Nic,
I would be very interested in any other comments you might have about
assisting graduate students with learning strategies. Thanks.
Lorraine Schroeder, MA, LPC
Outreach / Learning Strategies Counselor
Wellness & Learning Support Services
University of Houston
Graduate College Social Work Building, Rm 329
713-743-5463
-----Original Message-----
From: Open Forum for Learning Assistance Professionals
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nic Voge
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 6:11 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Reading Strategies for high achievers
Hi Roberta,
You ask some great questions. I am faced with this type of challenge
every day here at UC Berkeley. Outstanding students are overwhelmed
by the amount and difficulty of reading they are assigned and the
expectations of what they are to DO with these texts. I've made a few
observations that underlie my approach to working with students faced
with these demands. First, these reading demands are almost always
embedded in a different kind of course design than is customary in
the typical textbook-centered course. This difference in design is
both a key reason for and the basis of the solution for meeting these
reading expectations. A second source of difficulties lies in the
types of texts assigned. Once instructors move away from the
conventional textbook, they inevitably assign scholarly--or
expert--texts. These pose new and different challenges to students
for a variety of reasons stemming from audience, purpose, genre
conventions and the knowledges authors assume of their "intended"
reader. In short, students haven't developed strategies for these new
types of texts and the texts are not designed for them or to be
teaching tools (as textbooks are).
Given this constellation of factors students face greater demands in
terms of cognitive (and other) processes. For instance, since they
are reading multiple texts by various authors, they must, themselves,
build cohesion among the texts. Similarly, they must synthesize
across these texts and must adjust their ways of reading to the
variety of genres assigned. Since they likely do not possess the
general background and discipline-specific knowledge assumed by these
scholarly authors, they must find ways to go outside the texts to
augment their knowledge (yes, I mean wikipedia--at least to
start--and other references). They need to read critically as well,
since they will have to evaluate, even adjudicate, among competing
claims and so will need to distinguish these competing claims and the
evidence in support of them. They must also read much more
selectively since these genres of text are more repetitive, but
mostly because much of each of the texts is largely irrelevant to the
themes of the course. This is because the course was not designed
"around" the textbook as many textbook-centric courses are, and
because the texts were likely written for different purposes than the
way they function in the course. That is the texts weren't written
for the course, so they include much that is not directly or
indirectly relevant to the aims of the course.
My fundamental strategy is to help students grasp the organizing
framework of the course-as-a-whole by doing a careful reading of the
syllabus and close reflection on the initial lectures of the course
where the overview is provided. Students need to understand this
framework because it was on the basis of this framework that the
instructor selected the texts for inclusion in the course to begin
with. Once they know WHY a text has been assigned and how it
functions in the course, they can read selectively and connect it to
lectures, other texts, etc. (i.e. build cohesion). To get started on
this, I have students write out a short summary of the course in
their own words, focusing on the topics, themes and relationships
among them. Then, using that summary, the syllabus and any other
resources, I ask them to create a visual diagram that captures the
organizational structure of these topics and themes. They then to try
to map the texts onto this diagram, that is, they try to specify
which texts address which topics/themes/purposes of the course. With
this in mind, they can read much more efficiently. I've had much
success with this approach (Which I call "The Blueprinting Approach"
because students first build a blueprint of the course and then
construct their knowledge as they read.)
Whew! I realize that's a lot, but there's actually a lot more. I hope
this gets you started. I've been thinking about, reading about, and
teaching to this challenge for about 10 years now. But, I'm not sure
that this forum is the place for other comments I might make.
Let me know what you think,
Nic
>Hey listers,
>
>I need some guidance. I am working with a self-selected group of
students
>who are experiencing difficulty with the content and quantity of
materials
>they have to read for their classes (across all areas of the
curriculum).
>For the most part these are sophomores through seniors, so I don't
think
>the issue is adjustment to college. Also, we are a highly selective
>college, so I don't think the issues are related to ability, prior
>experience or prior exposure to difficult course work. All of the
students
>have great GPA's ( B+ or above).
>
>We have ruled-out learning disabilities, although this is based on some
>general discussions and pre-screening tools and not a full-scale
>professional evaluation.
>
>I need to provide these students with resources and advice that goes
>beyond the SQ3R type of assistance. Quite frankly, I have looked at
their
>course materials and I can agree, the material is dense, difficult and
>plentiful.
>
>Any suggestions?
>
>thanks in advance,
>Roberta
>
>***********************************************************************
*********************************************
>Roberta Schotka
>Director of Programs
>PLTC, Wellesley College
>781-283-2675
>co-chair NADE 2008 Conference
>
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--
The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the
academy.--bell hooks
The university...becomes subversive...when students are encouraged to
learn how to learn. --Robin Lakoff
Dominic (Nic) J. Voge
Study Strategies Program Coordinator
University of California, Berkeley
Student Learning Center
136 Cesar Chavez Student Center #4260
Berkeley, CA 94720-4260
(510) 643-9278
[log in to unmask]
http://slc.berkeley.edu
Fall 2007 Office Hours
All appointments are for 30 minutes, starting on the hour or half hour.
Appointment times:
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Tuesday: None
Wednesdays: 12-1, 6:30-7:30
Thursdays: 10-12
Fridays: 2-3
Drop-in hours:
Tuesdays 3-4
Wednesdays 5-6
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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