I'd like to respond to your question about Teaching with Intention. First, the Lesson Design plan in there is amazing. I can't imagine anyone who couldn't/wouldn't enhance their own practice by incorporating it. I think that section of the book would make a phenomenal study group selection! Having the study group across quite a lot of time would give the support we all need to implement something that we've all done, but not done nearly as well.
Second, I have a personal response that may show you what an amazing person Debbie Miller is and what a powerful writer she is. I left my first grade classroom 2 and 1/2 years ago to take my literacy coach position. I was sad to leave, but excited to coach. Basically, I was just too busy to do much thinking. I had to set up an entire new "room" (picture walk-in closet), select and order $70,000 of materials for the leveled library and writing program, order media, set up everything having to do with my new position, take a week of training . . . well, you get the picture. Once school started, the demands for my time multiplied. Well, life goes on. We spend so much time doing, we spend lots of time thinking, but I don't know how much time we set aside to feel. So...all this change was at a breakneck speed...and I think you probably know the rest of the story. Last fall, I was so excited to get Debbie's new book and I did so love the belief and practice discussion. But I was just clipping along, reading very businesslikely (is that a word?) and started the part where Debbie tells about her husband helping her move out of her room at school into her basement. All of a sudden, without me even guessing it was coming, the tears were POURING out my eyes and dripping down my chin, I tasted the saltiness as they streamed down onto my mouth, and not much later I was having those big heaving sobs like little ones have when their heart is broken about one thing or another. But I couldn't quit reading; I just read and read and wiped away the constant stream. Finally, I put the book down, threw myself across my bed and cried until I could cry no more, with great abandon. I had no idea what a depth of sadness had been burbling in me until Debbie talked to me and I understood!!! I had never said goodbye. And if I knew where Debbie lived, I would drive there and I would go to her basement. After all, I'm only 5 hours from Denver. I'd sit on her floor by her yellow cupboard and she could teach me, then I'd teach her. We'd laugh together until we could laugh no more--and it would be good. We would sigh with contentment, and we'd be at home. Or school. Which would it be? Anyway, isn't that what a great author does? Reveal what is in you that you had no idea was there? Words are powerful. And my heart is so grateful to Debbie that she opened up the floodgates and just kind of sat there with me while I mourned the loss of my life's love. First grade. There's really nothing like it. Bev On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 3:46 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > Before I begin this post, let me make sure that I define my terms. > Departmentalization means, to me, that the students have different teachers > for each > subject area and no one teacher has the child for the majority of the time. > If > that is the definition for departmentalization, I am pretty much against it > for little people. > > I will say though that regrouping students for a small part of the > day...NOT > by ability, but by what kind of strategy instruction they need works very > well for us. We regroup for PART of our reading time and do not regroup any > other time of the day. > > I sit down with teams and we look at student formative assessments... > running records, anecdotal records, writing samples etc and decide what > kind of > instruction children need. So, in first grade right now, across our five > classrooms, we have an inferring group, a phonemic awareness group, a > decoding > strategy group...etc etc. For that small part of the day, kids move to > another > teacher's room for that kind of strategy instruction. During this time, I > do > intervention by plugging into a group with kids who struggle and coteach. > We > bring the class size down and target specific needs on a temporary basis. > The > groups change regularly and the kids in a decoding group are still getting > balanced instruction, but they are getting this additional time developing > the > area that may be holding them back. > > This has done several things: > 1. Moved the teacher's views from "my kids" to "our kids". It helps build > that collegial teacher community that we all long for. I have more > colleagues > talk to me about kids and teaching now than before we regrouped for this > time. > 2. Intervention is part of classroom instruction...and kids are not in a > separate program that the teachers know nothing about. We all work on the > same > things and the intervention kids get stronger, faster. > 3. When you group by strategy need and not strictly by reading level, and > when you keep the groups flexible, you avoid tracking kids and the problems > that > come with that. > 4. As a reading specialist, I am in a non-threatening position where I can > share ideas and build the knowledge base of the teachers I work with. I am > not > only teaching students, I am coaching teachers and helping them to > understand > how to teach balanced literacy. Because I do intervention sometimes in a > comprehension group and sometimes in a decoding group...I can build teacher > skills (and my own!) in lots of ways. > > This is more work for teachers...not less work... because when you do it > right, you are talking about kids, sharing ideas and working together to > differentiate. > > Having said all this...I am going to ask if we can move back, from here, to > the focus of our list...comprehension strategies. > > Has anyone read Debbie Miller's Teaching with Intention? > I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on that gem! :-) > Jennifer > > In a message dated 2/12/2009 10:55:09 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, > [email protected] writes: > > I've been reading/skimming many of the posts this morning. I feel > strongly > about doing what is best for kids and consider myself a whole langauge > teacher. However, I also realize that what works for one does not always > work for > all, departmentalization included. Last year we did it successfully in > second grade. We were actually able to group our children better > heterogeneously > and meet their needs accordingly. Students were in three groups and moved > in > the same groups. One teacher taught math, one word skills and two > teachers > took a group and did teacher directed and small fexible group instruction. > Our students loved it and we found that their skills increased. > > I can see how this would not work for all groups. Like others have said, > you would need to look at your children, your teachers and your plan- > Good > Luck:) > > > > **************The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy > Awards. AOL Music takes you there. > (http://music.aol.com/grammys?ncid=emlcntusmusi00000004) > _______________________________________________ > 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.
