Sorry-I had trouble getting it through the first few times I tried-it's my first response. Good luck next week. When you were talking about the metacognition aspect it made me think of a lesson from Strategies That Work (I think) where the teacher reads aloud and when she is thinking, she holds up a thinking bubble where her face shows through. I've done it with one of our literacy coaches and eventually the children are sharing their thinking "in the bubble" while I read. I can't wait to hear how your week goes!
From: Cynthia Powers Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 1:30 PM To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group' Subject: RE: [MOSAIC] questions, questions Heather, I'm not sure if others have responded yet but I can answer some of your questions with what I do. When I start Reading Workshop with my mini lesson, it is usually a book above their reading level-most times a picture book of some sort. I use this book to model the strategy I am wanting them to start making their own. So, for connections I may use Now One Foot, Now The Other by Tomie de Paola. I would model making connections (what I’m thinking, connections I’m making and how it helps me to understand) in a think aloud and later, during their independent reading time of the workshop, they are to try using that strategy with the books they have in their book holders (5 books of their choice-hopefully “just-right” or at their level for them). At the end of the workshop time, we meet whole group to report back what we’re trying and how it’s working. Our time is usually about 45min- 1 hour, later in the year sometimes longer. Now, I just thought of this….during the 6 weeks or so that I focus on a strategy the mini lesson changes. At the start of a strategy unit I am modeling, modeling, modeling! As the lessons progress I invite them to join in the read aloud and practice using the strategy. I may stop at different points during a story and have them record on sticky notes and a blank paper with just the book title on top what they are connecting to in the story. Eventually my goal is that they all start using their schema and connections to more deeply understand the story on their own. I hope that helps, just how I’ve been trying to work with my class. Cindy (IL, Grade 1) _______________________________________________ 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.