I'm delighted that I'll be able to listen in (and occasionally jump in!) to your conversation about To Understand. As many of you know, To Understand was a long time coming and is a book I used to explore my thinking rather than generate specific answers to complex questions. I find today's Mosaic list serv discussion about Sharon Taberski's sessions at MRA fascinating and am eager for you all to view To Understand through the lens that she provides. I couldn't agree more that strategies are the tools to enhance rather than the end game in comprehension, but am concerned about how we define and describe comprehension. Why and to what end are we teaching comprehension strategies? That's why I wrote To Understand.
I hope and trust that you will engage in a candid conversation. No author wants her readers to censor their remarks and ideas because she may be within earshot! I will learn most from your most probing thoughts. Very best, ellin -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 10:00 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Understand Digest, Vol 1, Issue 1 Send Understand mailing list submissions to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can reach the person managing the list at [EMAIL PROTECTED] When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Understand digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Let the conversation begin! ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2008 21:32:56 EDT From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Understand] Let the conversation begin! To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Ladies and gentlemen, I want to officially welcome you to the on-line discussion of To Understand: New Horizons in Reading Comprehension. Just as so many of us have come to understand the importance of giving our students time to talk about their reading and wrestle with the ideas presented, we now have the opportunity to give ourselves that same powerful learning experience. We have members all around the country and a few international members. There are folks in a variety of positions...classroom teachers to administrators to reading specialists to staff developers. We have folks who teach primary age students and those who teach at the college level with every level in between. We are also very lucky to have the author Ellin Keene, on the listserv with us. With such a diverse group, we have the potential for some great discussion. For everyone to get the most out of this experience, I am going to present a few guidelines for discussion. We need to set up a trusting environment where folks feel they can respectfully disagree, ask questions, or present an opposing point of view. -Seek first to understand and then to be understood. When you disagree with someone, ask questions first before expressing your opinion -Be courteous by listening (in our case reading) everyone's comments carefully before responding. -Be sensitive to people's feelings as you make your contributions to the discussion. -Assume responsibility for your own professional growth. The more people who move from lurking to posting, the better our discussion. There are a few other very knowledgeable ladies who are helping me with moderating responsibilities. They will introduce themselves as they post. We are going to spend two weeks on a chapter, at least to start. If we find that discussion slows down too much after a week, we may adjust that timing a bit and speed it up or work on two chapters at a time. For the next two weeks, let's begin with the Prelude and Chapter One. I'd like to present a challenge to the group. As we read, or reread this initial chapter, let's turn off that 'teacher voice' in our heads at first. Read the text as a reader. Consider what the ideas presented mean to you as a reader first. Think about your own intellectual life and your own struggles to understand the concepts Ellin is presenting to us. What is it looking like in our minds as we work to understand? We certainly do want,also, to think about how this impacts our teaching and it is certainly okay to share those practical thoughts on the listserv. After all, we do want to create classrooms where children understand! But instead of jumping to that point right away, let's see what happens if we take a metacognitive approach as we begin the discussion. I look forward to hearing from you! Jennifer Maryland Moderator of the Mosaic listserv, and one of the moderators of To Understand **************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL Money & Finance. (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001) ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org End of Understand Digest, Vol 1, Issue 1 **************************************** _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
