Thank you for all of these posts so far. I agree that communication with the classroom teacher is essential and that was always a difficulty even with Reading Recovery. We invented/created different forms yet never seemed to hit on the one that worked, and I admit I wasn't consistent.
We have PLC's (Professional Learning Communities) once a week, yet I am not always in the building where I do interventions nor is that always the topic of discussion. At this point, we need to spend more time on it. We are a Flint, Michigan district and all but one of our buildings are Title 1. The one that isn't is now "Targeted Assistance", but will become full Title1 this year. Intervention and professional development are priorities! I also agree that the "Merry-go-Round" effect is kooky. We are making it a priority to be in the classroom during Reading Workshop, and make our pull-out time "in addition to" regular classroom reading instruction. This in itself is extremely difficult as you well know...important teaching and learning is always occurring and children cannot miss writing or math either. We have just read an interesting book (of course it is at school and the "correct" name is escaping me). It is about "Catch-up Growth" and documents the Kennewick, Washington School District progress toward the goal of 90% of 3rd graders reading at grade level. It was actually published by the district. I am not making a hard sell for the book, although it has some very interesting perspectives. One of the most interesting in the protected 120 minutes for literacy in which everyone in the school participates! Even the PE teacher is teaching reading. Their paraprofessionals are well trained and indispensable. There are definitely approaches in the book that I do not agree with, BUT it is thought-provoking and they did make their goal. We are very familiar with the Linda Dorn model and have used her web site extensively. Being a district formerly using Reading Recovery ): the small group, strategy based approach is wonderful. All work is done in the context of reading/writing...something I would have a hard time living without. I guess one of the major things we are grappling with is being able to address the needs of the teachers and children without purchasing a program. Our research base would be Marie Clay, Linda Dorn, etc. Is this possible, legal? A number of years ago our Title 1 facilitators created...Ok I will say it (a program) that they call ELI (Early Literacy Intervention). It is based completely on Reading Recovery and is used by our paraprofessionals. It is somewhat scripted, yet allows for tutor adaptation depending on the needs of the child. It is also strategy-based. Our Research and Assessment Administrator does not like it! He claims it is not research-based. So we have this dilemma. I have been rambling after the morning coffee. I love this LISTSERV and learn so much. Thanks for listening and sharing so freely. Susan -- Susan Nugent "We cannot discover new oceans unless we have the courage to lose sight of the shore." - unknown ---- "Waingort Jimenez wrote: > Hi Kare, > There is such a document! I got it from the Choice Literacy Site. I cannot > remember the name of the document but if you do a search on the site itself > you may be able to find it. If I can track mine down in the next day or two > I'll send more information. The idea is that the communication between > classroom teacher and specialist that often happens in the hallway on the way > somewhere else take place on paper instead. > Elisa > > Elisa Waingort > Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual > Dalhousie Elementary > Calgary, Canada > > In > a perfect world, someone would design a quick fill in the blanks type > of memo that both teachers would fill out and send to the other at > regular intervals. > > Kare > > > _______________________________________________ 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.
