Yes and no, Lori. I can see giving a teacher a loose script to read through when first trying something out. The Investigations math program does something like this and they even have dialogue involving children in the classroom. I've used these supports from time to time. In fact, to prepare for two workshops I recently gave at our local Teacher's Convention, I did just that for myself. It was more a way for me to prepare than something I necessarily stuck to throughout my presentation. The DI programs expect you to follow their scripts as they are written. I also do not equate detailed lesson plans with scripts. Detailed lesson plans guide teachers along, as you say. They help you rehearse for when you need to do a lesson in front of a group of children. They shouldn't dictate everything you do in the classroom. There's a funny thing in all of this, though. Thinking teachers will naturally deviate from the script once they realize that it's not working for all children. This is where the real teaching comes in. Elisa
Elisa Waingort Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual Dalhousie Elementary Calgary, Canada The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart. —Helen Keller Visit my blog, A Teacher's Ruminations, and post a message. http://waingortgrade2spanishbilingual.blogspot.com/ I think what Debbie may be saying is that a script may somehow apprentice a teacher to better practice and techniques. I see some worth in this belief. Getting non-traditionally certified folks started with guided reading, I typically model for one week--sharing very, very detailed lesson plans which could be called scripts, I suppose. Then we write a set of these kinds of plans together--sometimes for a few weeks, amidst much talk of the children, their needs and the educational possibilities for the books in front of us. I do see this as apprenticeship--a means of getting started. The difference is, I go away. Granted I come back from time to time, but my goal is to refine practice rather than to define practice, working within the guidelines established by our district for balanced literacy instruction. The little books we use offer us many possibilities for focus in instruction, according to student need. The same story could be used instructionally to teacher text previewing, fluency, sentence structure and could indicate many possibilities for contextualized word study. Until these scripted programs come with a 'choose your own ending' option, I am just not sure it is fair to say that they will ensure the best literacy education possible for every student. The person most responsible for that has to be the classroom teacher. Lori Jackson ----- Original message ----- From: Waingort Jimenez, Elisa <elwaingor...@cbe.ab.ca> To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group <mosaic@literacyworkshop.org> Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 6:46 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] scripts and thinking > Debbie, > And, whose idea is this learning "to teach the right way" that these DI > scripts spouse? There is no right way to teach. There are philosophies > which then guide our teaching practices. The teaching practices in DI > programs are clearly scripted so that there is minimal out of the box > thinking and everyone is on the same step at the same time (philosophy). > There is no regard for different size thinking, rather there is disregard for > the messy life of the classroom. > Elisa > > Elisa Waingort > Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual > Dalhousie Elementary > Calgary, Canada > > The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even > touched. They must be felt within the heart. > -Helen Keller > > Visit my blog, A Teacher's Ruminations, and post a message. > http://waingortgrade2spanishbilingual.blogspot.com/ > > > Scripts make sure we "learn to teach the right way" so that we can then > incorporate those techniques and make them our own. > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > > _______________________________________________ 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.
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