Hi Bonita, Debbie and others, I have a different perspective on what you describe below. I'm curious as to what others think about this. I have an expectation in my class that during independent reading time the children may read with one other person but no more. I tell my kids that the reason for this is so they get time to read. If there are more than two children on a book then some will dominate while others will not get the time reading that they need so they can read that challenging book that they have in their desk. If the book being read is not a big book then there's the question of whether or not everyone can see the pages. Of course, this can be fixed if there are multiple copies of a book, which isn't always the case. The only way you get better at reading is by reading. Having said that, I too have noticed that kids do want to get together in larger groups to share the books they're reading. This is different and I will be making more time for this for those kids that want to do this. But this is really about sharing and not about reading. The purpose is social, I think. Even though kids choose to get in groups to do round robin reading I'm not sure I would let this go on indefinitely or encourage it. I think we have to be careful that in our haste to validate choice we are not sacrificing learning. I'm thinking out loud here and I know I've probably left out something that would help clarify what I'm saying so that people don't jump all over my back but I'll leave it at this for now.
I also find this insteresting about the boy groups choosing to read aloud. At first I was going to say it's about the social nature of reading but I think it has more to do with boys and their need to talk and move around rather than sitting still. I have two daughters and one son. My son will be 3 at the end of October. He is very different from my girls. He purposely takes things apart, destroys really, and moves around ALL the time. When I read to him he has little tolerance for books that take a long time to get to where they're going. My daughters were not like that. When they were little (they're now 19 and 15) they didn't rip things up at will or take things apart or challenge us. You could actually walk with them down a grocery aisle without too many disruptions. Now that I have a son I am paying closer attention to the boys in my class and some of the differences I notice. Although I knew these in my head before I wasn't feeling them in my heart. I am not about accentuating the differences so that they become stereotypical but I am about being aware that there are differences and that we need to study them so that we can know how best to help our students learn. One of my students (grade 1) earlier this year said to me, "Señora Waingort, you only have girl books in this class about fairies and stuff like that. When are you going to get some boy books?" That made me stop and take notice. I hadn't though about it too much before but now I started seeing what he was saying everywhere. BTW, I read or heard somewhere that there are just as many differences among boys (maybe more) than there are between boys and girls in terms of reading, behaviors, etc. Elisa Waingort Calgary, Canada PS I have heard other teachers talk about the boys in their class not wanting to read. To be honest, that was never my problem. Finding good non fiction books for our classroom library was my challenge. I loved it! ---- Debbie Goodis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I think we really put this in perspective when we consider the alternative. > What teacher is going to discourage the child from reading out loud in or to > a group of peers. We wouldn't do that, right? So, this tells me to let it > happen. It's such and incredible moment of interaction and community. > Debbie Yes. That is what I decided when it kept happening in my room when they had choice. I think they liked being on the same page together reading aloud because they liked to gasp, laugh, and groan together. I did have to set some ground rules down on the "help" part because some students would have a tendency to jump in quickly when a student had any trouble with a word. Still, they all continuously chose to read like this. Only a few reading groups went for the silent read around or the select a page to meet up on. Interestingly, when I asked the students about this choice, some said they liked hearing the words together, and some said the read around helped them to stay focused whereas reading alone did not. When they also chose their own groups, boy groups almost every time chose the read around--why do you think that is so? :)Bonita _______________________________________________ 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.
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