Is anyone else chewing on this idea of student thinking and expectation that is permeating To Understand. I love that Ellin is showing us that we need to "expect" great thinking from students in order to have it happen and I so agree. I think I am pondering it under the umbrella of "high expectations" and the myriad ways that our school cultures have defined "high expectations" and I find myself right back at the naming conversation. Here is what I mean:
I hear many talking about "high expectations" in my school, district, and elsewhere, but I am not sure their definition of such is the same as what Ellin is presenting. I think (thinking, believing, unsure) here that I am on the same page as Ellin in the sense that I think of high expectations having to do with assuming students can think and they can think BIG. Other teachers, though, will nod their heads and say, Yes, they can do much more than we are asking of them," but what they mean, I think, is more written-product, paper-product, or more product-product, and not more THINKING, necessarily. Is anyone else washing around in this idea that high expectations mean different things to different people? PS. I love Ellin's stuff on the deep and surface structures of reading; I have used these terms (semantics, lexicon, etc.) without confidence for some time and feel thrilled to be getting such a lesson. :)Bonita _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
