[MOSAIC] Rosie and basal readers

[Eryn 2nd grade]

Rosie,
  We also have Houghton Mifflin for our basal, but I use tons of other resources.  Do you have the newest series that has the leveled readers?  Ours does so it has the on-level, below-level, above-level readers and then the basal.  I also use centers, but generally for 30 min. a day. My coworkers and I don't like the way they say they "spiral" the teaching of certain things.  It confuses a lot of kids to jump around like that and not fully understand a concept before moving on.  We do TONS of supplementing.  My district is fairly small (5 elementary schools with 3-4 sections at each grade level), but we do a lot of collaborating.  I am in Kansas, near Wichita.
   
  I have to ask, what state are you in?  I can't believe in this day and age of NCLB that one would be tied to a basal!  None of the basals hit all the "almighty assessment items" so we are encouraged to find resources that do and share them with our colleagues.
   
  I teach second grade, and our school forces us to level the kids for reading between teachers.  So we have one teacher who has a class of 12 of the lowest, one with 18 of the next group up, a group of 23 on-level kids and I ahve 24 above level kids.  Depending on the types of centers you are using, even children that aren't reading much can do things to help them.  However, during that 60 min. time how many centers are they doing and how many groups do you teach.  That's a long time!
   
  I have found some fabulous file folder games from Evan-Moor that all you have to do is rip them out, put together, laminate and make copies of the response sheets.  They are very good because they are easy to make and include a response sheet, even though some are self-checking.  We are supposed to be using things that are "research based" all the time, and research shows that reading and writing are directly tied together, so it doesn't make much sense to not integrate them.  We've been told that we can't have the kids work throught the whole writing process during the reading block, just during the grammar time.  Personally, I believe that as a professional, I can choose when and how I want to make connections as long as my children  are showing progress.
   
  I also LOVE reading aloud and instilling in my students a love of books.  I can tell you that while I enjoy most of the stories in the basal, it is merely a jumping-off point.  I honestly believe that most of the kids don't understand that a story in  a basal is a book by itself.  They are shocked if/when they find it in the library!
   
  I've taught K, 1st and now 2nd, and have always found that the books and authors that I read aloud and "promote" they will seek after.  My goal is to introduce them to a variety of "series" chapter books so they can find something they like.  I usually use Magice Tree House, Junie B. Jones, Henry and Mudge, Cam Jansen, Arthur, Franklin, and authors like Tomie dePaola, Eric Carl, Jan Brett, etc.  I tie them into my themes or the monthly holidays.  
   
  Do you have time at the end of the day or after lunch or something that you can read aloud to the class for shear enjoyment?  Your "literacy coach" sounds like she has no idea what teaching reading is all about!  
   
  Do you use the Houghton Mifflin website www.eduplace.com ?  It has some good tie-ins.  I don't like most of the centers in the basal, and try to use others that I've learned throughout the years.  There are several Yahoo groups that have wonderful center games and ideas, too.  At our school and in the district, the state standards are our bible... we are supposed to find whatever we can that will help them pass the stupid tests.  There are standards that are there, and then delta-indicated standards that show they will be tested.  We're supposed to spend the majority of our time on those.  So there are parts of our math text that we skip altogether!  Testing begins at 3rd grade, and I teach 2nd, so we have a little more flexibility.  But I understand the frustration of "mandates" that tie your hands from actually doing the best job you can.
  Eryn
   
  In a message dated 2/1/2007 7:28:55 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>rid06872 at ride.ri.net writes:
>
> >  "What do you think are the most significant barriers that hinder  
the
>development of a successful reading/language arts  program?"
> >
> > What do you all feel?
>
>
>I could ramble all day about our current mandates.  We are required to  
>have
>a 90 minute reading block.  30 minutes is whole group, 60 minutes is
>stations/small group.  We MUST teach from the Houghton Mifflin basal.   
The
>overwhelming majority of my class reads below grade level, yet I must 
teach 
>  them from
>the on level basal.  When they are in stations, the group that  works
>independently, while I work with a group, most of them do nothing.   
They 
>are not
>capable of reading grade level materials, and I am not supposed to  be 
>giving them
>work that isn't from this publisher.  (Although out of  desperation I
>sometimes ignore this mandate).  I am not allowed to  integrate any 
other 
>subject
>areas into the 90 minute reading block either.
>
>We aren't allowed to read novels or chapter books at all.   When  I
>questioned the literacy coach about reading novels her response was, 
"Why  
>would you
>want to do that"?  I replied, " So we could read authentic  
literature".  
>But I
>was told no we must read the basal.  We cannot do  any writing during 
the
>reading block, unless it is a response to something they  read in the 
>wonderful
>basal series.
>
>I believe that my students would make more progress if they were 
reading
>texts-including a basal-that was at their reading level, not 
necessarily 
>their
>grade level.  The students I do have who read on grade level don't 
really  
>get
>the attention they need or deserve because we are focused on those who 
are
>behind.
>
>The ony analogy I can make is if I spend all day in Calculus and I am
>capable of 6th grade math, what am I really going to be learning?   
>Nothing.
>
>I absolutely love reading, personally, as well as writing, but I HATE
>teaching it.  We also have no formal writing curriculum and many of 
our  
>grade level
>objectives for writing sound like reading objectives.   Example:
>     TLW
>Apply knowledge of word families to increase  vocabulary.
>
>Rosie





Eryn Cunningham
Teaching- it's not just a job, it's an adventure!
 
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