Thanks, Andrea, for this great advice. You're right, of course! I appreciate the way you have shared your perspective; you help me see that the "right thing to do" may be the most difficult but will definitely be the most worthwhile and long-lasting. Judy
-------------- Original message -------------- From: Andrea Lucas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Hi everyone - > > Wow! We are busy thinking on this Sunday aren't we? I couldn't help but pitch > in my point of view. I am a fairly new teacher. This is my 6th year. I was > blessed by a great master's program before I started teaching. I read Mosaics > of Thought and Strategies that Work and Reggie Routman and Fountas and > Pinnell > before I started my first year. While I didn't completely understand what all > of this looked like in practice I began to develop my philosophy. In five > years > I have learned a tremendous amount. I work in a school where teacher turn > over > is the norm. After my first year I was thrust into a position of the "most > experienced" person on my team. My third year of teaching I had all new > teammates yet again, all of which were new to the profession. I learned a lot > about "coaching" new teachers while I was still coaching myself. During most > of > my career we have had few actual coaches to help out. My teammates and I have > supported > each other and helped each other out. I introduced them to Strategies that > Work and Mosaics of Thought and we were all introduced to Lucy Calkins. I > don't > think they completely understood the comprehension strategies at first, but > now > I see that they have developed teaching philosophies that are consistent with > my > own. In a profession where there is constant panic over test scores and mixed > messages sent through numerous prof. developments the once "newbies" on my > team > have now developed into colleagues who help each other think deeply about > understanding. I say, go for it! Introduce new teachers to the world of > teaching students for deeper comprehension and for the love of reading. If > not, > you risk raising a crop of teachers throwing reading passages and textbooks > to > students because they don't know what else to do... As a new teacher I was > ALWAYS greatful for any reflective discussion or bits of advice. They absorb > everything you tell > them like a sponge. > > Andrea > > --- On Sun, 9/28/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [Understand] Beginning with Chapter One > To: [email protected] > Date: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 7:28 PM > > > Bev... > You are on to something, I think. Ellin isn't just writing about what kids > > need to understand, she is writing about what people need... > You have my thinking going in a new direction now! > Thanks! > Jennifer > In a message dated 9/28/2008 8:01:26 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > Maybe. We forgot to keep our eyes on where we were really headed, and > stopped off at the first town we came to? I was thinking of working with > students > when I wrote that, but now that you bring it up, it's definitely true for > teachers and other learners, I think. It's why Ellin said we don't > get to > understanding because our literacy concepts are not "applied in a variety > of > texts and contexts," even after we've gotten most of the way there. > > When we work with teachers, maybe we stop right before we get to the place > our conversation would help them to "apply to other contexts." So > we're > teaching everything as a separate piece of knowledge or skill, so we have to > reteach and reteach and reteach. > > It's no mystery that we have to teach fraction operations and percents and > > decimals over and over again because we haven't ever really taught them at > > all. There isn't enough "understanding" to generalize. > > Maybe that's what we need to tell Jamika. What we mean when we talk about > > understanding is a lot about generalizability or, if we want to bring in > Bloom, another model that has influenced us all, evaluation along with all > others > included. > > Maybe, in our work with teachers, we do need to examine our language just as > carefully as Jennifer describes in her post. "So what do you know now > about > fluency that you didn't know before?" "What was there about > these > investigations that will change your teaching ____ in the future?" or > "How will > learning to respond to students in reader's workshop help you to respond > in > _______________?" > > One of my biggest mistakes as a coach has always been failing to debrief in > a timely manner, or sometimes at all. I continuously try to juggle our need > to develop our teachers as professionals and their needs to have enough time > to be well-prepared for their classroom and/or able to get their classroom > work done before 7 p.m. It's a tightrope walk. But now, today, I'm > thinking > that by saving that needed debriefing 20 minutes with the teacher, I'm > throwing away the hour and a half I just spent modeling, coteaching, > whatever. > > Hmmmm.> Good question! That extra ten percent might be the most > important...and > in > light of our other conversations...essential to include in our work > with > new > teachers. It is the "So What" piece we often don't > bring to our > students. What > did the strategies do for us? What do we know now that we > didn't > know before? > That last question I started using after every strategy > lesson > last May and > it made a world of difference. > > Do you think we cut > off that > last ten percent because we were teaching > strategies as the end goal not > > understanding?> Jennifer > _________________________________________________________________ > Want to do more with Windows Live? Learn “10 hidden secrets” from Jamie. > http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!550F > > 681DAD532637!5295.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_domore_092008 > _______________________________________________ > Understand mailing list > [email protected] > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop > > > > > > > **************Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial > challenges? Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips and > calculators. (http://www.walletpop.com/?NCID=emlcntuswall00000001) > _______________________________________________ > 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
_______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
