Blog Post #3: Reading and Writing Course Assignment Template

My largest struggle in terms of teaching lessons is one I never anticipated. That is knowing the material too well. When presenting new texts to students, I can see they can quickly become overwhelmed or become disinterested as they do not understand or feel too challenged by the text itself along with the concepts that it will be introducing. The pre-reading template is an incredibly useful tool. The first and possibly the most important thing I've found to activating a key text is to relate it to the students' personal life in a relevant fashion that generate an active interest in engaging into the material. One such method I've found is, shamelessly enough, that of internet memes. By using humor and something seemingly irrelevant to 'standard' teaching practices, the students are entertained and happy to participate. This can range from using a specific song to any recent and appropriate memetic phenomenon. This establishes the foundation on which the unit will be scaffolded. I can move from there into the key concepts; telling students what to consider, what they will be discussing, and how they are are important. Predicting questions may be the most difficult part of constructing pre-reading material, as I often forget what students do not know. Often times i introduce phrases or concepts that go over students' heads. Either they will say nothing and remain confused, or they will ask me to clarify. I am able to do so, but I dislike not having a prepared answer for a confusing topic. I always find myself asking during my preps, how do I put myself in the place of one of my students? How can I make my lesson so student-centered as to anticipate all their interests, questions, and concerns? After teaching a lesson once, it seems to serve as a practice run, unfortunately enough, for its next instance. I think some of this problem could be solved by researching common questions concerning the context and material of a text before structuring pre-reading material.

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