[MOSAIC] critical concern

[Ljackson]

Our kids are doing lots of things well, but they struggle so with theme and main idea.  Having been very impressed with the discussion in test talk that relates to differentiating between theme and plot, I wondering if it is sometimes a language issue.  When I was in the classroom, I talked about the the big ideas of text and related them to theme but did not explicitly introduce kids to all the different ways a question that is related to theme might end up being worded. Another thing-- a really odd thing--that I am noticing is that the kids sometimes DON"T GET the literal questions.  They want to over think them and miss to opportunity to simply draw straight from the text.  Sometimes that is also a necessary skill.  It is ironic, because in the written sections of the DRA2, these questions are clearly labeled: LITERAL.  So I am asking teachers to make sure we get that term introduced and nailed down early.  

Lori


Lori Jackson
District Literacy Coach and Mentor
Todd County School District
Box 87
Mission SD 5755

----- Original message -----
From: Renee <phoenixOne at sbcglobal.net>
To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group <mosaic at literacyworkshop.org>
Date: 2008, 06, Tuesday Of May 19:39
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] critical concern

> It's obviously not the teaching that has gone wrong, but the  
> administration that has gone wrong.
> 
> Renee
> 
> On May 6, 2008, at 6:33 PM, Sandra Stringham wrote:
> 
> > Leslie writes:
> >
> > new critical concern.  I teach third grade in a school that is
> > all  about teaching reading strategies.  We have been told not to   
> > teach
> > novels - better to have quantity than quality - and we have been  
> > told  to
> > stick to teaching the strategies from grades K-4, often times  
> > using  the
> > same texts!  We have even been told that it is not our job to  make
> > children like reading. I am now noticing that my children can  
> > recite  the
> > strategies and even apply them and write to them but they are  missing
> > the book.  They aren't looking at the book as a whole  anymore.  It  
> > has
> > been delivered to them piecemeal and they are reading  it that  
> > way.  Many
> > of them  are missing the entire point, theme,  lesson, importance,  
> > etc of
> > the story.  I am trying frantically to  correct this before the  
> > year is
> > over.  Are any of you experiencing  anything similar to  this?
> >
> > This is confusing...the reason for the reading strategies is so  
> > that kids can understand what they read and enjoy what they read.   
> > Something has gone wrong here.  I never read a book piecemeal....I  
> > read it in its entirety so we can enjoy it.  I don't even have a  
> > problem if you are using the same texts K-4, because as kids  
> > grow..they should get more out of it..take it deeper, or even need  
> > an easier text to learn from (and many more reasons!)  But you  
> > always look at the book as a whole.
> >
> > Either something has gone wrong with the message....OR...something  
> > has gone wrong with the teaching OR both.
> >
> > Since I began focusing on each strategy and then build on each one,  
> > my kids LOVE to read.  I even got a note today saying thank you for  
> > teaching their child to read because they can't keep her out of the  
> > library!  I hear from students years later how much they love to read.
> >
> > Sandi
> > 1st/2nd
> > Elgin IL
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> >
> 
> "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
> John Lennon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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>