[MOSAIC] End of Year Reflection

[elaine garan]

I'd just like to add two thoughts here to the discussion. Absolutely,  
it's essential to start comprehension in kindergarten. One of the most  
powerful, research- proven method for doing so is through read alouds  
with lots of discussion. Doing so gives children a sense of story  
structure, that reading is about meaning, but there is also a wealth of  
research that shows that just listening to stories build children's  
vocabulary.

The second thought is that there is that skills can be taught in  
context but they can STILL be taught directly. Direct instruction and  
teaching skills through context are not mutually exclusive approaches,  
or at least they don't have to be. In other words, by teaching skills  
directly, after a text has been read or through a shared writing  
experience, teachers enrich their instruction. They give kids the  
benefit of acquiring skills naturally, incidentally through involvement  
with the text (be it a book or a shared writing experience) but they  
also provide the benefit of direct instruction (or instructing  
directly).

  I have a  truckload of government research that supports the teaching  
of phonics and other skills in context as well as the importance of  
print rich environments, read alouds, shared reading and comprehension  
strategies right from the beginning-- before kindergarten and of course  
in kindergarten. Providing kids with lots of exposure to literature  
does not mean that we aren't teaching skills and it doesn't have to  
mean that we are not teaching skills directly. It means that we are  
teaching skills in a way that will stick.

I too used sticky notes with k kids in fact, one of my big "aha's!"  
came when I was working with kindergarten children. I think somehow out  
there in the world of those who decide what we're supposed to do ( many  
of whom never taught themselves!), there's this illusion that the more  
we skill and drill young kids, the better they'll read. Actually,  the  
truth is that isolated skills instruction is a total and absolute  
abstraction for young kids who as we all know, learn through  
experience. The more we make skills instruction meaningful and  
relevant, the more concrete it is. The more we detach it from how it is  
used, the more abstract and therefore, the more difficult we make it.

I doubt we can name one single life skill that children learn in the  
abstract. Not vocabulary, nothing. Yet for some reason when we get them  
to school, it seems as if we forget that and detach skills from the  
authentic experience that gives those skills vitality and relevance.  
What's more, there are a many ways, not just one to teach the same  
concepts including as I illustrate in my book, creating our own texts  
with the kids.

On Monday, May 28, 2007, at 09:11 AM, Laura Rieben wrote:

> This was my first year attempting to use the comprehension strategies  
> with
> kindergarten, also.  I loved using them with first and second graders
> (unlike Ginger, I was coming from below, so to me, those second grade
> responses were fabulous!!).  One of the chalenges in kindergarten is  
> the
> decoding, concepts of print, sharing reading, etc.  takes up most of  
> the
> first half of the year.  I did a good job with some of the strategies
> (prediction, schema/connections, questioning), a so-so job with some  
> of them
> (visualization, determining importance, inference) and never made it to
> synthesis.  I was able to get the kids to use sticky notes to write
> questions, we were able to decide if the question was answered in the  
> book,
> and whether it was an interesting question that we would use inference  
> to
> answer.  These kids will go on next year to a team of first grade  
> teachers
> who did a book study on Debbie Miller with me two years ago, so I know  
> my
> kids are going to continue to grow in using the strategies.  I am more
> convinced than ever that this is the way to teach, even in the youngest
> grades, to get kids more concerned about the meaning of the text and  
> not
> just the words they can decode, especially after reading some of Elaine
> Garan's book.
> _______________________________________________
> 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.
>