Jennifer, I've been thinking and thinking about this in an attempt to give you a practical answer to your question: How did my students come to discover that the meaning of a text lies within them? Did I tell them or I help them to realize it? By the way, I teach 5th grade. I think the answer is - both. Yes, I told them. I told them on the very first day of school and every day thereafter. Before every think aloud, every discussion, I would tell them the MOST important part of the text is their thinking. And I know that eventually, they came to believe me. :) I think a huge part of this concept was our read aloud portion of the literacy block. In my district, one of our literacy tools is a "program" (I hate that word) called Making Meaning. If used correctly, the students spend a great deal of time discussing text with a partner or small group. Actually, they don't even read the text, they listen to me read it. It's the discussion that is hugely important. After they discuss with a partner, we come back whole group - and, here, I think the message came across loud and clear that is is US, the readers, that bring the meaning to a book. It is our questions and knowledge and predictions and inferences that make the book "mean" something. And, even more importantly, what I think the book means may be very different from what my partner thought. Together, we make our own meaning. Sooo..... I don't know if that truly answered your question. But, yes, I tell them. And then I guess through my own modeling and their own thinking, they discover it for themselves. :) Dana
----- Original Message ---- From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 3:43:39 PM Subject: Re: [Understand] Chapter 8 Dana I like this! I think I need to be more explicit about this with my kids. I am trying to remember...how old are the students in your class? Did you tell them this? Or did you help them to realize it? Jennifer In a message dated 7/17/2008 9:56:55 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: This was a totally new way of thinking for my students 3 or 4 years ago. They grew up believing that you looked at the words and "found" an answer in those words. How happy they were to discover that the "answer" - or the meaning - was actually inside of them! :) Dana **************Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today. (http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020) _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
