After reading chapter two of Subjects Matter, I have a
better understanding on one of the main reasons why students have difficulty
comprehending in different content areas. I’ve always struggled comprehending
various passages in language arts when I was in elementary school and always
had to go back and re-read the passages repeatedly, but I usually did well in
my other subject classes. I realized that if it didn’t interest me then I couldn’t focus on the reading causing my brain not to process the words. I
began reading more books that I enjoyed and eventually it became a little
easier overall. I don’t quite understand why students are still struggling in
the classes that have their teachers covering the content so that students are
not only familiar with the terms, but also understand their connections and
what they mean. I can remember taking an Honors Biology class during my
freshman year of high school. We were required to read ahead prior to class and
after a brief discussion, we were tested on the materials. At the beginning, it
was very difficult for me because I didn’t do have the prior knowledge from the
reading to ask any questions I may have had from the reading or to do well on
the quizzes. I learned early on that reading before class was extremely
necessary for this class. This shows that having prior knowledge is an
important factor for comprehension. I also know that when it comes to
standardized tests, the wording of the questions can throw a student off, but
with prior knowledge, they should be able to do process of elimination. Are
students being exposed to the type of questions that are seen on these
standardized tests? I believe teachers need to familiarize students to
standardize test questions that pertain to their lessons, so they aren’t seeing
them for the first time when it’s time to test.
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Autumn
