Think process over product, strategic over haphazard. Kids need to have a strategic comprehension process that they can retrieve and use at a point of difficulty, just as a child learning how-to read needs reading strategies. We can teach kids the process of how-to think about what they are reading and gain a better understanding of what they have read by connecting to it, asking questions, making inferences, etc., giving those processes names as we teach them. Once students understand the process, then we can move away from the instruction of strategies, themselves, and move into the practical applications. Again, it's the process. Our instructions should not revolve around the strategies alone, but that the purpose the strategies is to help us to better understand, gain a deeper understanding of what the author wanted us to grasp from the text. Don't we co-construct the meaning of the text with what we bring to it? Strategy use allows us to do more than just word call or understand the literal interpretation of the text. I struggle with teaching for the sake of the test, but in a recent item analysis myself and fellow lit coaches did on the Arkansas Benchmark, 85% of the test items were on the high end of Bloom's taxonomy. Only 15% of the test items asked students to literally retell an event from the text. That means 85% of the questions were asking students to use those strategies...infer, predict, connect, answer questions that weren't directly answered in the text. Our society has also changed. We are no longer living in the industrial revolution of the 20th century. Employers want employees who can think out of the box, to be able to communicate at higher levels. Solid strategy instruction enables our kids to do this. I agree that most of us probably used these strategies but didn't put a name to them. However, from recent conversations on this list serve, wouldn't you agree that our students of today are not naturally using them? Again, those natural readers will in spite of us! It is the others we have to worry about. And not just for the sake of the test, but for their success when they leave our charge! Kelli Thexton Literacy Coach Rogers, AR USA Renee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Lori,
I have no problem with teaching the strategies or even putting a name to them for students, pointint them out, but I see no purpose in asking children to understand, identify, and/or name the strategies they are using. I guess I see that the way I see diagramming sentences.... as an extra thing that doesn't, in the end, increase one's ability to communicate. I just think that if time for reading and talking about what you read is being used for identifying strategies, then that's less time for reading. If that makes any sense. This would be no different, for me, than having students do worksheets identifying parts of speech instead of reading, or finding mistakes in paragraphs instead of writing. Maybe I'm just getting way to cynical, in general. :-) Renee On Dec 30, 2006, at 8:52 AM, wrote: > Is it possible to agree with you both? As successful adult readers, I > believe we do practice these strategies as we read but > that they have become second nature--perhaps for some of us they > always were. I am thinking this natural application of > strategy is akin to what Ken Goodman has said about that percentage of > students who will (and do) simply learn to read > regardless of the instructional program. Although we are teachers of > every child, I think we need to worry more about the > remaining children, those that need something. Mosaic strategy work > may not be the something that every child needs, but I > think it is helpful for many of them. And, as an adult, becoming more > metacognitively aware of these processes has helped > me access text even more deeply. > > So I think, to synthesize (!) your thinking, our goal is to produce > readers who unconsciously use strategies with most texts > they read but are able to more consciously apply a set of meaningful > strategies when texts are complex or challenging. > > Lori > > On Sat, 30 Dec 2006 11:26:40 EST , [EMAIL PROTECTED] sent: > >> >> >> >> Renee says: "Of course they go together, but I just don't feel that >> it's >> important for students to be identifying their strategies, certainly >> not as important as just using them." >> >> >> >> I find this thread fascinating...especially now that the holidays are >> over >> and I can concentrate on it! While I basically agree with you, Renee, >> one of >> the things I am learning as I teach strategies is that for kids to >> become >> independent, they seem to need a deep understanding of a strategy. >> They need to >> know when to use it, why it is important and how it will help them. >> If they >> don't have this deep understanding then when they are really >> challenged with a >> difficult text they don't know what to do! I wonder if a certain >> level of >> conscious, metacognitive understanding must be reached before the >> strategies >> become unconscious and automatic...a part of the student's toolbox. >> >> Perhaps the answer to this is that the kids don't need to identify the >> strategy anymore once they become proficient and independent with it >> in all types >> of texts. I always have trouble with the idea that if students are >> comprehending a particular text, then they don't need to understand >> how they got >> there. Just because a student can comprehend this particular text, >> it doesn't mean >> they "get" how to comprehend other texts. I still think we need to >> assess >> strategy usage, not just comprehension of a text. >> >> In our struggle between finding a balance, and as we try to keep >> comprehension the end result of strategies, we can't lose sight of >> the fact that >> reading is a process and we can not assume that because a student can >> read and >> comprehend a grade level text that the student will be know what to >> do when >> eventually they run into a text that is a challenge. >> >> Just my own two cents as I struggle with this issue. >> Jennifer >> Maryland >> _______________________________________________ >> 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. >> > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other. ~ Chinese Proverb _______________________________________________ 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. _______________________________________________ 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.
