I also taught kids sewing at the county extension office before becoming a teacher. Found out a qualifier for running a sewing machine - reading. Seriously, the kids who could read could handle using a machine the ones who couldn't read had a much harder time with it. Maybe it was more cognitively tied to their age, but 5-6 year olds on a Singer were not successful if they couldn't read.
Joy/NC/4 How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org ----- Original Message ---- From: Renee <[email protected]> To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2009 5:42:37 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] ***SPAM*** Re: Do we really need to teach explicit strategies? hahaha Joy..... The first year my son was in high school, his best friend's mom and I were helping the dozen or so girls in the marching band color guard put elastics in the necks of their costumes/uniforms. She and I discovered that the ONLY students present who knew how to thread a needle and sew a button were OUR TWO SONS! :-) Renee On Jun 14, 2009, at 12:18 PM, Joy wrote: > omg, one of the defining moments that got me to quit my job and go back to > college and become a teacher was when camping with Girl Scouts. It was time > to prepare dinner, and being the constructivist that I am, I pretty much left > it up to the girls.(I didn't know that's what it is called) It wasn't very > long before I discovered that they did not know how to slice, chop, or peel > any vegetables or fruit. These girls were in middle school! > > Last year I brought in a chef who taught each child basic cutting skills, > allowing them to do the chopping, slicing, and peeling while he stood nearby. > The kids made 8 large trays of sushi for our international festival. They did > it ALL. I watched him teaching them, guiding them, and used what I learned > from him with my class this year. I plan to always give students experiences > with real life skills. I think parents today coddle their kids way too much. > > > 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: Renee <[email protected]> > To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group > <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2009 10:51:29 AM > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] ***SPAM*** Re: Do we really need to teach explicit > strategies? > > Hi Deidra, > > I agree with you and whoever said that it is also due to parents' > expectations. I recall two years ago when I was working in a Kindergarten > classroom and we had a certain student who was VERY bright but who sometimes > just seemed to really lack confidence. Then one day we were making "stone > soup" and his mom came in to help with the vegetable preparation, etc. She > and I were working at a table together, calling each student over to cut up > the particular vegetable he/she had brought. While I was guiding each child > in the use of a knife, watching carefully while he or she did the cutting, > this mom was doing ALL the cutting FOR the child while the child watched her. > I kid you not. I got a huge insight that day. > > Renee > > On Jun 14, 2009, at 5:04 AM, djchan wrote: > >> Renee, >> I am a retired teacher and I found these same problems when I taught. I >> think it comes from adults in the child's life who are controlling and do >> not allow the child to learn by mistakes. I once had a child (boy) in my >> first grade classroom who was held back because of failure to perform. >> Trying to get him to put anything on paper was a nightmare. He was so scared >> of making a mistake that he refused to try to do anything. I later found out >> his previous teacher stood over him while working and pointed out every >> mistake he made and he had to do it all over. It took over half the school >> year for him to relax and gain confidence in himself before he could write >> anything other than his name on a piece of paper. He ended the year well but >> had lots more 'trauma' to overcome from that year with the controlling >> teacher. Children who have issues with self confidence ie "Is this right?" >> have not been allowed to feel successful after a mistake and fear being wrong > and punished. They don't understand that it's ok to make mistakes and that > mistakes are normal parts of learning. >> I hope you have a very successful school year next year. >> >> Deidra Chandler >> MA Reading >> MA Early Childhood Ed. >> ps. I teach adult education now and still find this same mentality among >> them. >> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Renee" <[email protected]> >> To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group" >> <[email protected]> >> Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2009 10:32 PM >> Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Do we really need to teach explicit strategies? >> >> >>> I teach Art to Kindergarten, first, and second graders. I have many, many, >>> many students who constantly ask, "Is this right?" and "Can I (whatever)?" >>> and "What do I do?" and many, many, many students who say, "I don't know >>> how to (whatever)" and.... the most disconcerting of all.... many students >>> who, right after I give directions for whatever we are doing and send them >>> off to the tables to get started, will just sit there. Just sit, and sit, >>> waiting for me to tell them to start, even though the paper and/or other >>> materials is sitting right there in the middle of their table. I walk by >>> and say, "I'm not sure what you are waiting for" and they look at me. >>> >>> This is all AFTER I give directions, perhaps model the use of a new tool or >>> show a couple of techniques or show a few examples (which I then put away) >>> to spark some ideas. I always end my introduction (which takes place as a >>> whole group, sitting on the floor), with directions to go find a seat and >>> get started. >>> >>> I really think this is a direct result of way too much direct instruction >>> and focus on "the right thing" and "the right answer" and not enough >>> discovery and/or inquiry. I base this, of course, on my own deductions >>> relating to the degree of "is this right?" behavior among different classes >>> (I taught 24 classes last year) and my impressions of their regular >>> classroom teachers' teaching styles. Very unscientific, to be sure. :-) >>> >>> A story: >>> I had one little boy this year, a first grader, who in the beginning of the >>> year REALLY wanted me to tell him he was doing the right thing. Early on, I >>> said to him, "This is art class. If you are following directions and taking >>> care of the materials, whatever you put on the paper is going to be the >>> right thing!" and after that, if other students asked if they were doing >>> the right thing (which they did, often), I referred them to the first boy. >>> On the last day of school, when we were charting what they had learned in >>> Art class, my young man offered, "that anything you make in art class is >>> the right thing." :-) >>> >>> Renee >>> >>> On Jun 13, 2009, at 6:02 PM, [email protected] wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> Renee >>>> ........ >>>> I am very interested in your comment about kids getting into that place >>>> where they can't function without modeling. Can you talk a little more >>>> about >>>> that idea for me? I tend to think that my kids ALREADY come to me like >>>> that...even the K kids. Maybe what we need to model is independent thought >>>> and >>>> problem solving. >>>> Jennifer >>>> >>> >>> >>> "The important thing is not to stop questioning." >>> ~ Albert Einstein >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 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. >> >> > "The reward of a thing well done is to have done it." > ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life, 'Fate,' 1860 > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by. ~ Annie Dillard, 'The Writing Life' _______________________________________________ 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.
