Linda I find this soooooo interesting. I have thought for a long time now that with my sixth graders that getting the strategies out in front of them quickly at the first of the year so they have an understanding of them was best. So I go through them briskly at the beginning of the year and then we work on recognizing them as we read and write and look for how they help us, support us, and make reading fun and meaningful. It is through our book clubs that my students get to take those skills and strategies and notes in response to their days reading ( as they read independently) and begin anew with their classmates and discus their insights on the reading and have the pleasure of engaging in rich meaningful talk. I don't think isolating skills works because we never read for just one purpose and if we teach it that way I think the kids hyper focus an loose the other strategies and don't get what reading can fully bring to them. Frank sounds like a great speaker and thanks for sharing this food for thought. Susan
On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 8:57 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.
