[MOSAIC] Comprehension in general

[Diana Triplett]

I've been working with an 8th grade class that is much like what Bill 
describes.  Their teacher was dismissed at mid-year, and they started the 
second semester with a sub.  When the new teacher was hired, she was 
inexperienced, so I spent about 6 weeks modeling and working very closely 
with her.  The students were disinterested and lacked background knowledge 
related to nearly everything we attempted to have them read.  They would not 
turn in any written assignments, would not read silently, and were either 
disruptive or disengaged during instruction.

We finally got their attention and began to see some signs of hope when we 
split them into small guided reading groups.  We talked about the importance 
of questioning as a reading strategy and had them record questions on 
post-it notes as they read a passage from "Warriors Don't Cry," an 
autobiographical piece written by one of the students who integrated Little 
Rock Central High School in 1957.  The students knew practically nothing 
about the civil rights movement, but in small group setting they were not 
afraid to ask their questions.  We began to see some genuine interest once 
they felt safe enough to admit what they didn't understand.   They were able 
to discuss the text, making powerful connections as well as asking 
thoughtful questions.  (We spent about a week and a half on this very short 
excerpt.)  They performed remarkably well on the selection test at the end 
of the second week.

The teacher is now continuing to use guided reading with these students on 
her own, and we are both amazed at the difference in these kids.

I don't now if it would work for Bill or not, but it was a surprisingly 
simple solution to our problem.

Diana
Middle School Literacy Coach



"I am a part of everything that I have read."  --Theodore Roosevelt

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