Welcome Beverlee. Sounds like you are a great "kidwatcher." I like the weaving metaphor, rich with possibilities, something definitely non linear. I do know that there sometimes seems to be a fairly rigid belief that the receptive (listening/reading) always leads the productive (speaking/writing). And I think sometimes that keeps us from believing that it all can interweave from the beginning!
One really powerful example I remember, a speech and language teacher who worked mainly with autistic children, took my grad course in teaching writing. Her classmates were quite curious and many of us I think assumed that naturally she would need to work with a particular child re speaking first. This child could not speak at all. Well it turned out that this child took to writing first and writing was the tool that led her into reading. And she was never speaking to my knowledge. Her first sentence was "I be Gerry!" so moving. So I would just say that we weave like mad and not assume anything!! Find strengths wherever they are. Notice everything. Use everything. Assume children are brilliant and want to make sense of their worlds. sally On 7/2/07 10:52 PM, "Beverlee Paul" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thank you!! Now we have--not a mosaic graphic for strategies--but a > carefully woven-by-hand graphic for reading/writing. Maybe not new, but I > love to think of it. And we could go a little further, maybe. For > instance, what happens when the processes fall out of balance, for an > individual? for a class? for a profession? Well, what happens when you > weave one of the factors a little too taut? Or what if you slack off on > something altogether? What if you start skipping some of the warp or the > woof? (as if I knew what a woof was???!!) And what happens if a kid brings > his lovely tapestry in it and it gets damaged and starts to unravel? Hmmmm. > > I've taught kindergarten five years, second grade eight years, and first > grade twenty-three years, so I was interested in Sally's comments about > reading leading writing and writing leading reading. It seems to me that > the "writing leaders" would probably average out about 5% in my experience. > Maybe 10-15% would be dramatic "reading leaders" and the rest would jump > back and forth between the extremes on almost a day to day basis. > > I, too, have seen over and over how children write as the authors they hear. > One example is definitely the Munsch-kins, but some of the most delightful > are all the wee Junie B. Jones-es! > > I haven't ever contributed anything to this or any other conversation, so if > I'm breaching protocol, please tell me!! > > _______________________________________________ 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.
