Me, too, Bonita. Still thinking, that is! I, thankfully, missed the Madeline Hunter "worship" and just kind of plucked out the pieces which appealed to me from second-hand sources. But the one thing I remember vividly is a direct quote by MH that a friend wrote down during a workshop: "You know, really, all I can ask of a teacher is that she thinks about WHAT SHE'S THINKING ABOUT as she's teaching." WOW!!!! Teaching Metacognition R Us!! That has served me well through the years and has been one of my touchstones along with "Is what we're doing right now getting us to where we ultimately want to go?" And, while those two guide-thoughts have resided within me, along with Selma W.'s and Lilian K.'s advice, and have influenced me deeply through the years, I'm finding it very difficult as a literacy coach to help others discover that for themselves! And there is no way that particular learning can be imparted in a lecture format!! We can't just "wear" each others' beliefs or think each other's thoughts. And, when you described fifth graders having come through an "accountability" (Doggone it, another word made useless through misuse!) system, it reminded me of the teachers I work with, many of whom are very talented. But once a teacher has "taught" a certain unnamed math "program," he/she is never again (pardon me in advance) a "virgin" constructivist, if a constructivist at all. Same goes with the lecture phonics system of the same un-name. How seductive it is to say that you've "taught" everyone everything! You don't even have to look around or intervene in any way; they all "get" everything--and nothing more than everything. One thing that gave me great "heart" this year was what I saw after I sent out an attachment to each teacher with a little saying in a fancy border: "Everything that we ask a child to do must be worth doing." As I made my way around over the next few weeks, I saw that little saying posted in probably 3/4 of our classrooms! As we understand more and more about the gradual release to independence, we can identify some of the reasons a given system works -- or doesn't. When you're talking about people, whether fifth graders or teachers, who have had very little freedom and very little responsibility, you must proceed accordingly, which is what I heard you saying, Bonita. The thing is - you have to know where you're going before you can figure out how to get there. That's never easy-- simple, yes -- but never easy. Keep thinking! Bev PS: Run this discussion through your Lesson Study brain, will you, please? I have a feeling that's an untapped source for me and my beginning teachers!! THANK YOU! *******************************************************************************************
I guess my idea is that if I teach in an environment where the students may need more guidance and structure than I will have it. I just need to keep in the forefront of my mind the true target, student engagement, thought, and responsibility, instead of being seduced into thinking-complacency by the classroom structure.Still thinking...Bonita > >but I have found as a literacy coach that some of these ideas have been sadly altered in practice. I guess my greatest objection (and what makes me lean more toward The Daily Five) is the "parts is parts" trap. What happens sometimes is that there is a unconscious slide in practice from creating places where children can read and write to places where the children do "stuff" (often parts) to keep them away from the teacher. Or, in the case of some rooms with ten "centers," keep them away from any more than one at a time of their peers either. Basically, there is a shift from centers you'd want children to learn from - to centers to fill time, which is exactly what the worry was starting this discussion. _________________________________________________________________ E-mail for the greater good. Join the i’m Initiative from Microsoft. http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Join/Default.aspx?source=EML_WL_ GreaterGood _______________________________________________ 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.
