[MOSAIC] philosophical wonderings

[Ellen Schwartz]

Leslie,

I ask myself the same questions. I don't see the point in teaching 
someone a strategy in a deliberate manner if they have already 
internalized strategies that allow them to derive meaning--and 
pleasure--from reading. I talk about strategies with the whole class 
and work on them in a more intentional way with children who have not 
internalized them. With the more "strategic" readers I tend to focus 
on strategies like inference, because even if they know how to infer 
they can still miss places where inference will get them deeper into 
a text. Another one I work on with these readers is noting changes in 
a character over the course of a story.  These are strategies that 
naturally get us into rich conversations and multiple interpretations 
of a text. Of course I also work on these strategies with the less 
"strategic" readers, but I find that it tends to come later, and with 
those readers I am working more on strategies like making personal 
connections, creating mental images and self-checking for meaning.

I am lucky to be in a school (so far) where I am not required to 
write my objectives up for the children. I see these objectives as my 
objectives. Of course I want the children to develop strategies that 
will unlock texts for them, but I hope that their objectives have 
more to do with finding texts of interest to them and becoming 
competent and confident enough of themselves as readers that they can 
have the experience of getting lost in a good book. I question the 
value of having third graders--like you, I'm a third grade 
teacher--become so metacognitive about their own reading process. 
Sometimes I think that we are losing sight of the distinction between 
what is important for teachers to be thinking about and what is 
important for children to be thinking about.

I also agree about the math manipulatives. The point of manipulatives 
is to help children picture abstract concepts. I like to have them 
available at all times so there isn't a stigma attached to using 
them, but requiring children to use them when they don't need to 
impedes mathematical efficiency and the ability to internalize 
understandings and strategies.
My experience has been that children will use them as long as they 
need to, but it's the rare child who holds onto them longer than that 
because once you don't need them they slow down your thinking. 
Occasionally I have a child whom I feel is holding onto them beyond 
what is necessary. I work with that child to gently see if they are 
still needed, and if not we can celebrate the child's ability to do 
this "hard math" with sketches or equations and let go of the 
manipulatives.

I appreciate that you wrote about seeing the joy. To me, that is at 
the heart of the enterprise, even though it is neither measurable nor 
amenable to direct instruction.

--Ellen



At 12:41 PM -0500 11/8/09, Stewart, L wrote:
>I love teaching, but lately I have been questioning the way I teach, 
>particularly reading.  I am an avid reader.  Reading is an integral 
>part of my adult life.  I was never taught any reading strategies. 
>I have children in my classroom who love to read and read way above 
>grade level.  I feel that they, like me, have already internalized 
>the strategies and yes they can be strengthened but probably that 
>will happen naturally as well.  The more they read, the stronger 
>they will become.  It seems that we are prescribing medication 
>whether the child is ill or not.  It's like using manipulatives in 
>math.  Our new math program requires the use of manipulatives all 
>the time.  It used to be that you used maniuplatives when you 
>differentiated for the child who was having difficulty with a 
>concept.  It seems like we are heading back to a one-size-fits-all 
>mentality which scares me.  I sometimes think the reading strategies 
>were meant for educators so that we could become better teachers of 
>reading, particularly for our struggling readers, and I think we 
>have taken it too far and use it in all cases.  When I look at the 
>current guided reading models it is so prescribed:  everyone is in a 
>quick guided group with the teacher drilling a skill or they are 
>reading independently.  I am having a difficult time seeing the joy 
>in that model.  Where do the rich conversations that connect 
>children to each other and to literature take place in this current 
>model?  Was the model intended for accomplished readers?
>
>Leslie R. Stewart
>Grade 3 Teacher
>lstewart at branford.k12.ct.us<mailto:lstewart at branford.k12.ct.us>
>203-481-5386, 203-483-0749 FAX
>
>To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something 
>beautiful,  ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the 
>sudden flash of poetry.  ~ Gaston Bachelard ~
>
>
><http://thinkexist.com/birthday/september_24/>
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