Good morning everyone, Here's my chapter 1 response:
At the beginning of my teaching career whole language was huge. Novels and novel units were the way to teach and engage students in reading. Actually teaching reading this way was mostly positive because it was new to the students and took them away from traditional basal reading. Although teaching novels was mostly positive, I was still frustrated with meeting all the students needs and reading interests. My own children, who are great readers and love to read, would tell me how they disliked all the activities the teachers gave with the books. They would ask me Why cant we just read the book? This had me thinking. . .There has to be a better way to teach reading? So in the words of Ellin Keene I became a fervent learner of teaching reading. I became obsessed with reading and studying works from Patricia Cunningham, Cheryl Sigman, Stephanie Harvey, Ellin Keene, and now of course Donalyn Miller. Now, I really do not like the activities and projects. I focus more on discussion and journal writing. It has made reading much more authentic. Rhonda _______________________________________________ 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.
