<"well if it made sence, we wouldn't be asking the question, would we?">
Keith, I think the problem with many children is that they don't stop to think if it made sense or not, they just keep reading, right, wrong or nonsensically. Teachers need to ask them that question so the child has a chance to stop and reflect. Many times, after reflection the child will think deeper and come up with a better choice. If a child makes too many miscues in a text then the readability level is too high for instruction. Bring text levels down to instructional level and then the "make sense" question will be much more supportive for the child. The only right way to teach is the way that will move the child a step further as a reader, and that is different for every chlld everyday. Ruby ----- Original Message ---- From: KENNETH SMITH <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 12:05:12 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] to part or not to part (Gina) Wow! I really opened a can of worms with my original questions. Obviously we all have our opinions based on the experiences we have had. After 16 years of being a reading specialist, I still am not convinced that any one way to teach is right. In fact, I often tell parents that most children learn to read in spite of all we do! I try to keep things balanced (hence the term "balanced literacy"), but still try to figure out what each student needs. I have found that trying to teach the deeper comprehension skills are not effective if the kids can't figure out what the words are. There's no real wat to get deep comprehension from text if the words are way off track. Sure, we always ask if it makes sense - well, if it made sense, we wouldn't be asking the question, would we? We want them to think about their reading, but we have to teach them how to think about their reading, and part - only one part- of that how (in my opinion) is phonetic decoding. I will be anxiously watching the students in my building over the next couple of years. We did not have a phonics program until last year when we adopted the Animated Literacy program for K-1. It will be interesting to see how the kids who have participated in this curriculum progress as readers. I do know that we had ZERO kindergartners (out of approx. 85 students) who qualified for tier 2 or 3 services at the end of the school year (based on Dibels) and only had 3 students below a level 4 on the DRA2. We've never had such low numbers before. I've watched K-1 students applying all the hand motions they learned in AL as they tried to decode unfamiliar words. I've been able to give ques by simply reminding the students of the character (i.e. Arnie Ardvaark when decoding a word such as barn and stuck on the /ar/ sound). I think that all skills build on one another, and while, maybe not all kids need phonics to read, if they can get phonics, it may make reading easier, just like if they can use context to decode, it will make reading easier. I hope we can keep these great conversations going on this board. It helps keep me on my toes! Thanks, Debbie ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 10:22:50 PM (GMT-0600) America/Chicago Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] to part or not to part (Gina) Gina, we must have been posting at the same time....and thinking a great deal alike! Terry -----Original Message----- From: gina nunley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:09 pm Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] to part or not to part I think a discussion of "parts" and phonics is perfect on this Mosaic of Thought list. Keeps us honest and real. If there is anything I know in my 25 years of teaching it is to be careful not to get stuck down either side of a continuum. In my classroom I first focus on reading to understand, reading strategically, metacognitively....and yet it in my sixth grade classroom there are students struggling with automaticity in decoding and that needs to be addressed. Sometimes that means focusing on some phonics gaps, sometimes it doesn't, but I need all the eggs in the basket to address my HALO classroom (high, average, low, other). I feel comfortable knowing we're all going to be free to consider all options in these discussions. I have a dyslexia teacher friend who would seriously disagree with us if we ONLY hit reading for meaning with the strugglers. Balance . Gina _________________________________________________________________ The other season of giving begins 6/24/08. Check out the i Talkathon. http://www.imtalkathon.com?source=TXT_EML_WLH_SeasonOfGiving _______________________________________________ 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. _______________________________________________ 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.
