Summary:
Westcott and Spell's article is all about tearing down the "wall" between science and language arts. Off the bat, the authors talk about how neither side of the fence is really set on becoming an expert in the other field: science teachers don't really want to become English teachers, and English teachers don't want to do experiments in their classrooms. The article tries to create an expectation that science texts can not only be great texts overall, but also intrigue students into learning more about science through its presence in novels.
Connections:
When the authors mentioned Carl Sagan's Cosmos, I immediately thought back to the hit mini series that was re-released by Neil deGrasse Tyson. I loved watching it in middle school, and it definitely opened my mind to embracing science and seeing it as "cool", rather than just something I had to learn in school. All of the literary examples that Westcott and Spell use are meant to lead students down a path to realize that science can be interesting and worthwhile.
Critique:
Overall, I thought that the article had a good intention and the authors did a great job of describing how utilizing science-related materials leads to higher student interest in the subject. However, the one bone I had to pick with the article was its introduction: the reference to a certain Robert Frost poem (to which I was unfamiliar) confused me, and I found myself stuck on the opening sentence for a few minutes. It was only later, when they directly referenced Robert Frost, that I googled the poem, which led to some clarity. For language arts teachers, it may be a well-received introduction to the article--for science teachers with limited knowledge on poetry, not so much.
Importance:
This article is important because it stresses the importance of content-area literacy and mends a disconnect between multiple subjects. The implication that every area of knowledge in school has to be distinct and independent is a notion of the past, and it is important that we begin to blend different paths of knowledge together so that students can be more well-rounded in their learning.
Word Count: 356
I Loved how you made connection to Cosmos and seeing how you started liking science.I really enjoyed your comments about the importance of knowing that literacy can be taught throughout all content areas. We as teachers will have to make sure I students know that every content has a relationship with each other instead of teaching them that the content areas are distinct from each other.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you mentioned that having "distinct and independent" classes is "a notion of the past". I believe this is a very important note for us as teachers to realize and come to terms with. We need to start creating a classroom that is diverse and intellectual not so much uniform like how it was in the past.
ReplyDeleteWord Count: 59