Studying Text

Explanation of the Dress Graphic Organizer:

In studying text, it is necessary to know the text structure, study strategies, and study guides. The text structure, whether it is internal or external, improves the learning and retention of the readers. It helps the readers identify the important information and increase the comprehension of the text.

Moreover, study strategies can help the readers understand the text. The use of graphic organizers depicts the relationship in the text. Writing summaries is another strategy. Summaries helps the readers identify the main points of the text. Lastly, making and taking notes will help the readers recall the information. Text annotations like summary note, thesis note, critical note, and question note are some examples of notes that readers can write in the index card or sticky notes.

                Study guides like text pattern guide and selective reading guide are also helpful in studying text. Text pattern guide is the story maps in narratives and the outlines in informational texts while selective reading guide is similar to end-of chapter comprehension questions, which focuses upon specific passages.

Reflections:

Reading is one of the five macro-skills in language that should be developed. It has always been a dilemma for teachers like me on how to teach reading students in higher elementary and junior high school. Not everyone likes reading. Those students who like reading would rather read fiction stories than those in their textbooks. Teaching the students enjoy reading is really a challenge not only for English teachers but also for teachers in other subject matters.

 The dress graphic organizer I made shows some strategies on how to study texts easily. It shows how important the use of graphic organizer, note taking, and writing summaries are. I think it is necessary to teach those strategies to the students. Some textbooks incorporate the use of these graphic organizers but because of time constraints, some teachers tend to neglect its importance.

As a teacher, I think I need to allot time to teach my students on how to make graphic organizers for informational texts. Although I already taught them the elements of a story in English and in Filipino, teaching them how to make outlines from expository texts will also improve their reading comprehension skills.

As a graduate student, I think selective reading guide will always work for me because professors always assign long readings. In making reflection paper like this, it is best to focus on the important points of the texts.