Hi Jan,
I pick my partnerships. I watch the children for a while and see for myself who I think should be paired together. I don't even consider letting the children pick their own. It can just cause too much drama. It's easier to pair them up myself, and they have no problems with that because we set the tone in the beginning that everyone works together in our classroom. We are all here to help each other. I do keep my partnerships all year. I do this because I feel that the children are able to get more out their conversations. They become comfortable with one another and share their stories together. As the year goes on, they are able to recall other stories their partner wrote (if writing workshop) and help think about ways to improve, edit, add details, etc. to an older piece. When you switch partners, the children must get used to a new person and it may slow the flow down, because they are starting from scratch again. I personally feel it is up to you in the end. I teach first grade, and same partnerships work for me. Hope this helped!! :) Have a great year! Camille ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, September 3, 2009 10:10:56 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [MOSAIC] workshop Yesterday the grade 3-8 teachers in my district met together to have training on workshop. Our trainer said that partners for turn and talk should be kept the same all year. The trainer also said that students should pick their only partners. I'd like to move partners around (maybe as often as every six weeks) as I see that certain students could help each other learn more. I also want to pick the partners because there are always some students who want to work together, but they just goof off. Letting students choose their partner, and then breaking up that partner group a week later, will create lots of uproar. It's smoother for me to just match the partners from the beginning. So... do I really have to let the students pick their partners? If so, why? Do I need to keep the same pairs all year? If so, why? Jan _______________________________________________ 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.
