Elisa Waingort Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual Dalhousie Elementary Calgary, Canada
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Palmer, Jennifer Sent: Sun 6/29/2008 9:21 AM To: Special Chat List for "To Understand: New Horizons in ReadingComprehension" Subject: Re: [Understand] leveled texts... One of the ideas that really struck me in this chapter as Ellin talked about challenging texts was how she scaffolded the challenging texts for kids---she would copy a part of a book, or she would ask kids to reread something the class has read several times. She would consider drive and motivation as well as the child's background knowledge. SO...I guess it is boiling down again to balance and also to your instructional purpose and the needs of individual students. I suddenly became aware as I reread this chapter about how Ellin describes pivotal picture books being used over and over again. This is something I haven't done before, but I can see it being a very useful way to teach for depth. I worry that perhaps I won't have enough new thinking to offer when I reread aloud...or that my kids would simply parrot what I have already said rather than share new thinking. Any thoughts on how to avoid those issues? 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 Waingort Jimenez, Elisa Sent: Sun 6/29/2008 8:49 AM To: Special Chat List for "To Understand: New Horizons in ReadingComprehension" Subject: Re: [Understand] leveled texts... Yes to what you say below. I'm thinking that if the text is easy or not even a little bit challenging then there is no room to practice any strategies or rather the strategies you use are automatic. You don't need to stop and think about how to solve a reading problem. And this miht make it difficult to be metacognitive. On the other hand, if the text is too hard you might not even know where to start. So, I'm thinking that a possible solution would be to make sure that kids, at all stages in their reading development, have books that they can read but that still make them think because the issues presented are complex or make one pause to consider alternate viewpoints, etc. Maybe this is what Ellin is talking about? I haven't read this section so I may be simplifying things but it seems to me that we may be talking degrees here. What does everyone else think? Elisa Elisa Waingort Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual Dalhousie Elementary Calgary, Canada Wow, this leveling thing really has been a struggle for me, too. When I first began teaching reading workshop, I, too, felt that students needed to be in independent text. That's what I thought was recommended in professional texts I read. Also, my students were struggling readers and middle school students. Truthfully, I was more concerned that they READ. I didn't really check through oral reading whether or not the text was easy enough. During conferences, we worked on comprehension. If students appeared to understand, then they continued the book. Now I am in a district with students who achieve above average. I heard Ellin last year talk about the necessity for students to practice strategies on challenging text. That makes a lot of sense to me, but I also think we need to think about the needs of the readers.
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