[MOSAIC] Comprehension strategies and Harcourt

[Bonita DeAmicis]

---- Beverlee Paul <beverleepaul at hotmail.com> wrote: 
> It's hard to sell the "inadvertant message" idea if we're listening to them read with a stopwatch in our hand.  Grrrr.
> 
 That is sort of where my theory arose.  I noticed when I stopped doing fluency timings and starting focusing on enjoying the book, talking about what is happening, etc, students began to talk about comprehension and to enjoy reading.  I had one struggling student who took a great leap in fluency after six months of NOT reading aloud or doing any timings...Sometimes, I suspect, our over-emphasis (or even small emphasis) on timing reading and reading aloud can mislead student priorities.  The reason I theorize basals and such (testing probably) have lead primary classes into inadvertantly creating word callers is that I have had more word callers in my upper grade classes in the last few years as testing and fluency has grown in emphasis.  Plus, it seems like I am having to work much harder to get children to LIKE books than I have in the past.  It could be just my school though.

:)Bonita