[MOSAIC] AN AHA

[khannan76 at comcast.net]

I had the most interesting "aha" the first week of school.  I have five classes of ELA in 7th grade.  Four are regular with lots of second language learners thrown in.  The fifth cless is either GATE or on level, the highest group, with only 5 certified.  When I asked if any of my kids had heard of the reading strategies, I had a smattering of kids throughout the four "regular" classes (maybe 5 total) that had.  Yet, in the GATE class, well over half had, and almost all could define, if not describe, many of them.  Could it be that these kids aren't exactly all brilliant, just have been taught the strategies and can use them?  I just found it interesting.

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Kimberlee Hannan
Language Arts Department Chair
Sequoia Middle School
Fresno Unified School District