My Profile as a...
Disciplinary Reader By Lauren Eickmeyer
What is Disciplinary Literacy?
Disciplinary literacy is for students that are in middle and high school grades. These skills are a build up of what had or should have been learned in previous grades like knowing how to decode words, and comprehending what is being read, but "it also requires skills and knowledge and reasoning processes that are specific to particular disciplines (Greenleaf, 2007)." The students need to know these disciplinary skills so they are able to conceptualize all kinds of texts in all content area subjects (Gee, 2000).
I do not know about you, but I remember learning about decoding words, high frequency words, and being asked what I had read in texts, but I do not remember and may still not know how to read in all content area texts.
What do I read?
On most occasions I read magazines like Cosmopolitan, Vogue, or health and fitness magazines that includes workout cheat sheets. I also like to read online, usually articles that I find on social media, that talk about anything and everything girly or about fitness tips and tricks. Of course, I read for school in my textbooks and online articles that are provided by my professors. When I read books on my own time, I like to read romantic novels that are usually set at the beach or that have strong female roles in them. Even though I am technically not a child, I still enjoy reading through kids books that I can use one day in my classroom.
Where and When I read?
When I do read, I usually read in my bed or at my desk in my room depending on my mood. I have really tried to read before I go to bed every night, but if not then, I am reading during the day to catch up on reading, hear news, or for leisure.
How do I read?
For the most part, I read silently especially when I am reading things like magazines or if I am reading for myself. The one time I read aloud is when I am either reading for a read aloud in the classroom, or if I am reading for a class of my own. I read aloud for school work, because I feel that when I hear myself read, I am more likely to remember what was read and what parts were most important.
Why do I read?
When reading, I have two purposes depending on what I am reading. One reason why I read is to gain information about some topic, whether that be for school and my future teaching or because I am curious about something. Another reason why I read is because I want to. I know that may sound silly, but I feel that if I read because I want to, than I am more likely to love reading when I have to do if for other purposes.
The Contextualized Nature of Disciplinary Literacy
For me, I feel the most confident as a literacy fiction and a health fitness reader because I usually am able to understand and know what is going on in those texts and I am used to reading these types of texts. I do not feel confident and struggle with reading mathematics and any kind of science because these types of texts usually involve more formulas and hard words that I do not always understand, which makes it harder for me because I then have to go look up words while reading.
My Profile as a Disciplinary Learner
More About My Profile as a Disciplinary Reader
For the most part, I lean more to reading texts that I enjoy or that are easy to read, meaning that they keep my interest and flow with ease while reading. When it comes to textbooks, I have always had a problem with knowing how to use them and where to start. I feel like in school, teachers just would give you textbooks and assume you knew how to read them and all the components that went along with understanding them. I feel that the assumption of these texts were usually in content areas like math and science because teachers may have thought that the information was more important than being able to find and understand the information as whole. Time restrictions probably was the biggest reason why the teaching of "how to" was left up to us. As we read in Mentoring Students In Disciplinary Literacy, I feel that the author gets right to this point when he talks about how in middle and high school, "students need to be able to be mentored to read, write and think in ways that are characteristic to academic principles" in content areas. I feel that if I were mentored on how to read in specific areas of subjects like math and science, I may have gotten more out of the information as a whole and would not be worried about where to find information.
How My Profile Impacts My Experience as an Educator
I am a senior this year and will soon be on my way to having my own elementary, hopefully kindergarten, classroom. I think that because I want to teach such young children, it is extremely important to have my students love reading in all content areas from the start. Of course, I will have lots of books for free reading and fun, but I also need to make sure to incorporate and "mentor" my students to not be afraid to read, write, and think in all content areas that will be taught. By teaching reading in all content areas from the start, I will set a foundation for all the students so that they will and can become confident that they can read all types of writing no matter if they like it or not. In my classroom I want to make sure that there are all types of reading and writing activities that will help students not only practice reading and writing, but help them make their own reading profiles as well. All of our profiles are and will be different in each classroom and class, but if I teach children how to and why it is important to read in all areas and subjects, they will have an easier transition later on when they approach their own intermediate and disciplinary literacy.