Lori, I really like the idea of sorting and classifying the questions..... another way to focus on text content and make visible to little ones the author's thinking vs. the kids' schema versus the inferences the inferences the reader makes with both..... lots of times my kids make a great inference but not necessarily the author's intent....(more shadowed by their own circumstances and schema) That idea was revealed to my class more concretely during our poetry unit in writing this year.... They were attempting big ideas in small packages a la Calkins and using metaphors etc.... After each child read the poem aloud...... their classmates responded.... Many poets were almost brought to tears by the mental images, and inferences of their friends..... one "poet" exclaimed... NOOOOOOOOOOOOO that is not what this author meant.... don't you get it????? of course from my perspective the kid's writing was sketchy but it was the way he was tied to the structural elements of his self-written text that enraged him when other minds were stretched in a different direction.... teaching really is grand... and first graders are never underground about their thinking... it is a joyful/ painful exciting /teeth pulling kind of thing:) In a message dated 5/23/2008 7:06:11 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
When we piloted the new form last spring, our observations that children from classrooms where MOT thinking was emphasized and there was a consistent expectation for written response in some form or another had NO TROUBLE with the writing. I think that we need to balance the kinds of responses our kiddos are doing. Also, in my recent reading of Text Talk I became equally convinced that when we talk about thinking strategies, we need to begin collecting questions that relate to them so kids know how how they can think relates to the question form. Our testing last fall showed our kids have trouble in the identification of themes and main idea. A couple of teachers began making the link to practice in the classroom with test forms (on the DRA or standardized test, a question about theme might sound like this...let's loot at these other questions---which ones do you think are asking us think about theme or main idea). Scores in these rooms are up substantially at the end of the year. Lori On 5/20/08 8:57 PM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Although I have no answer specifically to Angela's situation.... her post > prompted me to write some of my concerns for first graders..... I would like > to > know especially from teachers who administer the dra 2 how they introduce the > written element of the test which starts at level M..... > > Never given this test previously..... I can see why it might not be > appropriate to administer the level M test to first graders.... however.... > our > district cut off is level M....... although my fluent readers can sail through > the > decoding and even answer those comprehension questions at the end orally as > well as support their responses with evidence from the text (at least some of > them can) ... that is a far cry from writing their responses. The length > alone is daunting! Plus we have not taught them to enter responses in their > notebooks like that. We use sticky notes and graphic organizers.... kids use > their reader's notebook responses more for fueling their chats with their > buddies...... > > I would think that somewhere after J and before M...... there is a need to > formally show kids how to answer questions (whether literal interpretative or > reflective) in written responses that are more formal summaries.... My high > flyers are aware of the kinds of information that might need to add but > certainly they talk their way through this more than write their > thoughts.....even > the graphic organizers I provide are more for stream of thoughts ..... > > I am interested to know if you do take formal steps to teach this kind of > writing..... does it occur in your reader's workshop or your writer's workshop > or does it more naturally occur when they are developmentally ready? > > I know as a grade level we added a unit of comprehension called retelling > (verbal) before we even gave the DRA in the fall because at those early levels > kids do not even know what elements to include in their retells.... our > response was overwhelmingly successful and kids did way better at the > beginning of > this year as compared to the results we gathered the year before. I am > wondering if the same holds true for beginning the writing of retelling. > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > > > > > **************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family > favorites at AOL Food. > (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001) > _______________________________________________ > 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. > -- Lori Jackson District Literacy Coach & Mentor Todd County School District Box 87 Mission SD 57555 http:www.tcsdk12.org ph. 605.856.2211 Literacies for All Summer Institute July 17-20. 2008 Tucson, Arizona _______________________________________________ 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. **************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.
