Behold, "The Columbus Key" (D&Z Chapters 1-2)

In chapter one, Daniels and Zemelman lay the foundation for what they are trying to accomplish in the book, Subjects Matter, and the main focus is creating better and more engaged readers. Subjects Matter is primarily concerned with, "effectively inviting kids to engage in our subjects, to think, remember, build knowledge-and to care" (Daniels and Zemelman, 2014, p.9). This is the reason why we are immediately plunged into the story of two high school students who were so invested into their research on fast food chains that they went to an actual McDonald's and vocalized their concerns, in front of diners and management, about the quality and processing of the meat being served. All of this started because they were presented with an opportunity to read and research something that affects their lives.  I believe that Daniels and Zemelman are proponents of teachers that implement readings that resemble what people read in their everyday lives, and this book mentions at various points that in order to align with the Common Core State Standards, teachers must utilize more nonfiction pieces. By opening the book with the fast food research example, Daniels and Zemelman sets the stage for what types of reading children should be doing in school. Daniels and Zemelman also stress that teachers should avoid the 'Read this for Friday" type of reading.

In my own experience, most of the reading I did in high school mirrors the "Read this for Friday type" where the teacher would assign an excruciatingly long chapter of a textbook to be read for the next day. Here comes the following day, and surprise there is a pop quiz. I will be the first person to say that textbook reading is absolutely awful! I did not mind reading for English (and perhaps this why I am an English major) because most of the time it we read stories that was different than the difficult and complicated text that exists within a textbook. I am truly amazed at publishers who put forth textbooks specifically for high school students, but fail to take into account the likelihood of students actually reading it.  When it came to science classes I had to take, it was hard for me to read through a chapter because there was so much I did not know, so I became frustrated and ultimately daydreamed during the reading. Then the teacher wanted us to take what we learned from the textbook and conduct an experiment; I didn't know what I was doing.  But, I guess that is the case Zemelman and Daniels are trying to make in this book. We shouldn't necessarily get rid of textbooks completely, but as teachers we need to show students how to pick out the most important parts and we need to pair that with more self-selected nonfiction pieces to boost reading skills. The key is teaching the students how to read rather than just assigning the reading, which is a concept I had to wrap my mid around a few times.

Another important part of Chapter One is the section on reading and the Common Core, and how it affects every content teacher in the curriculum.  The Common Core Standards make it so that, "we are all teachers of reading now" (Daniels and Zemelman, 2014, p. 14).  First of all, reading all about these CCSS makes my head spin. Whoever said teaching was an easy profession was obviously under the wrong impression. However, the CCSS alleviates a little bit of stress because it divides the responsibility of teaching reading throughout the curriculum. As a future English teacher, I know that I will be mostly responsible for reading literacy, but it is nice that other teachers from different contents will also contribute.

Chapter Two of the book, "How Smart Readers Think," focuses on the cognitive processes that are involved in the act of reading. I liked how this chapter illuminates the importance of background knowledge in reading. Daniels and Zemelman (2014) concur that, "Knowing prior knowledge is the strongest determinant of understanding, and that new knowledge can only be built upon existing knowledge..."(p.41). I really love the concept of "the Columbus Key."  In the book there is a very ambiguous passage about Columbus's voyage.  When I read this passage the first time I had no idea that it was about Christopher Columbus and his voyage.  However, when the authors provided the clue of "Christopher Columbus," I reread the same passage and completely understood it. The authors did not translate the passage word for word; they just provided one crucial piece that would make me comprehend the reading. This really put everything into perspective for me.  One simple word like "Columbus" could activate a whole world of existing background knowledge that would allow me to comprehend the passage.  D&Z describe this as activating existing schemata, a web of knowledge that we construct on just about everything. I think that every teacher should realize the power of a “Columbus Key.” Now, I may not be teaching Columbus, but I could very well possess a “Shakespeare Key” that could unlock students' ability to comprehend an assignment. One simple aid can result in significantly positive results. I know I'll be making sure that I have a "Columbus Key" for all my lessons.