Bill, I have seen this also and it is a general complaint of middle school teachers. I believe that yes, they are satisfied with minimal answers, but I also think that their confidence in answering deeply is very low. They are hesitant to really answer for fear of looking dumb. I think this stems from little deep discussion at home and lack of practice in the earlier grades. I have had good results with at-risk middle school students when we used guided reading groups so they were not speaking in front of the whole group, used lots of teacher modeling of how to think, and praised and praised and praised their efforts. I am always amazed at how astute they really are and how much they enjoy feeling smart. They just beam with pride when they make a fabulous comment! Marsha _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.
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