Thank you to all who offered me advice and wisdom. I really value the thinking and experience of this group. I face frustration/anger/depression every year when the scores come back, and like you Gina, my colleagues who don't teach strategies or deep thinking have much better scores. I really worked harder this year to teach it more as a genre and show them how what we were learning would look on the test. Although I would never trade better scores for the thinking, interaction, and love of books that I see develop in my students, it is just hard to take when I work so hard to prepare them and expect so much more. I'm reminded of the Vygotsky quote that I hang above my desk each year, "Children grow into the intellectual life around them." I can honestly say most of my students grew into my intellectual world of a love for thinking, reading, and writing. They learned to see reading and literacy in a different way. If only there was a test to measure that. Anyhow... thanks for helping me to realize that I'm not alone in this frustration. Have a great day everyone! Mary :)
----- Original Message ----- From: "gina nunley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 8:27 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] strategies and testing > Hi Mary, I do sympathize with your concerns. For six years I have > kicked off my year with a Metacognition Unit and followed through with > strategies in all of our reading. I too have stayed true to best > practices. Matching kids with just right books, tracking their thinking, > discussions, etc.' etc. etc. I work hard to reach readers in the best > ways I can find. > > I also do a six week testing genre and strategy unit before our big > (Texas) state test. > > Many of my colleagues do whole class novels on tapes, and do not focus on > strategy work. Well there is a heavy emphasis on levels of questioning > which I am seeing gives a great return on investment. They do not worry > or pay attention to the research and best practices, though I believe they > are good teachers. > > The bottom line is that my test scores are no better than theirs, and are > sometimes worse. Believe me I have pondered this and still do not have an > answer. > > I do believe that my kids leave with an interactive way of thinking about > books that I believe will last through high school. They are very aware > of genres, and the genres that they particularly love, and we read read > read....talk talk talk. I tell myself that my impact can't necessarily be > tested, but has lasting effects. > > Am I right? I don't really know. I live in a state of questioning. Gina > _________________________________________________________________ > Earn cashback on your purchases with Live Search - the search that pays > you back! > http://search.live.com/cashback/?&pkw=form=MIJAAF/publ=HMTGL/crea=earncashback > _______________________________________________ > 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.
