I am not going to venture too far into this question yet; I want to review the chapter again first. But I want to respond to the voluntary curriculum. We have a recommended state curriculum in Delaware, and it is not bad either. There is a broad reading , writing, and literature standard that address the strategies and processes fairly well. I feel that the curriculum is very much aligned with strategic thinking.
The problem I have, as a?reading specialist who works primarily with the lowest students, is that most of my time is not spent on our curriculum, it is spent remediating the DIBELS skills related to phonics and fluency. I really only address two of maybe 20 benchmarks per grade level. So for me personally, I have started thinking of how I can add things in to give more support to the teaching of comprehension in the classrooms. As Jennifer said, I too think we could spend far less time on test prep. As the reading specialist, I don't have my own classroom, so I don't make those decisions. Many teachers spend hours teaching kids how to format their?answers the constructed response questions. Some of that time is not necessary, so that is something I would drop. However, our school spends $$ on test prep materials and their use is required. Jennifer said this: 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 This is the?essential question?that I wonder about every day? - ?"How can my students understand what it means to live a literate life?" My school is very low socioeconomically, and the idea of "living a literate life" is something they don't see much of at home. I will bet that some of our kindergartners hadn't held a book when they came to us. What is essential for those students first is to get to know books - lots of them - so they can have the experience other children have already had in their homes. But it is so much more to it than that. I will continue to ponder and add more later. Cathy DE k-5 . **************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 _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
