I'm sure that I was an above average reader through high school. I started reading before I started school. As a senior in high school I took a Great Books class. We started with reading Mortimer Adler's book HOW TO READ A BOOK.
Although I did great on standardized tests, and impressed my teachers with my ability to write about and talk about what I read, that book opened my eyes to a new level of reading. I don't remember Adler writing explicitly about strategies, but I do think that was what he was talking about. He opened my eyes to having a conversation with a book. It was a great class, and I think that even good readers (like I was) can still get better. Jan -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > In the new edition of Mosaic of Thought, this very issue is addressed. > On page 37, it says "comprehension strategies are tools for understanding > across the curriculum." > I do think in the primary grades it is important to explicitly teach the > strategies to give students the language to talk about their reading. > We are still struggling with what to teach the fluent readers and above > grade level readers in the intermediate and junior high grades. I need to > read the Atwell text; perhaps that will answer my questions. > Carol > > >> Sometimes I wonder if we lose sight of the > >> purpose of the strategies. I have always used them as a tool, not a > >> skill. I > >> think if I taught them as a skill I would be interested in seeing > >> them apply > >> it more, but it being a tool, I can only watch to see if they use it > >> to help > >> them. > > > > I've been thinking about this too and I also wonder if we have turned a > > tool into a skill, much as we have done with phonics and fluency. What > > I mean is that instead of having those strategies based on need and > > contingency, we deconstruct them, drill them and in doing that, we move > > them to the forefront of not just our instruction, but in the kids' > > minds as well. When that happens, we have displaced the goal of > > reading. We have made the goal-- in the kids' minds and in our > > instruction and our assessment-- phonics or strategies or fluency-- > > instead of comprehension and engagement with the text. We compound this > > by the way we assess. Instead of monitoring for comprehension, I see > > the trend as assessing for what should be ONLY the tool-- the phonics, > > the fluency, or even the strategies. > > > > When we do that, rather than have those tools serve our broader goal of > > comprehension and engagement in text, we elevate the tools to a status > > they don't deserve in the greater scheme of things and that might even > > interfere with what should be our goal. We give kids the impression > > that phonics, or fluency or even strategies is what reading is all > > about. The research shows that as soon as kids focus on the skills > > instead of the big picture, comprehension suffers. That is consistent > > in the research. > > > > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
