Leslie,
Lillian Weber, an educator who has been an inspiration to me, has a
quote (which I can't recall in its entirety) about finding the cracks
in even the seemingly impervious walls. I thought of that when I read
about the ways you are humanizing what you are mandated to do and
making space for the children to be visible. Sometimes that's all we
can do, when the powers that be hit us with the sort of directives
you're faced with. My district is just getting into that level of
monitoring, so I've had a fair amount of flexibility, but that may
vanish soon.
I believe that all those "little" moments--like the ones you've
recounted--do make a difference in the life of a child. I, too,
choose to spend my days with third graders and I often feel that
their grasp of what matters surpasses that of the adults who issue
the ridiculous mandates that govern children's school lives (and our
teaching lives). Your "slow" reader sure has it right! Where, other
than in school, does reading fast matter? I myself am a slow-ish
reader, mostly because I like to let the words seep in and work below
the surface, or because I have to re-read to fully grasp what an
author is saying. In school, I was one of those slow readers with
good comprehension, but that was before the current obsessions, so I
was pretty much left to my own devices since I could show that I
understood what I was reading. In life, the only consequence of
reading slowly is that I have to be sure to give myself enough time
when I have required reading to do.
I find myself working with some of my "fast" readers to slow down,
because they race through material and miss so much.
--Ellen
At 9:50 PM -0400 9/9/09, Stewart, L wrote:
I couldn't agree more with this comment from Maureen:
"So in breaking the rules, you get more of the info you need
to help each student move on in the different aspects of literacy."
The absurdity is that reading assessments have rules that get in the
way of learning about our students as readers. Looking-glass world,
indeed.
Maureen and Ellen,
Thank you for your support of my thinking. Unfortunately, we are
not able to make decisions based on our personal knowledge and
experience. Testing a level up is a district level directive. As
of now, we all have to follow it. It is conceivable that I may have
to administer and correct 50 tests! Right now I am so burned out on
testing after doing 25 of them that I am having to take a step back.
We have to administer them by the book. Our reading coach sat in on
a test and told me she loved the way I gave the DRA2: conversing
with the child about his/her life as a reader, reviewing where
he/she fell down, encouraging his/her success - and then told me not
to worry she wouldn't tell anyone!
As for fluency, I told my "slow" reader that he had done a fabulous
job on comprehension and then asked him what he thought was more
important reading fast or understanding what he read. His face lit
up as he said, understanding. Even an 8 year old can determine
what's important! This is why I choose to spend my days with third
graders.
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