I think we teach the strategies so that readers have a "toolbox" of things to use when they get stuck, or are no longer understanding the text. I just started reading The Foreign Correspondent and I had a tough time with the first 15 pages or so. The setting was Paris, France (very little schema for me) and it is about the political stuff going on before WW2. Underground newspapers, Italian resistance, etc. Since I have no schema on this, I kept rereading. Finally, I had to stop and think about what is important? What is the big idea? And I had lots of questions. I just could of kept reading on (it is my level, and I can read all the words), but I needed a frame of reference for myself. This is what we need to teach children to do. They often read the words, but at what level of understanding? Or did they understand at all? Sometimes we assume high level readers will get it by reading. They too, need explicit instruction so they know how to attack the problem when they have one. An awareness. Ever ask a GATE (gifted) child how they got the answer, and their answer is "I just knew it". That is not good enough, they need to be able to explain how they got there, so we as teachers, need to give them the language and practice of explaining, and the awareness. As for the math manipulatives... John van DeWalle has some interesting things to say. I am just writing this from my memory and my take on his work. Look him up for "the real thing". Without understanding, manipulation objects means very little to the student. Manipulatives are a way to show how something works, but only if you understand it -otherwise it becomes mimmicing the teacher with no (or very little) understanding.
Jan We must view young people not as empty bottles to be filled, but as candles to be lit. -Robert Shaffer > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2009 12:41:07 -0500 > Subject: [MOSAIC] philosophical wonderings > > I love teaching, but lately I have been questioning the way I teach, > particularly reading. I am an avid reader. Reading is an integral part of > my adult life. I was never taught any reading strategies. I have children > in my classroom who love to read and read way above grade level. I feel that > they, like me, have already internalized the strategies and yes they can be > strengthened but probably that will happen naturally as well. The more they > read, the stronger they will become. It seems that we are prescribing > medication whether the child is ill or not. It's like using manipulatives in > math. Our new math program requires the use of manipulatives all the time. > It used to be that you used maniuplatives when you differentiated for the > child who was having difficulty with a concept. It seems like we are heading > back to a one-size-fits-all mentality which scares me. I sometimes think the > reading strategies were meant for educators so that we could become better > teachers of reading, particularly for our struggling readers, and I think we > have taken it too far and use it in all cases. When I look at the current > guided reading models it is so prescribed: everyone is in a quick guided > group with the teacher drilling a skill or they are reading independently. I > am having a difficult time seeing the joy in that model. Where do the rich > conversations that connect children to each other and to literature take > place in this current model? Was the model intended for accomplished readers? > > Leslie R. Stewart > Grade 3 Teacher > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > 203-481-5386, 203-483-0749 FAX > > 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.
