Dana I think it is a wonderful idea to share with your kids how you are pursuing the ideas in Nancy Atwell's book! You have given me a great idea. I have been actively thinking in a similar manner about both To Understand and some ideas learned with a colleague recently in some discussions regarding leadership. I am finding when you have two things you are fervently pursuing, you find yourself bouncing back and forth between those ideas and then, perhaps, even finding the connections between them. I have to admit, while I am not actually peeking at books during driving, (I wouldn't share that part with your students...LOL) I did find myself so engrossed in thinking about the connections between To Understand and leadership that I couldn't remember any part of the drive to school the other morning. When I got to school, I just had to email my thinking to a colleague before I forgot it! As I think about this experience, this is kinda like what Ellin describes in Chapter 2...when we understand, what happens in our minds when reading expository text is that we think about how our existing knowledge connects and fits in with our new knowledge. While I think I will leave out the part where I couldn't remember actually driving to school...I should probably look for an opportunity to share this with my students. Dana, remember those old signs in car window, "Baby on Board?" Maybe we need a sign that says " readers and thinkers on board" so people know to watch out for us on the road!!! LOL :-) Jennifer Palmer Reading Specialist, National Board Certified Teacher FLES- Lead the discovery, Live the learning, Love the adventure. Reading furnishes the mind only with the materials of knowledge. It is thinking that makes what we read ours. -John Locke
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Dana Williams Sent: Thu 4/17/2008 10:30 PM To: Special Chat List for "To Understand: New Horizons in ReadingComprehension" Subject: Re: [Understand] checking in It has been quiet..... here in Chicago we've finally gotten some Spring weather.... which has made my indoor computer a very unlikely spot to find me! I personally think the pace is perfect - I'm ready to start discussing Chapter 3 - so much to discuss! I was thinking about Jennifer's original post for Chapter 3 and our own intellectual pursuits as adults, which led me to also thinking about thinking aloud vs. modeling for our students. I believe these ideas go hand-in-hand. As a teacher, well, no, I guess as a person, I know I have felt that fervent desire to learn more. I can think of many, many situations where I have felt a strong desire simply to know, to understand. Of late, I've been devouring Nancie Atwell's books on Writer's Workshop. I read, I stop and take notes, I try her ideas in my classroom, I reflect on my students' learning, and I come home and read, re-read. I plan for next year. I plan for tomorrow. And I read, read, read. I'll confess that I'm reading at stoplights and even glancing down at the book while driving!! (Don't tell the local police.) I'm reading Eckhart Tolle's latest book and thinking about it all day. I'm discussing it with colleagues, thinking about it as I drive. (I just realized I'm not a very attentive driver.) I feel like I NEED to understand. Oh, how I wish my students could know what that felt like! Do they know? Have they felt it? Can I help them become fervent learners? If so, how? After reading Chapter 3 and considering Jennifer's questions, I thought that maybe the first step in transferring this "intellectual pursuit" to my students' lives is to model. I could bring in Atwell's book and share my thoughts while reading - in other words, think aloud for them. But, if I really want them to know what a reader, what a learner does - I could share my EXPERIENCE. I could model for them by sharing, in detail, what I'm actually doing while reading the book. How I pick it up every chance I get, read it, try it, read it again. I could tell them about Tolle's book and how Mrs. A. and I catch each other in the hallways every morning for just a few minutes to TALK about the book. I could tell them how I drove all the way to and from grad school tonight and realized, when I got home, I had never turned my radio on because I was so absorbed in thinking about that book. (Again, with the driving....) To me, that is the difference between thinking aloud and modeling. And that is how we start to show them what people do when they feel a fervent desire to know, to understand. And that's only one small piece of Ellin's puzzle - there are so many more outcomes/dimensions to model for them - to show them how we, as adults, come to understand. :) Dana W. http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
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