Hands-On Reading from Buehl
Hands-On Reading is a strategy designed to help students with the demands of reading technical nonfiction. It is from our assigned text by Buehl.It is designed to help students read dense, comlicated texts that guide the reader through a task or a project.
It involves pre-teaching students by discussing technical writing and then brainstorming problems with it. As students read they need to take into account that they will likely be doing something with our about what they are reading as they read. Buehl suggests partner reading and the following steps: 1. size up the task 2. clarify vocabulary 3. scan the visuals 4. look out for cautions 5. read and apply 6. collaborate.
Buehl specifically mentions my teaching assignment in the introduction to this strategy. He says this strategy is especially suited for “courses that feature ‘applied’ reading as central to the curriculum.” I can do more than see this strategy in my classroom. I found its idea so appealing and useful, that I used it already.
The advantages Buehl lists for this strategy are that students will rely less on teachers (yeah!), realize the need to read and re-read sections of text and become more flexible in their approach to various text genres.I found he was correct on all counts as I applied this strategy already.
I taught this strategy to my students, and they used it in lab. It went very well. Since they relied on their recipes instead of me for instructions on what to do, I had more time to actually teach them about how our lab related to our classroom content.
My fellow department teachers and I have often complained that students won’t read their recipe. They just ask the teacher what to do. This is time-consuming and frustrating. And teenagers don’t care that they are taking away time from students who may need extra support or that their constant demands keep me on my feet and prevent me from other important work. We’ve often joked that we need lapel buttons made up that say, “READ YOUR RECIPE!”
Before we went into lab, I told the students I would not answer any questions that could be found in their recipe. They must have really believed me because it worked and so did the lab.
This was the first time that I had every group in lab succeed at making bread. Before, at least one group ruined its product by not paying attention or following instructions. That is all the proof I need of this strategy's worth.