When we are designing a program say, for spelling (a nice controversial subject hey...:)) We try to organize our programs around the childrens needs... For example... we know that spelling lists are rote memorization for the most part and provide very little assessment value, to ask students to write sentences on a different set of spelling words each week, or put them in alphabetatical order each week is not productive - but is meaningless without context...
but let the students generate their own lists... take the lists from their own writing errors, use thematic words from a lesson (farm words), or letter patterns... (you know what I mean) then, the list makes sense... In the same vein... If the student has homophomes there-their you may need to see these written in sentences that week... It has to hold meaning for the child and be transferable into their life. I see this now with your talk about "AR" - At first I was a little confused as to what this was (I was not used to your term) We do not use AR. However, we do have levelled books and guided reading... Peronally I follow the four blocks as far as how I organize my day. However, when my students are involved in reading workshop I am taking anedoctal notes and they may write reading reflection in their readers notebook. They reflect upon the strategies they have used during that days reading. We also do literature circles which all of you do I know... from listening to you. I think that after reading through all of your conversations about rewards, in the end it is what is best for the student. How does our teaching reflect in the eyes of a child... in other words, is it meaningful practice to do something over and over - what is the purpose? Who benefits? Is there an alternative? I hope that I have not offended anyone - for this was not the intention - Thanks, Lori _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
