As long as we are looking for a 'pill' we are doomed to disenfranchise readers and play into the hands of the politicians. I deeply appreciated your thoughtful reply and while I often can find usable bits and pieces in books similar to those described here by Boyles, the general notion that there is or ever will be a one size fits all approach to 'save' a child or all children scares the hell out of me.
Lori Jackson M.Ed.Reading Specialist Broken Bow, NE EMAILING FOR THE GREATER GOOD Join me > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:58:42 -0400 > Subject: [MOSAIC] nancy boyles and school initiatives > > Three years ago when our school's reading scores dropped on our state test we > were introduced to a year of professional development with Nancy Boyles. Her > book became the bible and her worksheets became the cure for the cause. > Nancy is a lovely woman, however her book does not provide a basis for > teaching reading and she limited her view on teaching reading to her book (In > a sidebar discussion she questioned the efficacy of literature circles and > book clubs in my classroom.). At the time, our school was all about > improving our test scores. Encouraging children to want to read or to enjoy > reading was not part of our role as teachers. Fortunately or unfortunately, > our scores DID improve that year, but I believe it was due to the fact that > everyone was being "watched" so everyone had to teach. My administrator gave > all the credit to Nancy Boyles. > > For the past year and continuing this year, due to a change in district > curriculum leadership, our professional development was delivered by a > professional whose roots are in the Teacher's College for Reading and Writing > (Columbia University). We also were using elements from Fountas and Pinell > (Guiding Readers and Writers: Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content > Literacy<http://www.nextag.com/Guiding-Readers-and-Writers-3495295/prices-html> > ). Those of us who were reading To Understand for our personal growth > watched as good teaching practice began to fly out the door. Once again our > children were expected to read, analyze, and finally to write about their > reading on a daily basis. Children were writing in reading journals about > their guided reading lesson and discussing strategies that they had called > upon while reading. Then children were also expected to write a letter to > their teacher about the independent reading book that they were reading. > This letter had to include a summary and again some discussion of the reading > strategy/s that they had called upon while reading to increase their > understanding. Some children had to write about the book they were reading > at home for "homework". Children are beginning to associate reading and > writing about the reading as one in the same. While there is admittedly a > strong connection between the two, I believe you can be a strong reader > without necessarily being a strong writer. I also believe you can love to > read a book without necessarily loving to write about one. All of this > writing to read took away from creative (process) writing time in our school. > > As we continue to search for the "pill" that will fix our students' reading > struggles, I wonder how many potential lifelong readers we will lose in the > process? I think that in our state (and most likely in many others) we are > so concerned with scores that we continually change horses in midstream > leaving many teachers confused and feeling inadequate in their teaching > practice. I don't profess to have the answer, but I think that allowing > children to get lost in a book without having to analyze it and write about > it must play a part in the direction we take. Alas, our reading scores went > down this year. I guess it's time find and dust off Nancy Boyles again! > > > Leslie Grade 3 Teacher > > To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, > ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry. > ~ Gaston Bachelard ~ > > > <http://thinkexist.com/birthday/september_24/> > _______________________________________________ > 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.
