Ginger, I appreciate all your posts. I use your formula for inferring with my first graders. Last week we read "The Little Red Hen" by Byron Barton in our anthology. As I was reading it, I asked my children to pay attention to the chicks(children of the hen) in the pictures. Then I when I got to a page that the chicks were not with their mother(the little red hen was cutting down the wheat), I asked them to infer why. When they couldn't answer me, I asked them to look at what the little red hen was doing. The lightbulb went off in one little boy's head in my room and he enthusiastically raised his hand. When I called on him, he said, "Because she's doing something dangerous and she doesn't want her chicks to get hurt." Well the next set of pages, she was doing something dangerous again and his hand went up as well as the next page. I was laughing on the inside because he really got it and wanted me to know. I hope this makes sense.
Once again, thanks for all you do. Felicia ----- Original Message ----- From: "ginger/rob" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "1 mosaic list" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 7:12 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] inferring books/more/long >I really don't think it matters what exact book you hand your students to >do > the inferring work as long as there is some meat to the books. I just > honestly stand in the stacks at our public library and look at the spines > of > the picture books until I see three copies and then I pull one out and > skim > it. If it looks "deeper" then I read it and make my decision. The books > I > picked for this round are: Amazing Grace, The Raft, I Love Saturday (not > the > deepest book). I also selected Shrinking Violet, Smokey Night, and Some > Frog (more like a short chapter book) to use if we do another round of > this > work. I will give the kids a short book talk on the other books and let > them choose which group they want to be in. > > As far as the places where they should stop to infer.......... I really > think that all depends on the book, the child's schema, and the groups > combined thinking. I don't have all the stopping places figured out ahead > of time nor would I ever do that. I don't think that is necessary. For > me, > it is more about THEM realizing that there is deeper thinking to be done > and > that they should be on the lookout for those places as they are reading. > Always listening for that inner voice that should be talking to them AS > they > are reading. Not just hearing that voice, but doing something about it > when > they hear it. > > While I obviously realize that there are levels of inferring that range > from > surface inferences that happen along the way, to overarching themes that > they must keep track of as they are reading (requires stamina), for me, > right now at least, if they can monitor themselves AS they are reading to > "catch" those inferential places provided by the author, and they stop and > think deeper (infer/ponder), then we are getting somewhere!!! > > Last night after my email came through the list and I reread it, I > wondered.... am I making too big of a deal about this? I mean in the > past, > I taught inferring (after I FINALLY figured out how to teach it so they > could "get it") and then we'd do many text pieces together (inferring at > those perfect places) and then I'd give them a common text piece to try it > in small groups and then I'd move them to partners and then on to marking > their own inferences during independent reading on self selected text. > I'd > check in with them of course at that point during reading conferences or > I'd > collect their sticky notes and see there inferences, but I don't really > think I did justice in my instruction on how to pay attention to > WHEN/WHERE > they "should" infer. So while part of me thinks this little inferring > study > I'm trying (in this way) for the first time is a bit anal (does that > surprise those of you who 'know' me???), it does feel much more explicit. > Plus these are second graders (my prior experience has been with 3rd and > 4th > graders). I have to keep talking to myself about this. I hope what I am > doing is scaffolding them?????? The end result is hopefully going to be > kids who will have an ear to hear those inferential parts in text and who > will stop and THINK AS they are reading. > > I also know I am just doing this with 9 kids out of my 23. I can see > these > 9 kids taking the teaching role and sharing how they worked through their > books in this way with the rest of the class. I'm going to try that next > week. > > Writing all this out here is really helping me. I know I write long when I > write but it's like processing out loud. I think more of you guys should > try it. > I know I learn a lot from "listening in" to your thinking. > Ginger > moderator > grade 2 > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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.
