I love Van DeWalle-- can't wait to look up his beliefs on math manipulatives. Thanks for posting this tidbit.
On Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 3:21 PM, jan sanders <[email protected]> wrote: > > 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. > > _______________________________________________ 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.
