Week 8: Disciplinary Texts - History and Art

Summary

H & S-T Chapter 13:
The biggest difference between how historians read and how students read is that historians do thinks "that help them think about ideas," rather than just remember facts (234). Specifically, they engage in sourcing, contextualization, and corroboration. In their thinking, they do thinks like "try to determine what perspectives may have been left out" of a historical text (235). In terms of vocabulary that students might struggle with, they often need support with "making sense of general academic vocabulary," rather than technical vocabulary (238). They also need support with words whose meanings have changed over time or words that have fallen out of use. Research shows that it is possible to provide this support, and when students are taught to "read as historians do," their understanding of historical events and their relationships increases (240). Regarding instructional strategies, teachers should begin by "chang[ing] students' beliefs about what it means to read history" (241). Students should be encouraged to "think about what perspective [a particular] author might have," and teachers should help students contextualize texts and "guide them in making inferences about why an author wrote what he or she did" (242). Students should also learn the skill of corroboration, a form of comparison and contrast. Additionally, teachers should engage students in thinking about possible "political, economic, social, or legal tactics" used by authors or historical figures (243). While reading, students should take note of when information is incomplete or is not presented chronologically. Teachers should also "expose students to claims and evidence in different genres" to help them think deeply about various historical arguments (243). In terms of vocabulary support, teachers should try to help their students with tackling difficult words "without telling them what the text means" (245).

J & S Chapter 8: 
This chapter focuses on protocols for reading historical texts intertextually, since, as the chapter posits, "all reading is intertextual" (202). The chapter describes the protocols that two students, Brad and Ayesha, use when reading multiple historical texts. Brad is reluctant about "intertextual noise" and tries to separate the overlapping aspects of each text, whereas Ayesha welcomes it, and her comprehension is better as a result (203). Regarding the protocols that historians use, they tend to "frame their protocols with a sense that texts from the past can all contribute to understanding in different ways" (208). This supports the chapter's assertion that students' "understanding does not depend on first having comprehended the textbook" (209). The focus for historians, and the focus that the chapter posits for students to have for their protocols, is the "historical question(s) being pursued" that must be read by carefully synthesizing multiple historical texts (209). The chapter continues by assessing the two focal students' protocols and describing Ms. White's journey to her new approach for teaching history. The chapter posits that Ms. White's approach is superior to many other methods for teaching history.

J & S Chapter 9:
Music is textual in the sense that there are several things that "students create or interact with" in the way that they might with a traditional text (233). Music standards support the idea that "music and the arts are forms of communication," which makes them textual (236). The chapter posits that performing and listening are "crucial to the negotiation of music texts" (237). Students who are participating in "creating literacies" with music could engage in composing and arranging of musical scores and understand all of the different elements that go into communicating effectively through musical texts (239). Music standards also ask students to "understand and contemplate the interrelations between music and other forms of art" (240). Literacy strategies that can be used in music include "notation, improvisation, sight-reading, practice, memorization, intonation, expression, composition, and body movement," and working with students on these strategies improves their musical literacy (240). Like with music, texts in the visual arts constitute anything that can be interpreted and used to make meaning. To think like an artist, students must "think about how to convey messages by integrating the components of a work of art... into a certain structure," which is the creation of the visual art text (250). Visual art standards describe several skills related to visual art literacy, such as "applying, demonstrating, evaluating, differentiating, describing, analyzing, justifying, identifying, exploring, comparing, synthesizing, creating, problem solving, critiquing, evaluating, and reflecting about artworks" (253). Discipline-specific literacy strategies that students use in the visual arts include "the elements of design, principles of design, production of art, criticism, aesthetics, and writing" (255). Additionally, while most of the texts in music and visual arts classes are non-traditional, both fields leave room for traditional reading and writing to support students' literacies with the non-traditional texts in the discipline.

Response

H & S-T Chapter 13:
One section of this chapter claimed that students should be "focused on the historical purpose of... syntactic construction" to help build a basic understanding of history (238). Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like this might be a little difficult to introduce in the "basic understanding" stage of a particular era or topic. I'm sure it could be scaffolded, but I feel like it might be a little too challenging before students have developed a foundation of knowledge. I would probably include it as an exploratory activity that students do when they re-read a text. What do you all think? 

This chapter kept making me think about how much reading historical texts relies on context. If I had to rank the order of important factors in reading historical texts, I'd probably say context is first, text is second, and reader is third. That's in contrast to ELA, which I think is text-and-reader first, with context second (albeit still important). Math and science are on the opposite end of the spectrum; the text is almost always one of the only things that matters in those texts.

J & S Chapter 8: 
The conclusion of this chapter recommends additional studies to "[attempt] to sort out which strategies and protocols work best when, and under what circumstances, in order to move students... forward" (220). I think this is really important in any area of education. In terms of history, there are certain ways that experts read, which we've read about, but not all students are going to be able to accomplish that just by saying "do this." I think it's really important to study what factors go into students' reading experiences and which instructional and reading strategies best support students within several possible circumstances. 

J & S Chapter 9:
This chapter, more than any we've read so far, really made me think about what literacy is and what constitutes a text. Even when we were discussing what texts are a few weeks ago, I didn't really think about music and visual arts as much as I thought about things like new literacies. The things this chapter discusses make sense, though, since literacy is a socially constructed experience, like music and art. I suppose literacy might actually boil down to meaning making within a communication process.

Questions
- My first question is in the first paragraph of my response to chapter 13, and the context is important.
- What's an area of historical literacy that you would like to see more research about?
- After having read chapter 9, how would you define literacy and text?