Chapter 9: Responding to Content

"Reading and writing are acts of composing because readers and writers are involved in an ongoing dynamic process of constructing meaning" (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, p. 282). The idea of reading as composing is important for all students, but especially English Learners. Many teachers view reading as a somewhat passive activity, where simply students take in information and are not asked to produce. Yet, we have seen that good readers use strategic practices to actively gain comprehension and process their thoughts when reading a text. On the other hand, good writers must similarly think of "purpose, commitment, schema activation, planning, working with ideas, revision and rethinking, and monitoring" (p. 282).

To help our students establish purpose in their writing, our first concern as teachers should be the content of what they are writing. When students see we are more interested in their ideas than their spelling or sentence construction, they are willing to write more and take more risks. Continued writing practice also helps to develop fluency, a skill that can transfer to aid students' speaking proficiency as well.

Response Journals or Interactive Journals are a great way to incorporate writing practice into a language classroom. Students can respond to what they have learned in class or another prompt given by the teacher designed to extend their thinking or to learn something more about them personally. The authors suggest prompts such as "questions, visual stimuli, read-alouds, or situations created to stimulate thinking" (p. 294). For instance, after studying a unit on slavery, you could ask students, "How do you feel learning about the conditions slaves faced? Can you connect it to your own experience coming to the United States?" In reading their responses, you can assess their knowledge of a topic while getting to know more about their life and what perspective they bring to the content.

Another great strategy to use in the classroom is Double-Entry Journals (DEJs). "Taking notes is copying someone else's information; making notes is writing interpretive comments and personal reminders" (Kennedy, quoted in Vacca, Vacca & Mraz, p. 304). With DEJs, students can take notes given from the teacher and make notes in the corresponding column. This is a perfect way for teachers to highlight important information while giving students a chance to respond to and process the content in a way that is meaningful to them.