Week 8

The reading "Basic Concepts and Terminology" is really just centered around listing the most common terms used by reading educators. The authors of this text felt as if it were necessary for educators to establish some sort of common ground as far as knowing and using the same set of words in a corresponding manner. The majority of the list included words I myself had never really even heard of, or if I have that I definitely didn't know the meaning of. It was interesting to me how many words there truly were in regards to reading instruction that I wasn't familiar with. However, the part of this article that I found the most useful was that it emphasized that students don't need to know these terms. The authors stated more than once that it wasn't necessary for students to know and use these terms, but rather critical that teachers be familiar with them so that they are able to communicate effectively with one another about reading instructions. I also liked that the article opened with a statement from a teacher who said that many of her peers do not know the meaning of half the words used in correspondence to reading instruction or that they simply mix up the jargon of such words a lot. This made the article a lot more relatable for me because there have already been times in my field experiences when a teacher will use a specific term and I'm not really sure what it exactly means; whereas before I thought this meant that I was lacking some sort of knowledge I now know that a lot of teachers are still learning. It also helped me realize how awkward it is to be in this middle ground where I'm still a student (and don't need to know all this jargon and these terms) but working to become a teacher (where I do not need be familiar with such terms and jargon).