There's a lot of appeal for Taberski's view of two independent reading times: one with more challenging materials and one with just right books.
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:41:05 -0500> To: > [email protected]> Subject: Re: [Understand] Getting the juices > flowing...> > Hi, all,> > I have questions regarding the text students choose > to read during > independent reading.> > I had always been told that students > should read at their independent > reading (99%) during independent reading. > When I heard Ellin last > year at a conference, she talked about students > needing to read > challenging material during independent reading. It really > started me > thinking about how we can move students in our district forward. > (You > need to know that on our state test over 85% of our students meet and > > exceed standards in all grades 3-8.)> > We are being challenged by our > board regarding the rigor of the > curriculum, and I do agree that we do need > to up the rigor, but am > not sure what that means to a classroom teacher. I > know that teachers > tend to teach the same skills or strategies over grade > levels. For > example, our framework states that in grade 5 students will > begin to > identify double plot novels, yet I know some teachers are not > > introducing that strategy by that grade. With our population, that is > not > an unreasonable expectation.> > I realize that students need to read easier > books when they are > learning content in social studies and science in order > to learn new > content. But as we look at how to re structure our independent > > reading, I'd like to know what you all do. Do you encourage students > to > choose independent or more challenging reading/text. We are > contemplating > using the Schoolwide Enrichment Model - REading that is > from the University > of Connecticut, and they recommend students read > 1 year above their grade > level, I think. The SEM R model is > recommended for grades 3-8.> > At what > level should students begin to read challenging text? I > understand that > primary students need to develop their fluency and > easy reading is > excellent for that. But then, how do they learn to > comprehend?> > In > reading the posts both with this list and the MRA notes, I'd like > to hear > your thoughts.> > Carol> District 102> Language Arts Content Specialist> > > > On Mar 16, 2008, at 8:44 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:> > >> > I have > struggled with this for years. Maybe, we need to consider > > what the> > > purpose is for our lesson(s). If we are working on fluency, > > decoding > skills we> > need easy books. But couldn't we be modeling the struggle > through > > read alouds> > when teaching comprehension???> > Then...there are > books which are very simply written which require> > inferential thinking---a > struggle---to comprehend. An example might > > be "the Giving> > Tree" or > "Grandfather Twilight." Many poems would also seem to work > > for this> > > purpose...decodable words but deeper meanings when read and reread...> > > Perhaps it is all about balance...giving kids LOTS of easy reading to> > > develop proficiency AND opportunities to stretch their minds.> > Jennifer> >> > > In a message dated 3/16/2008 2:56:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,> > [EMAIL > PROTECTED] writes:> >> > just heard Dick Allington at Michigan Reading > Association on > > Saturday,> > March 15. It was very interesting. He spoke > of the > > misunderstanding that> > kids have to struggle with text to > understand, but adults won't. The> > example he gave was this. If we have a > typical adult text with > > 300 words> > per page. Thinking it is an > independent level of 99 percent, the > > reader> > would not know 3 words a > page. Most adults would not read the > > book. Adults> > expect to know > 99.99999999999999999 percent of the words. So why > > do we as> > teachers > think it is ok to give kids books at an instructional > > level of 97> > > percent let alone 99 percent? We need to be very careful with our > > > teaching> > decisions. He had a ton more for us to think about> >> >> >> >> > >> >> > **************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> > > > _______________________________________________> Understand mailing list> > [email protected]> > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org _________________________________________________________________ Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need your Hotmail®-get your "fix". http://www.msnmobilefix.com/Default.aspx _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
