[MOSAIC] retelling

[Gayle Greenwald]

Very interesting. Would you be kind enough to send links to these two  
programs?

Thank you, Gayle


On Dec 4, 2007, at 8:01 PM, Sandra Stringham wrote:

> I've held off putting in my two cents worth, but I just felt I had  
> to jump in after reading some of the posts about prompts on retelling.
>
> Why is there such a negative connotation regarding a prompt?  Think  
> about it....when you read a book you really really like and you are  
> so excited to tell someone about it, do you remember every single  
> detail?  And in having that conversation with the person you are  
> sharing about the book, what happens when they ask you a question  
> about the book, you answer it and sometimes it spurs more of your  
> memory of why you liked the booked so much.  Why spend time  
> teaching kids about a rubric...spend time teaching them what is  
> important and what the big idea of the book is.
>
> I'll start right off by saying that is one of the reasons I am not  
> a fan of DRA.  When retelling a story, the student is penalized if  
> prompted.  Many of our students are conditioned from their home  
> environment/culture not to respond unless asked.  Plus, what are we  
> assessing:  comprehension or memory?  They read the book one time  
> and are asked to retell every detail.
>
> I also wonder why we expect every detail when retelling?  I want my  
> kids to tell me about characters, setting, etc, but as an example,  
> if they tell me "all the animals" went into the mitten to get warm  
> (in the book The Mitten) is it wrong as long as they can tell me  
> how it ended?  I've had kids tell the BIG IDEA of books, yet,  
> didn't tell me every single detail that the DRA required.   
> Technically, they failed the DRA, yet I think they had a deeper  
> understanding of the book than what they DRA assessed.
>
> I would like to suggest two alternatives to DRA:
>
> 1.  Assessment to Instruction:  This is set up by genre and begins  
> with the essential understanding of what the children need to learn  
> in retelling.  In addition to the books and the assessments,  
> scaffold instruction is laid out from the youngest reader to the  
> more sophisticated. Anchor charts, forms, assts. its all there. It  
> comes with a DVD with teachers in conferences or assts. with  
> children.  I'm not doing justice to ATI so I suggest you write to:
>
> Dr. Janine Batzle
> A Place for the Child
> 16625 Redmond Way, Ste. M533
> Redmond, WA  98052
> 888-487-5924
> 425-882-6942
> janine_batzle at msn.com
>
> Many of you may recognize her name as a respected member of this  
> list serve as well as the literacy community.  I have used and  
> continue to use her material in my teaching today.
>
> 2.  Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Asst. System:  This just came out  
> in July and in addition to helping you teach for deep comprehension  
> it assesses for deep comprehension.  You are certainly NOT  
> penalized for prompts.  I absolutely love how it lays out how to  
> teach for comprehension in the book, about the book and thinking  
> about book.  It comes not only with the books and asst. but a CD  
> with professional dev.; data forms, and blackline masters;  The  
> reading continuum is an absolute BIBLE for teaching for deep  
> comprehension.  I have been amazed at how much I have learned just  
> from using it these last few months and look forward to delving  
> deeper in it as I learn.  F&P has a book that came out about 2  
> years ago called Fluency and Comprehension;  I found it  
> overwhelming when I first saw it and let it.  Now that I have the  
> asst kit, the book has opened a whole new world to me in  
> understanding how I need to teach for deep comprehension.  It's  
> certainly not
>  overwhelming now and is clarifying so much for me.  The asst. kit  
> comes in to two sets:  A-N and L-Z.  Go on line and take a look.   
> My entire district has adopted this for our K-2 asst. system.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Sandi Stringham
> 1-2 multiage
> Elgin, IL
> _______________________________________________
> Mosaic mailing list
> Mosaic at literacyworkshop.org
> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to
> http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ 
> mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.
>
> Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
>
>