I think answers are formed by gathering information and it is a long often messy process. It does take lots of thinking, reflecting, and evaluation.
That said, I just retired this year and I brought home all my picture books as I was not ready to give them away -or sell them. As I was putting them on shelves at home, I stopped and reread quite a few of them. The thought going through my mind time and time again was wow, I should have let them read more, as books can truly teach and give us experiences. I felt sad that they missed stories. I felt sad that I only read one story (sometimes 2) to my class a day. If I were still teaching I would make sure to get in 2 or 3 a day. I wanted my class back just so they could have a chance to experience all the stories they missed. I gave my students 40 minutes a day of independent reading time where they read mostly at their level. They had full access to my library, yet there are 100's of books still waiting for them to read. I do believe kids need more time to just read. I only had them respond to their reading twice a week in their reader's notebook. I learned a lot about my students through conferring and sharing. I think the comprehension strategies are important for kids to know about and use. Accomplished readers often don't know what they are doing when they read, so it is nice to teach them about it, have them become aware of it, and name it. Struggling readers need to know there are things they can do to help the text have meaning to them. It is exciting to watch a kid realize they can make the story into a movie in their mind to help them understand. And when they say things like "I didn't know you could do that", you know you have helped them as a reader and a thinker. Sometimes I feel like the comprehension strategies get beaten to death. Jan On 6/26/09 4:02 PM, "Heather Green" <[email protected]> wrote: > I hate not having answers. :) I think I am going to e-mail Atwell and see if > I get a response. Hey you never know. The school she teaches at sounds > amazing. Here are a few more of my thoughts: > I always thought that teaching comprehension strategies was "where it was > at" for in-the-know instructors. I thought it was the new, research-based > best practice. Now, I am questioning that. But you have to teach > SOMETHING... How do you teach without taking the joy out of reading. I > liked in the book when she said that readers will comprehend text that is > the right level for them. (Unless its content-area text where using > reading/comprehension strategies might be more appropriate to take apart a > difficult text.) > Anyway, I think you will really like Readacide. Let me know what you think > of it. It's definitely geared toward middle/high school, but I think he has > a slightly more realistic approach. > > On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 6:26 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Yeah! I just picked up my copy of Readacide! I read The Reading Zone when >> it first came out! Anyone with a lick of sense will acknowledge the >> cognitive dissonance TRZ causes. And I think the thought process this book >> initiates is one of those that requires an enormous conversation within >> onself before, during, and after many, many conversations with others. Deep >> stuff. Deep questions. Unknown answers. >> Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Heather Green <[email protected]> >> >> Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:18:03 >> To: <[email protected]> >> Subject: [MOSAIC] Just Finished Readacide and The Reading Zone What do you >> think the implications are... >> >> >> ..... for lower elementary grades? I wish there were a book written with a >> similar theme, but geared toward 1-2. There are plenty of teachers at our >> school, include me last year, who taught "comprehension strategies". I am >> contemplating now-- is it enough to just let kids read? To talk about books >> with them? To have them recommend books with each other? Is it enough in >> the younger grades to just get them to love reading? Do we teach the >> strategies just because we feel it gives us something to teach during >> reading workshop? In her book, Atwell mentions doing mini-lessons. I wonder >> what these are. SO MANY QUESTIONS....! >> _______________________________________________ >> 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. > Jan We must view young people not as empty bottles to be filled, but as candles to be lit. -Robert Shaffer _______________________________________________ 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.
