Bev: Judy, you've explained it very well! I could see and hear. One of the greatest things about being a literacy coach is getting to celebrate!! It's such an honor. In regard to your posts, I'd like to say that one of our kindergarten teachers does a fantastic job of teaching her kindergartners exactly what you've described, Judy. They have all the skills they need to talk to the teacher, the group, and amazingly EACH OTHER about books and writing. They have substantive discussions every day. That particular teacher has taught "how to discuss" literature for years, but this year things took a dramatic deepening as we read Talking, Drawing, Writing by Martha Horn and Mary Ellen Giacobbe as a study group. The depth of conversation, questioning, comprehending, composing, writing, (and on and on) is incredible. If you teach kindergarten and haven't yet read this book, do yourself a favor this summer!! It's WOW! If you teach primary grades, the nitty-gritty of the book isn't as relevant to you, but you will recognize the true roots of writers workshop and the writing process. If your kindergarten teachers uses this technique (developed by Teachers College), you have to read it so you can take advantage of the foundation that has been laid for the kids you'll be getting. For any first grade teacher who has ever asked, "Why do these kids tell me they don't know what to write about?" or "I have to give sentence starters or they just sit," or "Why do the kids say, 'Can I be done yet?' -- read this book and see the difference between early instruction leading to real writers writing -- or to kids fulfilling assignments for the teacher. I was in awe of our kindergarten teachers this year as well as our kindergartners. Fun, fun, fun...
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; > [email protected]> Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:43:58 -0700> > Subject: Re: [Understand] more on chapter six> > Joy: I have to admit > something. Please don't laugh or think less of me, but > I need to know more > about questioning. Although on every review I've ever > received, questioning > is cited as a strength (for me), I struggle with > teaching it to students. > How to get students to ask questions that go beyond > the surface, how to get > them to rephrase their questions, be more specific, > etc. During lit circles > it becomes very evident that they are clueless. I > will hear them trying, > but I struggle with getting them to stretch and go > outside the mold.> > There's more to it than even Ellin has written in Mosaic, so even though I > > will go back and read it again, I need more information. Are there any books > > about questioning?> > > Judy: What wonderful questions you ask, Joy. I'm > waaaaay behind you folks > in To Understand (because I've been seriously > sidetracked by a proflit that > speaks to my current needs in writing), but I > do have some thoughts about > your dilemma. A few years ago I came to the > conclusion that a lot of great > learning happens through conversation. I > went on a conversation quest, > reading snippets and whole texts (Spiegel's > Clasroom Discussion, Cole's Knee > to Knee, Routman's Conversations, etc.). > Two years ago my friend and I > built a short unit based on 1 chapter in > Routman's work; we tried to teach > the kids how to have a literary > conversation. Routman bases this on asking > questions about text. We broke > down her chapter and really taught, modeled, > gave stems. Our goal was for > small groups to sustain an independent (no > teacher) literary conversation > for at least 10 minutes. We did this in > Spring a year ago. Last year we > taught it in January and we were amazed how > it sustained many > conversations--across content. When we taught Synthesis > at the end of the > year, the kids incorporated the questioning and > conversational techniques > we'd taught them and we were thrilled. We had > started with questions to > spur conversation, but the kids went so much > further, from questions about > text to "I think..." and "I wonder..." to > "Piggybacking on what Garfield > said..." and (my personal favorite) "You know > how Jericho said blah blah > and Jessmina said blah blah, well, if you put > those together and then think > about blah blah..."> Sorry, I've rambled and am not sure I've described our > work very well.> > > > > _______________________________________________> > Understand mailing list> [email protected]> > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org _________________________________________________________________ Don't get caught with egg on your face. Play chicktionary! http://club.live.com/chicktionary.aspx?icid=chick_wlhmtextlink1_feb _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
