This question is also in our minds... we know that M is beyond the level of first grade..... by a lot .... (this is the first year we ever ventured past the recommendation from Joetta Beaver.... we have never had to before) the thinking in district (or so I have been told) was to provide evidence for differentiation .... the problem (well, probably not a problem to some) with that is: more than half of my class (this year) can decode beyond level L /M and most can respond appropriately using comprehension strategies with some degree of flexibility. The sea of talk with this particular group is not forced... they are deep thinkers... and the class conversations evolve and elevate individual kids' academic responses. For example..... we completed "Animals Can Help" level 28 of the DRA.... I was giving the prediction part of the test to one of the kids... his task was to think of three questions formulated from only perusing the table of contents... that he would keep in his mind while reading the entire text. His question was: where do the animals who keep residents company live? I must have made a face because he responded: That really is an important question..... if most residents had visiting pets... the nursing home would need a lot of pets readily. Now consider the nursing home is in the city..... would they live in the nursing home.... would they come from the pound, or would pet owners bring them in...... (trust me, I am paraphrasing his response but this is what he basically said citing three examples) Now either I am way too in awe of these kids or this really is something teachers need to look at for the higher end spectrum students.... It is not all peaches and cream...... the writing skills of my kids on a whole are not connected... maybe the content of what they write is close but the grammar, spelling, word choice becomes more developmentally like that of a typical first grader..... these kids are also not as flexible in their thinking in their own social circles.... in other words...in my experience, kids who have been less academically talented seem to handle social situations and relationships far better than this bunch...... My year has been hard pressed..... demanding .... always pushed beyond the limits and frenetic.... less easily managed......a whole other ball of wax. But I read in earnest the posts that described levels 28-34(?) as written retells and the rest more inferential, summative, and analytical..... So my question after this lengthy post is: What are your benchmarks for looking at written retells... is it pure content... do writing skills come into play... do you use rubrics.... are mechanics considered???? I am sorry for the length of this but I have really enjoyed doing DRA's this year... I have learned so much about how kids approach text.... which only leads me to more and more nitty gritty questions. In a message dated 5/22/2008 8:02:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
We ask our teachers to stop at level 20 with first grade but they do have an opportunity to report their instructional levels. Lori **************Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4&?NCID=aolfod00030000000002) _______________________________________________ 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.
