Dana That helps! Thanks! As I have been muddling through the question myself, that was where I thought I would start...modeling and then giving them the chance to find out themselves. What do you think of Making Meaning? Our county reading specialists heard a presentation on it as a possible before or after school program. I liked that it seemed to align somewhat to MOT. Jennifer In a message dated 7/21/2008 8:20:41 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
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 **************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
