Well, Bev, if you're asking, I'm talking..... Another REALLY powerful moment for me was during my lesson. I read "Faithful Elephants" and focused on synthesizing. So, I walk in the room with Ellin, my asst. superintendent, superintendent, principal and about 40 observing teachers. Yes, I said 40. And I glance at the carpet were all my little angels are sitting - and I notice this boy, we'll call him Kevin, who is not in my classroom normally for reading. He is in a self-contained special ed. room and only in my room for lunch, pretty much. So, panic strikes. Because, although it IS vitally important to me that my students are able to synthesize, I'm feeling a litttttle bit of pressure to make this lesson a success for selfish reasons. Forget the 40 observers - I'm teaching with Ellin Keene! So (and I'm sooooo... embarrassed to admit this now), my immediate thought is "Kevin shouldn't be here. He's gotta go." But my always wise asst. superintendent tells me to just let him be and start. Ok, so now we're almost halfway through the book and Ellin interrupts to say that she just saw in Kevin's eyes that he synthesized. First of all, of the 25 kids listening to the story, Kevin was the ONLY one who had never heard it before, so no doubt his thinking was changing every minute as I read. (If you know the book, you know it's a whopper!). Ok, so she asks Kevin to share but he's hesitant. Wait time, wait time, wait time..... again, Ellin commends him on taking his time to think. More waiting......Well, finally, Kevin says something like "Well, at first I thought the book was just about some elephants in a zoo, but now my thinking changed. Now I think the book is about something bigger - about war and what it does." Now, he was kind of mimicing something similar to what I had said in an earlier think aloud, BUT he was making it his own. Kevin was synthesizing!! The lesson was recorded on video and at that point, you can see me make eye contact with Kevin's "regular teacher" and shake my head. I was shaking my head in shame at having such low expectations. I was near tears in frustration with myself for not believing in Kevin. Another lesson I learned that day - always have the highest expectations for your students. They WILL rise to meet them - if you give them some time to dwell and some silence. And some faith. :) As a side note - Kevin also continued to synthesize with his turn and talk partner during that lesson. And you couldn't have wiped the smile off his face for anything the rest of that day. Dana PS - I'll check with my asst. superintendent to see if I can post a clip from the video somewhere for you to see Ellin and the first grader with the very long wait time. If she gives me the ok, someone will have to help me figure out how and where, in cyberspace, to post it!
----- Original Message ---- From: Beverlee Paul <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, August 4, 2008 9:23:03 PM Subject: Re: [Understand] wait time and Ellin Now I'm replying to my reply. The other important thing about this demonstration with the Direct Instruction program I mentioned - the teachers in my district are still talking about it -- and that was ten months ago! It not only mortified Jana, it mortified them. They tell me that they felt fear (that they would be called on and the same thing happen to them), but even more shame (that they "felt" complicitous in the treatment even though they had no power over the events at all). Talk about a powerful moment! These teachers are all reliving it these months later and it still brings back raw feelings. Contrast that with the power of Ellin's moment. Those moments need to be shared to sustain us all! So thank you again for your post. _________________________________________________________________ Reveal your inner athlete and share it with friends on Windows Live. http://revealyourinnerathlete.windowslive.com?locale=en-us&ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WLYIA_whichathlete_us _______________________________________________ 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
