Pam, I love this!! Thanks so much for sharing! Keep writing, please, as you "implement." :-)
On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 7:57 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > I just came away from Frank Serafini's workshop today and realized how > closely aligned his thoughts were to the posts on the listserv as of > late.... he > is a very funny man who makes you think about why you do what you do in > your > practice..... his big talk today was about comprehension strategies and his > feelings that perhaps we are taking the strategy instruction a bit too far > and > teaching as if they are the big units in a reading workshop. ...rather than > a > way to access those big units of study. He did a marvelous job of showing > how > graphic organizers and reader responses should be used as discussion > starters rather than an end "product" which teachers tend to use as > assessment. He > asked us to consider a graphic organizer like a t-chart in which the child > or a group of children determine the parameters. He said if teachers are > filling in the top of the t-chart and kids are responding to our > descriptors then > we've reduced their thinking and asked them to align their thoughts to > ours. > I am sure I am not saying it well.... but it drove so many points home > that I > must say I am guilty of..... > > He told a funny story of how a teacher was trying to compliment him on his > new non-fiction series he has written for primary kids... how she uses them > to > teach inferences... boy did he go off on it... humorously... making the > point > that the books are about nature and his purpose was never to write books > to > go with a unit on inferencing.... he kept showing how inferencing > happens... > that it is determined by the genre of the text: where it happens, when it > happens, why it happens, and with what other strategies kids use while they > are > inferencing are all text bound... not a study in and of itself... that it > will take various shapes... or forms... if I had to give a "visualization" > for > it. > > He also gave many ideas of how inferencing works( and I use that example > because the last few posts were about inferencing) outside the book (where > he > says all inferences happen) but yet, still bound by what you have learned > in the > text. To drive that point home he did an activity with us in which he read > excerpts from the book and then asked volunteers to become the book > character. > The audience could ask any question they wanted of the characters (not > necessarily related to the plot) ... but the volunteers had to answer the > questions by inferencing what they thought the character would say about a > particular question.... think dinner party talk! Then use the responses to > determine > if they were logical and in line with what you thought about the > character.... > and it is the later part... the discussion.... that is most important not > the response of the volunteer.... > > His focus was geared for third grade and up but it really was a "mindset" > he > was talking about... He showed how in primary we tell the kids to use > illustrations to support text... but he pulled plenty of picture books out > that > not only showed symmetrical support (images parallel the the information) > but > "enhancement" interplay where illustrations enhance the text (think The > Boy > Who Looked like Lincoln) where the ah ha is in the picture and adds so > much > more to the text then the words can say... and then counterpoint interplay > where > the image provides information that is contradicted by the text (think The > Sweetest Fig) Anyway... this might be old hat for some but it blew away > some > of cornerstones of pedagogy and forced me to rethink .... and maybe > looking > out from a lens is as productive or perhaps more productive than focusing > on the stuff under the lens. > Pam > In a message dated 12/11/2008 5:44:22 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, > [email protected] writes: > > I like Bev's idea of Comprehension Connections > (mcGregor). It is easy to implement right away. I also think that Daily > Five would be a good start. You mentioned class size and it combines > management > and reading. It sounds like your teacher's have a lot to handle, and > Comprehension Connections and the Daily Five use activities to get going > right away. > > Once the group is established, MOT would be great to study. > > Linda > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > > > **************Make your life easier with all your friends, email, and > favorite sites in one place. Try it now. > ( > http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000010 > ) > _______________________________________________ > 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.
