This year in my first grade classroom, I am combining textmapping and book clubs. We are completing an author study on Dave Horowitz who happens to be a published writer and an uncle of one of the children in my room.... I am scrolling each of his texts. Children choose a book club depending on their interest. They will sticky note their notices on to the scroll.... connections, mental images, "burning questions," and inferences. Our synthesis will be to notice our thoughts (inferences) about DAVE as a writer and reader and individual. Then we'll think if his writing has any connections to us or our goals as readers and writers.... Because Dave is scheduled to present in my classroom as well..... interest is high. AS I always seem to do .... textmapping often becomes an avenue for writing. I always see the lay of the scroll as the lay of a model book.... that first graders can use to understand their reading better or to provide a framework for writing.... because literary structure can be coded onto the text.... the bones of the story, (article, if non-fiction) jumps out at them as well as the order in which to best present that literary structure... an outline of sorts..... In a message dated 6/6/2009 10:03:59 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: How about Fourth Grade Rats by Jerry Spinelli?
Joy/NC/4 How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org ________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: Dave Middlebrook <[email protected]>; Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, June 6, 2009 7:08:33 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Textmapping for beginners Dave, This sounds wonderful! Can you recommend a short novel to use at the beginning of fourth grade? When is your book coming out? Cathy -------------- Original message from "Dave Middlebrook" <[email protected]>: -------------- > Hi Diane, > > I'll start with a simple idea: Try scrolling a short novel that the students > have read, and post the scroll on the wall somewhere in the room. Do a > quick walk-through summary -- literally, by walking along the scroll and > saying what happens. As you walk and talk, make marks or use sticky notes > along the scroll. You'll come back to these later. Encourage your students > to interrupt you as you are doing this. They may want to mention something > that you missed -- for example, an observation about the plot or the > characters, or some detail. Others may want to weigh in, as well. > Encourage conversation. Post sticky notes to record student observations. > Have them tell you where the notes should go. If a student needs to find a > particular event so that a note can be posted there, have the other students > help -- tell them that their job is to be detectives. If, for instance, one > student finds an event that happened before the one in question, that's a > useful clue as to where to look. Help your students be strategic about > bracketing and homing in on specific parts. These are useful searching > skills that are even more important in bound books. > > If you let the students engage and share their thoughts, you will likely not > make it through your summary. I'd consider that a success! Student > engagement in the conversation is the real goal. You're walk-through is > just a conversation-starter. The scroll will help your students remember > the story. It will help them generate questions and inferences. I will > help them determine importance. It will help them with sequencing, > recalling details, and putting it all together for a much richer > comprehension. > > There are significant differences between the process of doing this by > paging through a bound book and doing this on a scroll. The spatial > diimension -- the physical sense of the scroll's length and of where > different observations tie to the text (the scatter-plot trail of sticky > notes -- is very powerful. The fact that you and your students can see it > all at once is very powerful. > > You can do a lot with scrolls. If this sounds like it might work for you, > then save it and use it. Contact me if you want to talk through the lesson > in more detail. Or if this doesn't sound right for you, tell me what you > might be starting off with next Fall and I'll suggest a way that scrolls can > help improve the lesson. > > I hope that this is helpful. Thanks for your interest! > > - Dave > > Dave Middlebrook > The Textmapping Project > A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. > www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! > USA: (609) 771-1781 > [email protected] > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Diane Smith" > To: > Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 9:24 PM > Subject: [MOSAIC] Textmapping for beginners > > > > > > > > Hi! > > I am going to be teaching fourth graders next fall and just heard about > > the idea of textmapping. I find it intriquing. No one I know has heard of > > this concept at my school, so my students will not have any previous > > experience with it. Can you give suggestions on how to begin and types of > > text to use? > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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. **************Stay connected and tighten your budget with a great mobile device for under $50. Take a Peek! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100122638x1221845911x1201401556/aol?redir=http://www.getpeek.com/aol) _______________________________________________ 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.
