It is a great resource! It is geared more toward high school it seems, but as an elementary teacher I am able to use a lot of the information. I agree about the roles. I use role packets for the first few months as a lit.circle training tool, but once I feel they are ready I have them use sticky notes. I have found their discusions to be more authentic with the sticky notes. The sticky notes also help me to assess/evaluate their comprehension. I can ususally look at their notes and tell if they are thinking deeply about the book, or aren't getting it at all. Mary 5th grade ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 5:40 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] just right books?
> Take a look at Harvey Daniel's book MInilessons for Literature Circles. It > is not necessary to use roles at all. I, personally, find it unauthentic and > prefer not to have roles. > > Leslie > NYC > > > In a message dated 4/28/2008 4:16:05 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > Suzanne, > I love reading your thoughtful and thought provoking messages. I also > love using literature circles for reading with my third graders and I > believe they help the children show the most progress on the DRA, while > developing lifelong readers. Shouldn't that be the ultimate goal? > > In my mind I think part of the problem with literature circles is that > some teachers have difficulty giving up the control of their reading > groups to children. I don't mind admitting that at times the questions > the children design are better than my "back-up" questions, but you have > to be open to that. Teaching with literature circles is not as linear > as teaching reading in a traditional guided reading format. I also > think that some administrators may not understand that a "child run" > reading group with children creating the questions is a goal that we > struggle to achieve. I sometimes wonder if they even recognize "best" > practices themselves. To see things from their point of view, I think > we all struggle to stay on top of all of the subjects we have to teach, > and the administrators must have the same challenge. > > I would love to hear how you have moved beyond the roles. I have had > the children create or tweak roles themselves. I also have difficulty > assessing literature circles beyond anecdotal records and looking over > the assigned "roles" once they are completed. If you would like to chat > about lit circles in a sidebar conversation email me off mosaic. > > I find the direction/s education is taking confusing. On one hand we > are told to differentiate to meet the needs of all learners while on the > other hand we are told to use a one-size-fits-all model to reach those > needs. I don't think children should have a steady diet of any one way > of teaching reading when there are so many different approaches that you > could take. > > Leslie > > Leslie R. Stewart > Third Grade Teacher > John B. Sliney Elementary School > 23 Eades Street > Branford, CT 06405 > (203)481-5386 X310 FAX (203)483-0749 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of HERBERT > Suzanne > Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 10:44 AM > To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group; Mosaic: A > Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] just right books? > > I am so thankful to hear your thoughts, as I actually thought I was > going crazy. The push is coming from the principal and all is being > based on the DRA and reading continuums. We actually had Bonnie > Campbell Hill come and do workshops here with us and she was fantastic, > and I loved what she said about Literature circles in that it supported > all I had been doing and many others in the school but let me give you a > picture of what is happening. Some teachers were struggling with LIT > circles, I offered to run some professional development on strategies in > the classroom, moving beyond the 'roles' and some of the older thoughts > about how these run. The principal said no and the reason, 'she didn't > want people to be overwhelmed as after all we are just starting with > DRAs and levelled books'. Now, for me, the kids know their levels and > if you look at their scores on a beginning DRA and the end DRA, sure > there has been development and there would have been regardless of the > DRA. > It's the way I teach reading I believe. I get 'guided reading' for > younger classes, I get it. But, once your kids become really good, > independent readers aren't you doing more of a 'lit circle' type thing. > I don't know but I agree with what you are saying about levels. And > then, they are just pulling titles from everywhere, not really matching > it up with units, trying to include fiction and non ficiton and ordering > this all online. The emphasis on good practice seems to be less > important than dotting the i and crossing the t. I was told yesterday > by the language arts coordinator that I could not order books for guided > reading that the kids had ever seen before. They had to be new texts to > the students. Now, I have a rotating library of 100 books in my room > every two weeks, where am I going to get titles the kids haven't seen, > or browsed through. I've decided to just 'be quiet', do as I'm told and > do what I know to do best, but to have these discussions with you a > n > d to listen to your comments is just such good professional chat for > me. Thank you so much. I have a friend who teaches in Armenia and she > just had a consultant in from the STATES and it was ll the same thing, > DRA, levelled books, reading continuums....and if you look at all the > big international schools in our area, it's the same. But, I feel so > isolated not being able to talk to people on a large scale about what > they are doing and how it is going. Thank you for all the help. I > love hearing from you all. Suzanne > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Renee > Sent: Thu 4/24/2008 9:28 PM > To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] just right books? > > I'm sure I will get some flack for this, but in my opinion once a > student is reasonably adept at figuring out text, worrying about > *levels* is silly, unless the student consistently chooses books to > read that are way too easy or way too hard. > > I think it's real easy to get nit-picky about these things. I remember > about ten years ago or so, the Reading Recovery teacher at our school > saying that with a third grader past a certain level (RR, maybe level > 17 or so) it was not necessary to do running records anymore, and yet > these days it seems like people are doing running records on sixth > graders at level bazillion. Why are we making more work for ourselves? > For what reason? > > Renee > > On Apr 23, 2008, at 9:17 PM, HERBERT Suzanne wrote: > > > It would be great if there was some feedback on this. We are > > levelling 40 percent of the books that we should be using in the > > classroom for reading. I would assume that literature circles and > > silent reading, the children will take their own choices. I teach > > fourth graders, and out of my 18 kids, 15 are independent on DRA Level > > > 50. So, I'm thinking, how essential is it to stick to 'levelled > > books' if this is the case and why wouldn't you just encourage wider > > reading and child choice? I haven't in the past been into 'exact' > > levels for guided reading, somewhere in the 'range' and then lots of > > other reading instruction. We're an international school, and a bit > > isolated in terms of these types of conversations. At the moment we > > are just following directions blindly but now all these types of > > questions are starting to be asked. Any ideas/advice/thoughts greatly > > > appreciated and I so appreciate the chance to speak with you all. > > Suzanne > > > "We are here to infiltrate space with ideas." > ~ Ramtha > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > > > > > > **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car > listings at AOL Autos. > (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851) > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > _______________________________________________ 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.
