[MOSAIC] just right books?

Mary Manges mmanges27 at aol.com
Tue Apr 29 22:04:28 EDT 2008 

It is a great resource!  It is geared more toward high school it seems, but
as an elementary teacher I am able to use a lot of the information.
I agree about the roles.  I use role packets for the first few months as a
lit.circle training tool, but once I feel they are ready I have them use
sticky notes.  I have found their discusions to be more authentic with the
sticky notes.  The sticky notes also help me to assess/evaluate their
comprehension.  I can ususally look at their notes and tell if they are
thinking deeply about the book, or aren't getting it at all.
Mary
5th grade
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Lespop4 at aol.com>
To: <mosaic at literacyworkshop.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 5:40 PM
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] just right books?


> Take a look at Harvey Daniel's book MInilessons for Literature  Circles.
It
> is not necessary to use roles at all.  I, personally,  find it unauthentic
and
> prefer not to have roles.
>
> Leslie
> NYC
>
>
> In a message dated 4/28/2008 4:16:05 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> LSTEWART at branford.k12.ct.us writes:
>
> Suzanne,
> I love reading your thoughtful and thought provoking  messages.  I also
> love using literature circles for reading with my  third graders and I
> believe they help the children show the most progress  on the DRA, while
> developing lifelong readers.  Shouldn't that be the  ultimate goal?
>
> In my mind I think part of the problem with literature  circles is that
> some teachers have difficulty giving up the control of  their reading
> groups to children.  I don't mind admitting that at  times the questions
> the children design are better than my "back-up"  questions, but you have
> to be open to that.  Teaching with literature  circles is not as linear
> as teaching reading in a traditional guided  reading format.  I also
> think that some administrators may not  understand that a "child run"
> reading group with children creating the  questions is a goal that we
> struggle to achieve. I sometimes wonder if they  even recognize "best"
> practices themselves.  To see things from their  point of view, I think
> we all struggle to stay on top of all of the  subjects we have to teach,
> and the administrators must have the same  challenge.
>
> I would love to hear how you have moved beyond the  roles.  I have had
> the children create or tweak roles  themselves.  I also have difficulty
> assessing literature circles  beyond anecdotal records and looking over
> the assigned "roles" once they  are completed.  If you would like to chat
> about lit circles in a  sidebar conversation email me off mosaic.
>
> I find the direction/s  education is taking confusing.  On one hand we
> are told to  differentiate to meet the needs of all learners while on the
> other hand we  are told to use a one-size-fits-all model to reach those
> needs.  I  don't think children should have a steady diet of any one way
> of teaching  reading when there are so many different approaches that you
> could  take.
>
> Leslie
>
> Leslie R. Stewart
> Third Grade  Teacher
> John B. Sliney Elementary School
> 23 Eades Street
> Branford, CT  06405
> (203)481-5386  X310  FAX  (203)483-0749
> lstewart at branford.k12.ct.us
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original  Message-----
> From:  mosaic-bounces at literacyworkshop.org
> [mailto:mosaic-bounces at literacyworkshop.org]  On Behalf Of HERBERT
> Suzanne
> Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 10:44  AM
> To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group; Mosaic:  A
> Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group
> Subject: Re: [MOSAIC]  just right books?
>
> I am so thankful to hear your thoughts, as I actually  thought I was
> going crazy.  The push is coming from the principal and  all is being
> based on the DRA and reading continuums.  We actually had  Bonnie
> Campbell Hill come and do workshops here with us and she was  fantastic,
> and I loved what she said about Literature circles in that it  supported
> all I had been doing and many others in the school but let me  give you a
> picture of what is happening.  Some teachers were  struggling with LIT
> circles, I offered to run some professional development  on strategies in
> the classroom, moving beyond the 'roles' and some of the  older thoughts
> about how these run.  The principal said no and the  reason, 'she didn't
> want people to be overwhelmed as after all we are just  starting with
> DRAs and levelled books'.  Now, for me, the kids know  their levels and
> if you look at their scores on a beginning DRA and the end  DRA, sure
> there has been development and there would have been regardless  of the
> DRA.
> It's the way I teach reading I  believe.   I get 'guided reading' for
> younger classes, I get  it.  But, once your kids become really good,
> independent readers  aren't you doing more of a 'lit circle' type thing.
> I don't know but I  agree with what you are saying about levels.  And
> then, they are just  pulling titles from everywhere, not really matching
> it up with units,  trying to include fiction and non ficiton and ordering
> this all  online.  The emphasis on good practice seems to be less
> important than  dotting the i and crossing the t.  I was told yesterday
> by the  language arts coordinator that I could not order books for guided
> reading  that the kids had ever seen before.  They had to be new texts to
> the  students.  Now, I have a rotating library of 100 books in my  room
> every two weeks, where am I going to get titles the kids haven't  seen,
> or browsed through.  I've decided to just 'be quiet', do as I'm  told and
> do what I know to do best, but to have these discussions with you  a
> n
> d to listen to your comments is just such good professional chat  for
> me.  Thank you so much.  I have a friend who teaches in  Armenia and she
> just had a consultant in from the STATES and it was ll the  same thing,
> DRA, levelled books, reading continuums....and if you look at  all the
> big international schools in our area, it's the same.  But, I  feel so
> isolated not being able to talk to people on a large scale about  what
> they are doing and how it is going.  Thank you for all the  help.   I
> love hearing from you all.   Suzanne
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:  mosaic-bounces at literacyworkshop.org on behalf of Renee
> Sent: Thu 4/24/2008  9:28 PM
> To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email  Group
> Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] just right books?
>
> I'm sure I will get  some flack for this, but in my opinion once a
> student is reasonably adept  at figuring out text, worrying about
> *levels* is silly, unless the student  consistently chooses books to
> read that are way too easy or way too  hard.
>
> I think it's real easy to get nit-picky about these things. I  remember
> about ten years ago or so, the Reading Recovery teacher at our  school
> saying that with a third grader past a certain level (RR, maybe  level
> 17 or so) it was not necessary to do running records anymore, and  yet
> these days it seems like people are doing running records on sixth
> graders at level bazillion. Why are we making more work for ourselves?
> For what reason?
>
> Renee
>
> On Apr 23, 2008, at 9:17 PM, HERBERT  Suzanne wrote:
>
> > It would be great if there was some feedback on  this.  We are
> > levelling 40 percent of the books that we should  be using in the
> > classroom for reading.  I would assume that  literature circles and
> > silent reading, the children will take their  own choices.  I teach
> > fourth graders, and out of my 18 kids, 15  are independent on DRA Level
>
> > 50.  So, I'm thinking, how  essential is it to stick to 'levelled
> > books' if this is the case and  why wouldn't you just encourage wider
> > reading and child choice?   I haven't in the past been into 'exact'
> > levels for guided reading,  somewhere in the 'range' and then lots of
> > other reading  instruction.  We're an international school, and a bit
> > isolated  in terms of these types of conversations.  At the moment we
> > are  just following directions blindly but now all these types of
> >  questions are starting to be asked.  Any ideas/advice/thoughts  greatly
>
> > appreciated and I so appreciate the chance to speak with  you all.
> > Suzanne
>
>
> "We are here to infiltrate space  with ideas."
> ~  Ramtha
>
>
>
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