Blog #2 - In-Groups and Comprehension

In every class students will ever sit in, they will need to read something. Whether that something is a textbook, poster, or the Constitution is usually up to the teacher, but students will be reading something. Reading is a skill that is taught to students at a young age, and it becomes more complex as the students progress academically. As students get older, they begin to read what is called “disciplinary literacy”, which means that that they are reading things that will help them learn in other content areas. Buehl’s book, Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines encourages teachers to consider the identities of their students when teaching with disciplinary literacy.

Everyone has a number of different identities, whether they know it or not, and these identities influence the ways in which we read any given text. Our identities also determine what, where, when, why, and how we read (Buehl, 2017, p. 2). For example, I am a Christian, so I read the Bible through a different lens than a non-religious person would if they were to read the Bible. Although I claim this identity, I claim other identities as well. I am a college student; I am a Spanish Education major; I am left-handed; I am the oldest child; I am a creative thinker; I am a to-the-point kind of person. On page 7 of Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines, there is a list of identities that our students may fall into (Buehl, 2017). I think some of these identities would be used well as affirmations. I wonder how students’ mindset toward reading would change if we told them to live into their identities as problem solvers, scientists, student leaders, and intelligent thinkers.  

It is important to remember that students are expected to read multiple different kinds of texts throughout their high school careers. This means that they are also expected to read and write through many different lenses (Buehl, 2017, p. 13). All of these lenses do not come naturally to students, so teachers must also teach comprehension if they want to teach students in disciplinary literacy (Buehl, 2017, p. 37). On page 32, Buehl explicitly states that, “Ultimately, the goal of any act of reading is comprehension” (2017).

So, if the goal of reading is comprehension, the question is, “How will students best comprehend the texts that they are reading?” To answer this question, we have to circle back to our identities. When you read, which kinds of texts are easiest for you to understand? If it is science texts, why? If it is historical fiction novels, why? We often find that we comprehend texts best when we can relate to them. When any one of our identities aligns with the text we are reading and makes it easier to understand, we are part of an insider group (Buehl, 2017, pp. 44-45). We cannot expect our students to be insiders of the content area we teach (Buehl, 2017, p. 52), so we must find ways for our students to identify with the in-group of our content area. One of the ways we can do this is through asking students to be mindful of the lenses through which they read the texts in our classroom. Someone in a history class may identify themselves as a football player or math whiz, but if a teacher reminds them both that they are also American citizens, the text they are reading may become more relevant to them.

The way that our students read and comprehend is dependent on their identities. Creating ways for students to identify with the content of your class is crucial to their understanding of the material. Students may not realize how many in-groups they are a part of until teachers encourage them to consider it, and this may even change the way they view reading.

Resource: Beuhl, D. (2017). Developing readers in the academic disciplines. Stenhouse Publishers.