In the good old days, long before NCLB and when teachers were treated more like people who actually knew what they were doing, we used to have what were called "teachable moments." When my son, (now age 32) was in third grade, he had a fantastic teacher who lived well outside the box. I was helping in class one day during reading time when there was a big racket up on the roof. The teacher sent out a child to find out what was going on. The student came back to say that there were men working on the roof. Soon after that, the electricity went off. The teacher asked the kids why they thought that happened. Lots of responses, all over the board. So the teacher suggested they call the electric company. He sent a child to the office to make the call (in those days, we did not have phones in our classrooms). Of course, the child came back with a note from the secretary wanting clarification, yadda yadda, but in the end the child made the call. What did kids learn here? Problem solving. Inferencing. Cause and effect. etc etc etc.
I shudder to think what happens these days when teachers are mandated to get *this* much done in *this* amount of time, and to teach *this* skill on *this* day. Frankly, I long for the days when we weren't so nit-picky about discrete things and looked at education with a larger view. In general. Just thinking on a Saturday morning.... Renee On Sep 27, 2008, at 8:11 AM, jan sanders wrote: > Hi Mary- > If the mini-lessons aren't mini, then perhaps they have more than one > teaching point? Too much at once? Could the lesson be broken down in > parts over two or three days? .... > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Mary Manges<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Hi everyone, > I'm wondering how long most of you have each day for teaching > language > arts? "The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen." ~ Frank Lloyd Wright _______________________________________________ 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.
