Elisa Interesting and thought provoking questions here...thanks for voicing them. You ask first if my students understand better because they know that they can make different kinds of connections...the answer here is both yes and no. They did come to realize, I think, that they had much in their own heads to bring to understanding the text but not all of the connections they make are helpful. Our next step, indeed, is helping kids distinguish between connections that deepen our understanding and those that do not. Again, though, aren't we naming connections again??? labeling them??? By giving the kids the language to distinguish between helpful and distracting connections we once again enable them to talk about them and think about them. You also ask if their work improved because they were naming the connections or because they were given permission to state their connection. That's a really good point. In reflection, I think it is both. If you have ever read Choice Words, you know the power of noticing and naming. By noticing and naming the different connections, these different kinds of connections were given value and importance and therefore kids were given "permission" to state them. Is there a way for kids to grow in the variety and depth of their connections WITHOUT naming them? If I had continued to model and model without naming...would they eventually have improved anyway? I don't know but I wonder. Certainly by taking the time to probe deeper and ask questions would play a role in their improvement as well. That's one of the great advantages of coteaching and having more than one teacher in the room. There are more opportunities to investigate and work through student difficulties. Perhaps my earlier post oversimplified the complex workings of the classroom. That's why classroom research is so hard...you simply can't isolate a single factor and say "that's what caused the problem or by doing X, it fixed Y." That's why discussions like this between practitioners is so helpful. We know the complexities of the classroom and how many thousands of decisions and teaching moves we make each day and how many things affect our success. Still...I think we need to think long and hard about Ellin's idea that strategies are simply a way to give kids the language to talk about the text and their understanding of it. If we want kids to learn from each other by talking about text and what they do to understand, what are we doing to help them express their thinking successfully? Jennifer In a message dated 3/29/2008 7:42:54 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Here are some questions I have: Do your students understand better now (teacher assessment) because they now know that any connection they make is acceptable? Do they understand better now because they can name their connection, ie text-to-movie? Did the quality of their work improve because they could label their connection or because they were given permission to state their connection? Did the quality of their work improve because you took the time to probe and listen to their ideas on a more intimate level? I don't know. I'm just asking questions here. Maybe I should experiment with my own students when I go back next week and ask them to make a connection to the read aloud that day. Then, we can make a chart to illustrate the different kinds of connections that are being made, and name each connection. Will other students rise to the occasion in the future? The reason I ask myself this question is because although I don't formally name different kinds of connections, like you, I have just a few kids who will voluntarily voice their own. Perhaps if we named them (or showed the range of connections that one can make) then other kids might feel like they've been given the permission to voice theirs. **************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
