Thank you Bev. Building on what Sandra did, you have articulated exactly what is wrong with so-called RTI. It's a joke. And you and Sandra have articulated what we should be doing. I have HUGE concerns about RTI. It's like Reading First on steroids!
Sally On 5/28/11 2:11 PM, "Beverlee Paul" <beverleep...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Its been a very long year and yet today I felt hope for my little ones. I >> teach >> a class of 33 at risk 1st grade students at a Title I school. I can't even >> begin to describe the behavior and social issues I have faced this year >> that >> interfered with learning and still interfere! Some I have never faced >> before.....a long, long year...but today... >> >> > "But yet today..." Beautiful words, Sandra. Maybe this would be a great > time for you to write a poem beginning with "but yet today." I would love > to read that poem!! I've taught in a school such as yours for almost my > entire career, so I know how tired you are at this point in the year, but > still you shared. Thank you so much. > > When it comes to comprehension (and the amazing articulation of > understanding you've provided us), I LOVED what I'm assuming was Taberski's > orginal title for her new book:* It's All About Comprehension: Teaching K-3 > Readers from the Ground Up*. At least that's what amazon has been > advertising for a couple of years. While I can see the advantage of what > was eventually chosen (*Comprehension from the Ground Up: Simplified, > Sensible Instruction for the K-3 Reading Workshop*), I still love the "it's > all about comprehension" line...because it is all about comprehension. No > matter the genre, no matter the author, no matter the subject, no matter > who's reading it or why, there's simply no reason for anyone to read > anything except to comprehend it. > > Now comes my frustration with education circa 2011. With the advent of RTI, > and of course what I would refer to as the "misuse" of RTI, it usually isn't > about comprehension at all. Anything that can be taught/learned in a > weekly- or bi-weekly-monitored situation (such as for "intensive" or > "strategic" intervention) is infinitesimally smaller than comprehension. > And just look at how long Sandra had to wait to hear the evidence that her > "seeds" had indeed sprouted and were indeed growing all that time! > > While I strongly believe every at-risk child should receive more quality > instruction time than a child that's moving right along without extra help, > what we're doing in my state is focusing very little of that instruction on > comprehension. Our children's "progress" is measured in how quickly they > can decode nonsense words, how fast they can read orally...well, you get the > picture. And sometimes (maybe always) anything worthwhile to learn just > takes a while, and then a little longer, to be able to articulate it, > especially when you're 7 like Sandra's students. Her students will never, > ever know the gift they been given; it's truly the gift that keeps on > giving. Talk about a self-extending system! > > And my greatest frustration with all this "misguided" attempt to help > through a very limited RTI understanding? The kids the most likely to > receive this underwhelming band-aid of "stuff" rather than comprehension > instruction? Yup, that would be the very kids Sandra teaches, the ones with > the un-schoollike background. Our children of poverty, our children of > color, our children who speak little English, our children who have received > crippling reading instruction earlier. Yup, the very ones. So our entire > educational system is at risk of selling out the very children that our > forefathers created public education for--those who truly need a hand up! > Those are the children who grow continuously for months and sometimes years > before the long-term effects of comprehension instruction are visible. > Sandra, you've posted such a celebratory message for you and yours, but we > all needed to hear it. First, we need to hear it so we kindred spirits can > joyously celebrate the successes of Sandra's students and of Sandra. But > then we need to hear it also so that we become more reflective as we > teach..and (the hard part) more vocal when short-term solutions for > short-term "problems" are proposed. Sometimes I think "teaching" has been > reduced to "cheerleading" and not the cheering we're doing with Sandra. The > kind that we really should grab our old pom pons and jump up and down as we > yell, "Give me a P! Give me a short A! Give me a T! What does it spell? > Pat!! What word? Pat!! Yes, PAT!! Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! > > Oh, sorry. Sometimes I'm reduced to what appears to be sarcasm, but what I > believe really is, frustration until I'm reduced to the mental age of those > who make these decisions, even or especially those who are truly believing > they're helping. I can't quite remember the title of an essay I read years > ago, nor can I remember the author, but the title had these words: doing > harm while intending to do good. The very children who are the most > disadvantaged, the most at-risk, are increasingly receiving an ill-advised, > limited set of instruction which spends all their instructional time > teaching them things they probably don't really need to know, while > excluding comprehension instruction...and... "it's all about comprehension." > Short-term gains crowd out long-term development. > > And you don't even want me to go into why we would shortchange the children > who need us the most. Just remember the lesson Al Capone had to learn: > it's all about the money. > > Bev, who so admires Sandra > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
