Thank you for sharing this. Your teaching is very inspiring. ginger/rob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I am so excited! Last week I gave picture books (3 kids with the same book/3 different books going) to my 9 top readers with the charge to pay attention when reading to WHERE in the text they hear the "signal" to stop and THINK and infer what the author is meaning. I have never done this before so I wasn't sure if they could do it. I had them each read their book alone and notice these places (they could put a sticky note at that place if they found any). Then I put them together in their group of three to reread together and this time they were to put and "I" at the top of a sticky note, write their group inference, and stick it next to the text clues that led to the inference. Even though they each have their own books, I told them to just use one book to hold their inferences.
I was very nervous that they would not be able to recognize those places where our minds lead us to deeper inferential thinking. But today proved to me that they CAN do it. I did three different rounds of fish bowls. I wanted to hear how they were doing before they got too into the work. The first group of three sat inside a larger circle of 6. I had each member hold the book with the inferences and first read to us the part in the text that led to the inference. (As an aside: when I train my kids to do book clubs I always have them say: "When I read ___-actual words from the text-_____ I wondered....." or "When I read _______ my thinking was......" or "When I read _______ it made me remember when I ......" I do this so that they remain grounded in the text, always knowing what they read that led to that thinking.) Next that student read the groups inference. AND I HELD MY BREATH!!! After each of those three took a turn sharing a group inference, the next book group sat inside the circle and repeated the process. 9 out of 9 inferences were right on target! Each place they had put a sticky note was truly a place that naturally led to an inference!!!! OH MY GOSH!!! They were DOING IT!!! For me, I think this is huge because while I feel good about my ability to teach what an inference is and my interactive think alouds whole group produce good inferential thinking in my students, I just wasn't convinced that they were able to "know" WHEN to infer when reading independently. I believe this work we are doing now is the just right next step for them. It reminds me of when I learned to do think alouds. I hated it at first. It felt awkward. I never knew when to stop and think outloud. Now I can think aloud through anything you give me. So maybe as we do this more they will feel more aware of that metacognitive voice inside and HEAR it and give themselves the luxury of stopping to THINK. Isn't that our goal????? What amazing work this is!! Powerful! 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. Joy/NC/4 [EMAIL PROTECTED] How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org --------------------------------- Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast with theYahoo! Search weather shortcut. _______________________________________________ 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.
