One of the more important aspects that I took away in Chapter 1 of Subjects Matter, is the fact that reading is something that should be engaging to students, but it can't be if it is not taught in a meaningful way. The juxtaposition of the two stories in the beginning of the chapter demonstrates two different strategies of reading. In the first story, the student's are challenged in an engaging way. Rather than having to sit in class and just read through a text book that they may or may not understand, the students were able to venture outside of the textbook and the classroom, using outside resources that helped them to carry their academics into their lives. The second story about Mr. Cosgrove's classroom was a completely different scenario. The students were expected to read the text and then were tested on it. Although this is a conventional way of teaching and learning, compared to the first story, there was very little engagement and the textbook left very little impact.
In order to have engaging results, there should be interdisciplinary connections. Taking knowledge from other contents and applying it to the content in which you're teaching can help to create more enthusiasm, but to do this, it requires going beyond the standard text and beyond the classroom. It is also important that what the students are reading and learning can contribute to their independence as thinkers and learners. Although teachers are required to teach certain texts, it is also beneficial to allow the students some freedom to choose.
The second chapter focuses on reading comprehension and reading strategies. The ability to read extends beyond phonetics, and once a student reaches the secondary level, they are expected to not only know how to read a text, but know how to read and analyze a text in order to come up with their own interpretations. In order to do this, teachers must help students to shape, develop and add to their already existing knowledge by teaching students these reading strategies, rather than just assigning the reading.
