Suzanne,
You bring up an important point. The reason many of us fall into the trap of
making activities to go with the book is to have something to show the kids
"got it". We also want a product to put in a portfolio to demonstrate to
administrators that the children did indeed do the work. There isn't a trust
in the fact that given the opportunity to do so, kids will read. I know that
several teachers I have worked with have said the kids are not really reading
during independent reading. I feel it is because they are not engaged, or
invested in the text they are reading. We as teachers have to trust that if we
get the right books into kids hands they will be engaged and reading. It is a
great leap of faith.
Laura
-----Original Message-----
From: suzteac...@aol.com
To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org
Sent: Tue, Jul 6, 2010 12:04 pm
Subject: [MOSAIC] Chapter 1 (Book Whisperer)
1) What were your first experiences as a teacher of reading? Discuss the
students, and situations, you encountered.
I started teaching 1st grade in 1985. I was given a basal reading
series and 3 reading groups, already assigned to homogeneous grouping,
based on Kindergarten progress. The principal that hired me, retired in
December, and I started with a brand new principal in January. It was her
first
job as a principal and she was quite excited to send six K and 1 teachers to
a workshop and then a graduate level course on "Whole Language." I was then
able to branch away from using the basal and try out new ideas.
2) What did you do in response to your first attempts at teaching reading?
I continued to read and keep myself current about what was
important in teaching first graders to read. I attended several whole language
conferences and continued to learn how important good literature is to
teaching a love of reading.
3) How did these first experiences, and your background as a reader, shape
who you are as an educator today?
I was able to prove to myself immediately that using the basal
alone wasn't the best way to tech reading. I was reassured about the
importance of read alouds and children's literature as texts to use to teach
reading.
4) Open response to the reading
Although I was fortunate enough to have a lot of good training,
changing grade levels and difficult demands on teachers, made me begin to
seek help in looking for teaching guides to make my life easier. Like Donalyn,
I would plan lesson after lesson, to help me "teach" certain books.
Although some of these ideas have turned out to be good activities, the "book
guides" I made, ruined the books for the kids. I still catch myself asking the
kids to "do" too much with some of the books they read. I guess it boils
down to the accountability factor, and trying to be sure to meet all of the
standards, as well as prepare my students for the tests.
Suzanne /4/NY
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