I didn't mean to make light of the thoughtful article definitions, which I actually have read only a part of cuz it just came today, but I am thinking of skills as being "knee jerk," such as when the rubber mallet strikes your knee at your physical exam. It reminds me of a saying by an esteemed educator (whose name annoyingly has left me at the moment) who was visiting classrooms in the order of Distar/Reading Mastery who proclaimed, "I've never seen such barkers in my life!" Surely she was hearing the results of skill instruction, yes?> > Hello everyone> Has anyone else seen the latest issue of the Reading Teacher? The very first > article may be of great interest to many of you on this list. Over the past > few years, there have been many discussions here on Mosaic about the > differences between strategies and skills. This article by Afflerbach, Pearson and > Paris discusses the confusion in the field, looks at the uses of the terms > historically in the reading field and then attempts to clarify the difference. > What the authors propose is to say that strategies are "deliberate, > goal-directed attempts to control and modify the reader's efforts to decode text, to > understand words and construct meanings of text. Reading skills are automatic > actions that result in decoding and comprehension with speed, efficiency and > fluency and usually occur without awareness of the components or control > involved. Skills are used out of habit and unconsciously and are faster than > strategies because conscious decision making is not required." > The authors further argue that we need to be consistent and clear when we > use the terms strategy and skill with students in order to make our instruction > more effective. > I am interested in hearing the reactions of the fine folks on this list to > these ideas and encourage you to check out the article yourself. > Jennifer> List moderator _________________________________________________________________ Helping your favorite cause is as easy as instant messaging. You IM, we give. http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Home/?source=text_hotmail_join _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.
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