Elisa and others,
I've been following this conversation with much interest (as I'm sure many
are!) and I think I've already piped in with this, but I need to bring it up
again (it's possible I never did in the first place, I'm almost 6 months
pregnant and I left my brain at about 8 weeks!). Last month's issue of The
Reading Teacher had an article about SSR (which for me is simply Independent
Reading...it's what kids do while I do guided reading). For me, the premise of
the article was how federal dollars will most likely never be used to support
something like SSR because they cannot do "medical research" to PROVE that it
works. Even though I've seen test scores go up from a group that got "Guided
Reading" using their SS textbooks (I wish I were kidding) their entire 5th
grade year. As 6th graders they recieved Guided Reading and lots of choice
independent reading time from me and their reading scores went up. While this
is not "reasearch" that can prove anything,
it's pretty strong evidence for me to continue how I teach reading to upper
grades.
Unfortunately, the feds need programs and other methods of teaching reading to
be tested quantitatively. Which, is not a reality in schools. There is no
fair playing field when it comes to research on teaching reading. Until
"outsiders" (non educators who direct our policies whether they be gov't or
buisness) realize that schools are NOT clinical places where you can have
strict control groups this will always be the case. Things like Mosaic of
Thought will not have support until someone can magically produce a control
group of kids that can be tested "fairly."
I hope I made sense!
Kristin Mitchell/4th/CO
"Be the change you want to see in the world"
-Ghandi
Each child is different and deserves different approaches to learning based on
a solid philosophy backed up by pedagogical principles and research (expert and
teacher).
Elisa
Elisa Waingort
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