I am going to play Devil's Advocate on the manipulatives front:
What about the child who can rattle off multiplication tables, or who
has memorized the steps for "borrowing" and "carrying" (in quotation
marks on purpose), but who has absolutely no clue what it means to
multiply, or why he/she is crossing out those numbers and writing in a
smaller number/putting a one next to a number?
When I taught third grade, oh these many years ago, and adding and
subtracting with regrouping was actually part of the third grade
standards (not first grade), I spent the first six weeks of school with
base ten blocks, doing activities with trading and regrouping.
Just a thought....
Renee
On Nov 10, 2009, at 7:00 PM, thomas wrote:
I so agree!!! This describes what happens perfectly.
sally
On 11/10/09 4:13 PM, "Beverlee Paul" <[email protected]> wrote:
A very wise college prof I had says, "Anything that can be used, can
be
abused."
I feel the same about cooperative learning a la those extremists or
extremists with math manipulatives, etc. My favorite example is from
a
teacher in Colorado, who had a zap right as she heard herself say,
"Boys and
girls, shush up! No talking!! It's time for oral language!!!" I'm
glad
she could laugh at herself and share because I think about that
statement a
lot.
If you have to break apart a group functioning beautifully and assign
cooperative roles, think again. If you have to keep dumping out those
unifix cubes onto the table of a child who's trying to explain to his
near
neighbor how you can mentally do "that" in at least 2 different ways,
and
"let's see if there's even another," think again. If you take a
group of
book lovers who have come to you starving for literature to feed their
passion and who thoughtfully and collaboratively discuss at a higher
level,
don't get out the role sheets, for heaven's sake. Think again.
I agree with my old college prof. And we in education could do with a
little benign neglect in our teaching methods and a good pair of eyes
and
ears to observe with. Sometimes our kids slip past us.
On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 10:41 AM, Stewart, L
<[email protected]>wrote:
"In my experience, strategy instruction works. For all kids, not just
strugglers. I do not believe it is only for struggling readers. I
would
like to see the list discuss what aspects of strategy instruction,
as it is
currently being implemented, turns kids off from the love of reading
so
that we can all learn what to avoid."
I never meant to imply that only struggling readers need strategy
instruction. Certainly all of my students need experience
determining theme
and author's craft, etc. But I think if I hear one more child say I
can
make a text-to-self connection and then make the most minimal
connection to
the text they are reading I may go crazy! I hear mind-numbing
conversations
and weeks of instruction on one strategy in multiple classrooms
across
multiple grade levels. I certainly think children should find ways
in which
they relate to text but that will come with more exposure to text
and a lot
more CONVERSATIONS with peers as well as teachers. Strong readers
don't
think about the strategies in isolation. Our school is advocating a
model
where the child reads with me in a small guided group for maybe 20
minutes
once or twice per week and then reads their independent reading book,
attempting to utilize the same strategy we discussed in guided and
then
writes about it in a letter to me. Sorry Fountas and Pinell...I
just don't
think that is what authentic reading is about. I don't follow the
plan. I
do pull guided groups, but afterwards my kids go back and read a
book with a
small group of their peers and talk about it and they may or may not
discuss
the strategy they practiced with me. Writing about reading flows
naturally
after conversations about reading. The teachers on this site all
love
reading and teaching reading. What about those teachers who don't?
I think
the model can be deadly and it is difficult to implement by even the
most
experienced teacher. I know that I am not supposed to have read the
books
my children are reading, but how can I comment and model if I don't
know the
text? So, I have five reading groups and they are all in different
texts.
I don't get a lot of sleep, but so far I don't think I've lost any
future
readers of America to the reading war and I am proud of that.
Leslie R. Stewart
(203)481-5386 X310 FAX (203)483-0749
[email protected]
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't
matter
and those who matter don't mind."
~ Dr. Seuss
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