Thanks, Bev. I really and truly am thinking every single day about Ellin's charge to us in her book To Understand that we set expectations high for our kids, knowing that they will not only meet our expectations, but blow them out of the water! It can be hard to do...finding that "zone of proximal development"...that right level of challenge. But isn't that one of the fun and challenging parts of teaching? Finding the best way to meet the needs of each child? Vocabulary is one area I have been thinking a lot about lately. I have been taking a hard look at our end of the year running records and I have kids at my school that in spite of strategy instruction, they struggle with comprehension. When I look closely at their work, what I realize is that they may be understanding more than they show. They don't know how to put their thinking into words. We all know there is more to comprehension than just knowing strategies. (I know I am preaching to the choir here...) Kids need the language to talk about what they are thinking about. So...I am reading more and more about best practices in vocabulary instruction. I think it needs to go hand in hand with good strategy teaching....it is part of what is essential in literacy teaching I think....just like fluency, good phonics and word recognition skills. It is just that we can't go overboard...which often happens in our hurry to find the easy fix! It is all about balance and doing it in authentic ways. (You are totally right...using abstract language to define more abstract language is just silly! ) Just my latest musings...feeling passionate about this, too, I guess! Jennifer In a message dated 6/3/2008 9:07:57 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Well put! I agree with Lilian Katz when she says it's important that every child receive enough support to succeed every day and enough challenge to keep on growing and learning! **************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.
