Module 1: Instructional Challenge

Module 1: Instructional Challenge

Read the following passage:

Hocked gems financing him, our hero defied the scornful laughter. “Think of it as an egg, not a table,” he said. Then three sturdy sisters sought proof, forging over vast calmness, and sometimes over turbulent peaks and valleys, until at last welcome winged creatures appeared, signifying monumental success.

Answer these questions about the passage:

1. What are the hocked gems?  I really didn’t understand the majority of this passage after reading it several times, so I decided to do some research.  I found out this story is related to Christopher Columbus.  I think hocked gems are something he traded to get money or other necessary items to go on a journey.   

2. What should we think of as an egg and not a table?  Since I now know this passage is referring to Christopher Columbus and my schema of Christopher Columbus is he proved the earth was round by sailing around the world, I now think “egg” and “table” are referring to the earth.  The table is referring to people believing the earth was flat, but Christopher Columbus is telling them to think of the earth being a rounded shape like an egg.

3. Who are the three sturdy sisters?  Before doing any research I immediately thought of the three sturdy sisters as ships.  More specifically, I thought the ships were the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  I used my background knowledge to arrive at this answer, because I know ships are usually referred to or named as female.  After researching, I realized “Then three sturdy sisters sought proof,” means that by sailing on these three ships Christopher Columbus will prove the earth is indeed round.     

4. What kind of winged creatures appeared?  I automatically thought of winged creatures as being birds.  The explorers would have been glad to finally see the birds because this would mean land is close. 

If you were to use this passage with students, what schema would you need to activate with them first? How can you help teach children whose schema and the text’s content don’t match? How much time should children spend in texts that don’t match their interests or schema? 

In order to successfully use this passage in the classroom, I would need to teach students who Christopher Columbus is, and why he is an important historical figure.  I would do this by leading them through the research process and exposing them to books, pictures, and videos about Christopher Columbus.  This exposure would help the children who do not have a schema that matches the context of this text.  Once they are taught who Christopher Columbus is, and have been introduced to various resources about him their schema will start to build.  I think children should be exposed to texts that don’t match their interest or schema, that way they have an opportunity to gain an interest in something new and develop new schema.  However, if the student doesn’t take interest in the text or doesn’t seem to understand text after a sufficient amount of time, I think the text should be substituted for something more appropriate for the reader.  This is where teachers can implement needs based instruction.  Students can use a variety of books on various levels, but still be able to learn the same skills.