Catherine Thanks for moderating chapter two and getting the discussion started! I have just reread this chapter and each time my head just swims...the implications for the classroom are just so huge! Here are my initial thoughts for your questions. I can't wait to see where everyone else goes with this chapter. First...what's essential in literacy instruction. For me, up to now, it has been the outcomes and indicators in our Maryland VSC (Voluntary State Curriculum). (Don't let the word 'voluntary' fool you...our state accountability test is based on it.) Our VSC is really not so bad as some state curriculums at least as I hear them described...even though it is huge, there wasn't much in it that I thought was a complete waste. I need to look at it again, side by side with what Ellin says is essential but as I remember it, it has both deep and surface structure systems accounted for with comprehension outcomes being 2/3 of the document. The 'pragmatic' system in our state curriculum is weak, and because the curriculum is 'measurable'...there is little of what Ellin describes as 'living a literate life.' As I am reading this book, I am beginning to see how this last piece---living a literate life should really have primary importance. If children become engaged intellectually---and see the purposes for reading in their own lives, the rest will become so much easier.
Second--what can we let go of! One answer here---TEST PREP! :-) The endless classroom hours spent teaching kids how to answer "BCRs" (Brief Constructed Response---or essay questions) could be eliminated. I have already started down this path, but naturally the pressure here to DO SOMETHING to boost test scores is immense. I have come to believe however that if our kids really know how to think through the texts, the test questions will take care of themselves. One other thing that can go---endless skill worksheets--or graphic organizers that we 'worksheet-ize'. If we model thinking and the literate life--the kids need to have a chance to try those out for themselves...what a colleague described to me recently as an "apprenticeship." Naturally, we do need some written products so that we can follow kids thinking, but I am beginning to think there may be more power in anecdotal records from classroom conversations and conferences than most of us currently draw upon. This chapter is hard to digest...There is so much here to think about! Much of what Ellin says is essential I already do---the difficult part is perhaps not what to let go of, but how much emphasis to put on each area I already do and how to integrate more opportunities for me to model for kids what understanding really means. Again, I guess it depends on carefully watching our kiddos and seeing what they need from us next. Jennifer In a message dated 3/28/2008 9:57:51 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: In chapter 2, Ellin begins to show us her What's Essential Model. The all encompassing question is, "How can teachers focus on the most essential elements of literacy learning in a context of growing curriculum and assessment demands?" p. 31 Here are some questions to get the discussion going. What do you consider to be essential in your literacy instruction? What can you start to let go of in order to focus on what's essential? What will we focus on in the midst of outside pressures? **************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
