Renee... I love this: "Consider the words of Art Costa: "What was once educationally significant, but difficult to measure, has been replaced by what is insignificant and easy to measure. So now we test how well we have taught what we do not value."
And so, lets move on to what we think is educationally significant... and work on how we might decide on whether our students are making progress.... ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Renee [[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 10:31 AM To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Subject: [MOSAIC] offense I am going to jump in here, because I believe it was a comment I made that started this thread that seems to have turned into a bit of young vs old, which was NOT the original point, not really. The point was a question about what is being taught and not taught in teacher education programs, and what is being and has been lost over the last decade or so regarding classroom instruction, classroom environment, and teacher experience. This was my original statement: ".....I am concerned that it seems that newer/younger teachers are less and less able to rely on their own observations, and that it seems the norm to instantly look for a program of some kind, rather than cultivate the knowledge and observational skills necessary for good kid-watching. And once again, this is not a criticism of newer/ younger teachers... it is a criticism of the system and their trainers." Now, I admit there is some generalization in there, but it is an accolade to experienced teachers with a concern about what newer/ younger/less experienced teachers may not be learning about in teacher education programs. This also was prompted, for me, from a question that someone asked about DEAR and SSR. I was not criticizing the person who asked what they were.... I was lamenting that anyone teaching elementary school would need to ask, because "in my day" (sorry) these were standard acronyms that everyone knew, whether they supported them or not. We learned about them in our reading methods courses, used them in the classroom, had whole staff meetings about how we could implement such programs school wide, with everyone down to the custodian and secretary dropping everything to read for 20 minutes. It isn't a matter of "ageism" so much as a matter of good things being lost in the tsunami of data-gathering. Consider the words of Art Costa: "What was once educationally significant, but difficult to measure, has been replaced by what is insignificant and easy to measure. So now we test how well we have taught what we do not value." Someone said in another post that we should support each other. And we should. And we should also ask questions and those of us who have been around the block a few times do have something to add, having lived through the pendulum swings. What I fear is that the current pendulum swings are more like wrecking balls. That's my two cents. Renee On Oct 11, 2011, at 8:49 PM, jeanette hayden wrote: > Well you did offend many who, regardless of age, read the research, > have strong convictions regarding reading instruction > and have been fighting the battle many years. > I won't even list my credentials, but I am over 60 and still kicking! > On Oct 11, 2011, at 4:33 PM, Felicia Barra wrote: > >> I didn't mean to offend anyone. My mentor taught 1st grade for 30 >> years and >> always prided herself on going to workshops to keep abreast of best >> practices. My observation was from the school I currently teach at. "What was once educationally significant, but difficult to measure, has been replaced by what is insignificant and easy to measure. So now we test how well we have taught what we do not value." — Art Costa, emeritus professor, California State University _______________________________________________ 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
