As a first grade teacher I am finding kids also having difficulty making connections...which traditionally has been easier to comprehend then some of the other strategies. I must preface by saying I have a lot of kids with sensory issues (AD/HD, sensory integration, and some other pdd stuff) this year so .... it stopped me in my tracks... was there another way to go about it... Because they are so easily distracted it became clear to me that they were also making connections to the smallest, insignificant details in the text. ... I found this as I went through the anchor chart: What I noticed, my connection, how it helps me understand the story. I decided to visually show them on a story map all the other smart places they could use to make more meaningful connections: title, author, genre, setting, character, event, problem, solution, theme...... bascially taking them through the structure of a story and modeling the kinds of connections a reader could make. They were surprised..... there were so many places. Now this doesn't sound so earth-shattering, bit it has always been my experience that kids naturally navigate to that framework by just saying the words MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS For kids who attend to everything or for kids who are hyper-focused on one thing... the idea of attending to a meaningful connection takes on an entirely new dimension and they really need even more guidelines. In the past year I would catch myself thinking: they are just not listening...... but in reality .... they are exerting great energy listening but the interpretation is so drastically different. Another ah ha for me... kids do not always hear what I think I said. Pairing it with a visual is not enough (take the anchor chart for example) the visual had to have another support .... the literary map... or as my friend often says.... model the model! _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.
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