[MOSAIC] just right books?

sjoschmidt sjoschmidt at earthlink.net
Wed Apr 30 08:54:09 EDT 2008 

Leslie and I are like-minded! Literature circles should guide your students to a deeper undestanding of the text. I believe that roles limit the rich discussion that can result from students "bringing their own thinking" to the circle.  A resource that lead me to let go of roles is Fountas & Pinnell's - Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency.  

Stephanie
Shelby County
Kentucky

-----Original Message-----
>From: Lespop4 at aol.com
>Sent: Apr 29, 2008 5:40 PM
>To: mosaic at literacyworkshop.org
>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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