Hi, I have been thinking a lot the last hour about whether I am a better reader or enjoy reading more since I read MOT many years ago, and in my efforts to help kids think about the strategies and the way the mind works. I don't think I am.
Yesterday when I was reading aloud from EGGS by Jerry Spinelli and I got choked up when David was "reading" Primrose to sleep, I did not stop and say to my students: "I am making a connection." I was tempted to say, "Oh do you see what the author is doing?" I am glad I didn't. I held the book out to Riker, who didn't have a mom to read him to sleep either as an orphan in the Ukraine, and he took over reading. He was the one who should have been choked up, but he wasn't. He read while all eyes were trained from all over the carpet, until I could take over again. Ciara, a younger upper primary student in my classroom, is waiting for me to finish Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass. She has read A Mango Shaped Space and another title by Mass. I promised her every day last week I would bring it, and then for sure yesterday. She knows the book has been sitting on my bedside table for weeks because I couldn't read the letter from Jeremy's father. She knows that the books has evoked feelings that were difficult for me to deal with right away. I didn' t have to tell her that my father wrote me letters that I was not to open until after his death. I don't think I have to be able to name the strategies...I am not as convinced as many of you I even have to know them to become a better reader. I think Bill is right though-it is the act of reading that will make all of our kids readers. john d [email protected] wrote: > Haven't all of us chimed in here to mention how >> our own reading improved once we were metacognitive about these >> strategies. _______________________________________________________ Sent through e-mol. E-mail, Anywhere, Anytime. http://www.e-mol.com _______________________________________________ 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.
