They don't like busy work. They want to feel challenged without being overwhelmed. They want teachers they perceive as experts (I found that really interesting). They wanted teachers to acknowledge who they are, to make an effort to know them. Mind you, this was a study done with middle school readers (maybe high school too, don't remember), but there was this interview with one kid who LOVED all star wrestling and he talked about how it made him feel to have a teacher acknowledge it.
Made me connect to my experience with a little guy who had previously been retained as a kinder and had already labeled himself as a non-learner. I had been at a conference in the summer and found some time to visit an aquairium where I petted a shark. I saved my button for the first day of school. After two years in my classroom (looping), this kid wrote in his end of year reflection about how he knew I was the teacher for him from the very start (he had visited this SAME aquairium and was a shark nut) because I knew he loved sharks from the day we met! I have to say, I got lucky. But I also had a principal who did not bat an eye when I came to her in September of that year and said I needed to order $300 worth of shark books IMMEDIATELY. The book is Reading Don't Fix No Chevys and it is a great read. If you haven't discovered Wilhelm and Anderson, you may want to do some reading. ;-) Lori Jackson District Literacy Coach and Mentor Todd County School District Box 87 Mission SD 5755 ----- Original message ----- From: Joy <jwidm...@rocketmail.com> To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group <mosaic@literacyworkshop.org> Date: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 9:45 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Synthesizing with younger ages > > Lori, > Would you please give more specific details about minutia? > > > Joy/NC/4 > > How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go > hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Ljackson <ljack...@gwtc.net> > To: "beverleep...@gmail.com, Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email > Group" <mosaic@literacyworkshop.org> > Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 8:34:30 AM > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Synthesizing with younger ages > > Anderson and Wilhelm's research with adolescent male readers showed that kids > WANT to feel challenged--they want to know that teachers EXPECT them to be > able to think. What they don't want is to be overwhelmed with minutia. > > > > Lori Jackson > > > > > And it's a dangerous habit of mind or disposition to think that all > > learning is easy and you should never have to work To Understand. What a > > disservice to our young minds. > > - > > From: Joy <jwidm...@rocketmail.com> > > > > > Sally, > > > >.. . . I have this discussion with parents who are hyper-focused on their > >kids achievement, pushing them to perfection in every task they attempt. > >They think they are having high expectations, when in fact they aren't > >allowing them to struggle and come to the understanding naturally. > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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.
