>studies." (showing there is a potent relationship between volume of reading >and reading achievement). I pledge to get more time in my day for reading. >Some things have to go.
Exactly, Ginger, some things have to go. Well said. Now, what to throw out? Time is such a dilemma in our industry. I am so with Mosaic on the idea that we must hold sacred student reading time, student discussion time, and read-aloud time, but wow, sometimes it is hard to put these things first. I think our culture plays a role in this. I notice as parents we have a hard time reserving free time for our children. We fill (and allow them to fill) their dockets with everything from piano, to sports, to tutoring. When we compare these activities to free time, it seems hard to choose the free time. The activities promise specific results we are loathe to sacrifice on the altar of free time. Yet, isn't free time where the imagination blossoms? Where children find joy? Where friendships are born? We do not trust our children to develop these things on their own (partially because we quickly fall prey to the TV monster if our children seem bored for two seconds). In a classroom--student reading, student discussion, teacher read alouds--these do not provide the almighty "evidence" we get from worksheets, response journals, projects and the like. Sure, these are the time-consuming activities that would most benefit our readers, but it is difficult to have naught to show in some solid form for that time at the end of the day or week. Strategy instruction falls prey to the same monster because we become sticky-note meisters, or require reading responses en masse to prove the worthiness of our activities. I am not advocating this position here, just recognizing it as a long-running problem. Do any of us believe the breadth of coverage listed in state and national standards are good for student learning? in the end we all know too much is too much, but at the same time we do not agree on what to take out. To develop thoughtful, critical thinkers we must allot time to the process without expecting a product. We must also be willing to give up our favorite projects, lessons, or activities if they stand in the way of giving time to the process. Easy to say, explain, think about...not as easy to do, especially if students come to the room in "read avoidance mode". Has anyone had those students? The ones that hold their face in a book quite beautifully? Such a struggle to manage 30 students when even a handful are hold-a-book experts. on the other hand, I have had that class of 31 that buries itself happily in independent reading or cries for more during teacher read-alouds. Now that makes reading instruction rock. Is there a way to guarantee that every year? My rambling on chapter 2 is through, Bonita California, gr.5 _______________________________________________ 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.
