It will be very difficult for us to decide on the most essential strategy. Maybe it varies with grade level or group of students. When we worked on a continuum of sorts for out district, we tried to have a major focus per grade level. I include questioning with all the strategies, because I don't really see how you can teach them without including it. We ask questions to prompt visualization, then to revise our visuals. Connections prompt questions. Questions prompt inferences. I agree with these last two posts about naming the strategies. It reminds me of the argument I still have with some teachers about naming the parts of speech being an essential in teaching writing. It is not...using the parts of speech correctly when constructing sentences is the essential. So... maybe using the strategies, whatever we call them, is the essential. Having a common language is important, but it shouldn't be more important than...well, understanding!!
Cathy DE k-5 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 9:38 pm Subject: Re: [Understand] Understand Digest, Vol 1, Issue 10 "Perhaps the strategies should be something we teach our students to DO, rather than name." Joy - I'm so glad you included the 'perhaps' comment in your posting. Last week, as I listened to my 4th grade group talk about their thinking as we worked together through a tricky piece of text together, I noticed that several students 'misnamed' the strategy they were using. But their thinking and talking about their thinking was terrific. They were trying to untangle a cause/effect section - they were questioning, visualizing, monitoring and rereading, clarifying --- and so I wondered, is it important that they 'name the strategy' or that they 'do' the strategy. In response to your question about which is the most powerful strategy, I keep coming back to visualizing. I work primarily with students who can 'read the words' yet comprehending is the challenge. I find that starting with visualizing, having them do quick sketches, talk about that movie in their heads makes inferring and questioning and monitoring so much easier for them to grasp. Looking for clues as we read mysteries, noting changes in a character over time, arriving at that 'aha now I get it' moment, figuring out a cause/effect or compare/contrast relationship, visualizing really supports their thinking and understanding. It's the children who tell me "I can't read and visualize at the same time" that I find the hardest to reach. Martha -----Original Message----- From: Joy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 8:52 pm Subject: Re: [Understand] Understand Digest, Vol 1, Issue 10 --------------------------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
