Bev: What is it that makes teachers delivering the same curriculum very different? And what makes their students perform very differently? Could it be that which is essential? :-)
Judy: I think a large part of the answer to this might be what Keene calls 'living a literate life.' I think (JMO) that we teachers are the deliverers of the holy grail called text; we must believe in and be standard bearers for the power of literacy in order to "savor the struggle" and impart the joy. Do you remember when we started teaching comprehension strategies and some teachers got so hung up on stickies and charts that meaning was overlooked? Don't you think that's part of the answer to what you ask here? Don't our students perform differently because of the way we present the material? If, and I have seen this, a teacher presents strategy instruction as if it were another step-by-step-answer-these-questions program, then all is lost. If a teacher buys into comprehension strategies as a way (yes, I do believe it is a language) to give kids access to meaning, then she must be a lover of the word. I truly believe that we must be living the literate life in order to help our students understand value, meaning, and joy in reading. _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
