Blog 3

Design Thinking: This process is much like doing a science project. The students find a problem with something and want to know how to fix it. They brainstorm their ideas and have the teacher check over them to make sure they are not unreachable. Once the teacher guides them into finding something they can do research on, they begin to work. The students research material on the topic and find a solution. Then they practice presenting it before they go in front of a judge. Design thinking can happen in the classroom as well as with any issue someone may want to find the solution to. Betty Ray explained how this process can happen in the classroom and how parents or the community can be involved. Are we planning on doing a design thinking/research project in class? 

Content Area Literacy: I never knew expository text use to not be in the classroom. I think when I was younger we had them in the classrooms and I know they have them now. The article stated that they were not in the classrooms in grades K-3 and once a child got to fourth grade they struggled with reading because content area literature was introduced. This is interesting to me because why would they introduce something so late when children learn the most in their first couple of years in school. I am pleased to see they have incorporated them into curriculum now because children do learn by reading and if they are exposed to expository text at an early age they will be able to gain more knowledge and comprehend better. I did not know that informational text motivated children to read until reading this article. After thinking about it, during clinicals last semester the students chose to read informational books way more than story books. The informational books were in their every day curriculum. They would have to read a text and write some facts they learned. This was a way of inhancing their comprehension.