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As summer roars in with tempearture in the 90s, the heat or keyboard of a (mostly) online credential program replaces my recent focus in technology/K12 integration. I find myself reliving an earlier period in my life with the continual rushing to make it to the next class replaced by the rush to absorb enough of the material in each class to allow me to make reasonably intelligent analysis and reflection.

In this particular course, on content literacy, I found myself at first asking the whys and hows of learning content literacy as it relates to teaching math. Certainly, the department is not attempting to make all of the candidates math literate. (not a bad idea) But soon, after reading through some of the text, I'm beginning to see this course as the foundation of all learning - the ability to read, absorb, and comprehend information.

A few paragraphs into the chapter on teaching comprehension methods, I started to take notes on my own comprehension styles, and how they are impacted by the intent, or motivation behind my reading.

First I noticed that I was scribbling right on the book, something I often do when I need to be able to find information quickly.

Literal bookmarks.

Then I started to take a metacognition tour through the thought processes that I was involved with while reading. What was I scribbling and circling and why.

Often, I found myself scribling little notes, like

"This is like that"

or circling important statements that I would want to come back
to later, to perhaps reference for these blog postings.

Motivation -

I'm behind, and spread thin. Working full time, cleaning up
some last minute pre-reqs, and trying to stay involved with a
masters in ed-tech (the cart before the horse?), along with
doing everyting possible to not be an absentee parent, continues
to take up more than just a few hours of the day.

But it's fun. And as I begin to read through the text of this book, the idea of reading literacy begins to morph into "how to teach", as many of the ideas and issues are central to learning.

So is reading synonomous to learning? Perhaps if one chooses appropriate material and learns to comprehend and arrange the information appropriately, then it is.

So where's my motivation stemming from.

Currently its to get through the material as quickly as possble - to catch up, and leave room for other similar tasks in other classes. As a 50-something, this really isn't my favorite mode of reading. I'm a linear processor. Like my daughter, who, when I explained to her what I was reading and pointed out that the text provides many examples and strategies for reading and studying, explained to me that when she learns (math) she likes
to work at her own pace, and have the teacher around to ask questions (the Montesorri method) She does quite well in math.

--
Random thoughts, as I read through the book, and scribble on it, so that I can reference it later as needed.

NOTE: Image created from Anne Le's blog, where she does a nice job summarizing some of the important ideas and methods discussed in the text