A scary thought about the books being above level - here in NYC the mandated Social Studies text book has now been written one full grade below level. To me it is a watered down book with no meat. Much of the content has been removed from it to enable children to read it. We need to stop watering down content and ask ourselves why the majority of students can't read grade level materials. For those who can't, it would be great to have a resource that has the content below grade level. I disagree with creating a book for ALL students that is below level. As for using the basal, or SS text, whole class I totally agree. When I was forced to use the basal I used it in small groups rather than whole class. The children had a minilesson and then we used a piece of the basal in small group setting. I was able to have students use strategies to make sense of difficult text when it was above level. It was not the best way to go, but I made it fit. Then for independent reading they read books on their own reading level.
Laura -----Original Message----- From: soozq55...@aol.com To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Sat, Jul 10, 2010 5:47 pm Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Chapter 1 (Book Whisperer) I don't disagree that new teachers need lots of support and let's face it if we all look back on our 1st year, it was on the job training. Our district used to provide mentor teachers to new teachers for up to 3 years but the money has dried up for that. Time was also alotted for new teachers to go and visit classrooms to address areas where they had the most need. My biggest issue with mandating of basal is that at the 4th grade level, they can be more than 2 years ahead of the reading level of my students. I had kids that didn't even know their Dolch words and I was supposed have them read Blue Willow?? That was my point. I agree that many of the literature is good and we might read it during a guided reading group but not whole class. Sue -----Original Message----- From: jvma...@comcast.net To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group <mosaic@literacyworkshop.org> Sent: Sat, Jul 10, 2010 11:09 am Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Chapter 1 (Book Whisperer) I am one who denigrated basals, but I do agree with Laura (see below). In fact, for many reasons, I think new teachers SHOULD start with basals. That is how we learn to teach reading in a traditional way as we gather our own reading theories--and the planning is done for them. Mosaic would have made no sense to me if I hadn't already had a foundation in teaching reading. Unfortunately, last year (when California could still afford new teachers), I got in trouble for recommending that our newbies use the basal for a year. They were foundering with comprehension strategies and needed a foothold. Alas. When I taught 3rd grade and focused on comprehension strategies, I used the basal as an anthology and we read almost all of the selections. It seems to me that most basals have excellent selections these days. My objection to the 5th grade basal is that many of the selections are excerpts and they leave students feeling unfinished and dissatisfied. Sorry this is so disjointed--you can see I still have mixed feelings about basals. What I detest most is the way the publishers throw waaaaay too much thoughtless busywork into "a week" and don't give kids a chance to learn. But, as you may glean from my thoughts, I still think basals have some value. Judy (((Laura: I think the main reason schools are adopting basals is a lack of trust in teacher knowledge. To play devil's advocate, not all teachers come to the profession prepared to teach. Put a basal in the hands of a less seasoned teacher and perhaps you'll have a chance at good instruction. The more seasoned teachers do not need it of course. I think this all speaks to the level of preparedness our teachers are coming out of university with. ))) _______________________________________________ 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. _______________________________________________ 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.
