This discussion takes me back to a powerful point in chapter one where Ellin asks us to think about what "makes sense" would mean in our classrooms. Strategy teaching without drawing kids in to how using the strategy helps you to understand may be leading our kids to think that our end goal is the text to text connection, or whatever. Do our kids think that labeling connections as text to text or text to self is what understanding is all about based on what we are doing with our kids? The post Peter added on Thursday where he described a lesson that was incredibly powerful in it's simplicity...was powerful for kids exactly because the teacher kept focusing the instruction back to the meaning of the text...what is it the author wants us to understand??? The purpose for making connections, for accessing prior knowledge was always abundantly clear. The words...the language she chose made the difference. I don't think anyone, here, including Taberski, is saying there is anything wrong with strategy teaching. It is just that we need to help kids see what the strategies do for us. "What do I understand now that I didn't understand before?" It is just that we need to make sure that we are clear in our own minds what it means to understand and we convey it to our kids with the language we choose and the activities we plan. As we read more in "To Understand", I think Ellin makes this point exactly in later chapters. Simple but powerful changes in what we say about the strategies can totally switch the focus from the strategy to what the strategy does for us. Instead of looking for the silver bullet...the gimmick, the graphic organizer, the 'ultimate lesson plan' that will make kids learn, the solution is, instead, how can we make the thinking transparent and then how can we set up a classroom community that supports and encourages that thinking. Jennifer message dated 3/22/2008 9:21:59 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I think that is the thing Sharon objects to. She mentioned teachers who hand out reading worksheets and have students write TtoS, TtoT or TtoW down the margins. I think strategies as skills is what is really on her mind. Nancy **************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home. (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15?ncid=aolhom00030000000001) _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
