I struggle with the word "balance." What is balanced about teaching a whole class of learners? Some need this and some need that and some need something else. Each child is different and deserves to have reading instruction tailored to his/her need at that specific point in time. I do this in K/1 by running reading and writing workshops and spending a lot of time sitting next to a child, figuring out how that child makes sense of a particular text. I have found this approach so much more valuable than balancing my instructional time between the big 5. And I can address all of the reading components in that one little sitting. What better place to connect the components of reading than while sitting next to a child in the act of reading or writing.
I think a lot of problems are born when teachers fail to know their children well. This means knowing what the child is able to do and understand and knowing what the next best step is to move that child further. Many problems occur when the steps are made for giants. Ruby ----- Original Message ---- From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 11:35:42 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] phonemic awareness/segmentation help wanted How much meaning is there in DIBELS assessments that require students to bark out nonsense syllables in record time? Above is one of the perfect examples of the imbalance... I guess my point has been misinterpreted. I am agreeing with others, to balance all components of reading we do need to connect one to another. We should never get so focused on one, that we leave another behind. I don't think any can of worms has been opened here, I think the discussion is great. I think balance is something many struggle with and discussing how we try to keep that balance and keep meaning as the targeted goal is a perfect discussion for this group. Enjoying the dialogue, Terry/FL _______________________________________________ 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.
