Something else I might add. To me and my way of thinking the reward of strategies well taught is the students moving beyond the need for specific instruction. I find I get my best indicators of that as I listen in on book clubs and read their response folders, etc. The other thing I have experienced is that once we are moving and grooving with strategies I must continue to support student work in fiction and non fiction. One example is when we read letters and diaries in my class a lot of the book clubs chose the great series of Kate Klise http://kateandsarahklise.com/ (which we had most of them in multiples in our media center) and the students really needed support initially with those books as there are a cast of characters writing letters with varying viewpoints. They were fun and lively discussions where I got to witness first hand the students use of strategies and once I see that I feel like mission accomplished. There was one historical novel that gave one group a hard time because it went from past tense to present tense and they needed my help to analyze what there difficulty was. Once we talked and got to the bottom of their confusion they were smooth sailing. Looking in on the book clubs was one of the greatest joys for me as I could see them seamlessly moving through and using strategies and see if there were areas I needed to address with each group or with the class as a whole. When they met to discuss their days reading, I heard smart discussions that really had impact on each others thinking. It was so enlightening to me and showed me what was sticking and what wasn't. The other thing I noticed is that the students could handle more challenging text using their strategies and have confidence to attempt new genres and subjects they hadn't been willing to do before. Then ultimately it is the students that can use strategies that move through books and try harder texts and keep reading and growing in ability and thinking. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.
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