+), key passages (*), and statements that raise questions (?). These symbols promote interaction with the text as well as guide a review by providing the students with a useful record of their initial responses.
Reviewing after reading is a crucial step in the learning process that most students ignore. Because of its importance, a number of BRCC faculty encourage reviewing by asking their students to write informally about what they have read, focusing especially on those aspects of the reading which have elicited strong responses. Following, for example, are excerpts from the response of a female biology student to an article entitled "Big Fish, Little Fish," by Stephen Gould (1983):
I greatly enjoyed reading Gould's views of sex in the animal world. It made me sit back and think for the longest time about women's superiority. For example, in the world of bees the females dominate. They do all the work, give birth, and travel. Men are simply needed for sexual purposes and the bees are doing just fine.
I also chuckled after reading about the male role in angler fishes. In this order of fishes the male just quits functioning, and he bonds himself to the female. The male becomes entirely dependent upon the female for survival. (I wouldn't mind being an anglerfish for a while.) Not only are the males dependent upon her, but several males are often bonded to one female.
Ceratoid males in essence lead the same lives as anglerfishes. They begin as independent souls feeding and living alone yet then undergo a quite drastic change. They lost their teeth and attach themselves to a female and become "a sort of sexual torpedo." I loved that phrase.
I also thought about another animal not mentioned in the article. Black Widow Spiders are a great force in womanhood. They find a man, consummate the relationship and when his deed is over she kills him. This is obviously a favorite animal of Gloria Steinem.
. . . I certainly hope many males read this article and gain much needed respect for their mates.
Typically, students write article summaries to demonstrate learning, not engage in it. Maintaining a thoroughly objective stance, they recapitulate what they have read as a way of assuring the teacher that comprehension has occurred. In the excerpts shown above, however, writing provides a medium in which the student and the article interact. Through writing, the student draws upon her whole self--including her prior learning, her value system, her emotions, her sexual identity, and even her sense of humor--in order to reach an understanding of the Gould article. She also felt free to reveal her thoughts to her instructor, who assumed the role of interested reader, not punitive grader. The result is writing that is unorthodox, but also liberating and enjoyable for teacher and student alike.
This use of written language to draw students into the learning process typifies both reading and writing to learn at Blue Ridge. Our project does not seek to transform the faculty into reading and writing teachers. Instead, it seeks to transform teaching and learning by substituting active thinking for passive memorization. In all subjects, there is much our students must be taught. The question is whether we approach that task as the filling of empty vessels or the activation of human minds. The answer is crucial because it determines whether our students, during their time with us, will merely acquire information by learning facts or acquire independence by learning how to learn.
This broad focus on teaching and learning as well as the joint emphasis on reading and writing has drawn a wide variety of Blue Ridge faculty members to the Funds for Excellence project. Since it began in the fall of 1986, two-thirds of the full-time faculty have participated. The disciplines represented have ranged from philosophy to auto mechanics, with a fairly equal mixture of general education and vocational/technical faculty involved.
The series of day-long workshops, held off campus, has given these faculty members from widely divergent backgrounds an opportunity to understand one another and to develop a greater appreciation for each other's disciplines. The meetings held on campus between workshops have provided an occasion for the informal exchange of ideas, concerns, and successful teaching strategies. During this year's meetings, a number of the original participants have shared reading/writing techniques which they developed and continue to refine. Besides working together as resources, the faculty have had the benefit of visiting experts--Dr. Thomas Estes, Professor of Reading at the University of Virginia and Dr. Christopher Thaiss, Associate Professor of English at George Mason University--who have conducted the workshops, and of on-campus coordinators--Dr. Jeanne Steele and myself--who have administered the project.
Because participation entails a year-long commitment, each faculty member involved in the project earns a stipend of $1000 along with 3 credit hour equivalents as described by VCCS Form 29. Grant funds are also used to provide release time for coordinators, honoraria and travel for experts, and meals and refreshments at workshops and meetings.
Assessing the impact of such a project is always difficult. However, a variety of indicators, including pre/post attitude surveys, samples of student writing, faculty evaluations, and course outlines created by faculty who have participated indicate that desired change is indeed occurring. Not everyone who has participated has fully embraced the concept of reading and writing as tools for learning. All, however, have had the opportunity to reflect on their experiences in the classroom and to explore, with their colleagues, the intriguing question of what teaching and learning involve.
Works Cited
Bransford, J. D., and N. S. McCarrell. "A Sketch of a Cognitive Approach to Comprehension: Some Thoughts about What It Means to Comprehend." Cognition and the Symbolic Processes. Ed. W.B. Weimer & D.S. Palermo. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1973.
Estes, T. H., and J. L. Vaughan. Reading and Reasoning Beyond the Primary Grades. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1986.
Gould, S. G. Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1983.
Rico, G. L. Writing the Natural Way: Using Right Brain Techniques to Release Your Expressive Power. Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher, 1983.
Douglas A. Petcher is Associate Professor of English at Blue Ridge Community College and Director of the BRCC Funds for Excellence Project, Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum.