This is not a phenomenon for teachers or indeed for students. I have seen this happen over and over again with children who finally ‘discover’ reading. It’s the student who also for a period of time prefers the library to outdoor recess, who never has a book out of their hand. Remember when you finally learned how to ride a bike and never wanted to get off? Up and down the street and your parents calling you in and you calling back one more minute. I don’t remember anyone saying, well write about it, or track how many miles you ride, or ride a bigger or smaller bike now to see how good you really are. It was understood that you were relishing your new skills, enjoying it to the maximum, taking every opportunity to enjoy and practice now that you no longer wobbled and lacked confidence. You rode and rode and rode until one day you found the basketball and you started shooting baskets with the same determination but you still rode your bike every day. The role of the teacher here it to look at the overall gains and learning taking place with the reading and the fast pace of new learning with vocabulary, comprehension and then actual transference to writing skills. It’s important to look too at what the background of this student is. Was he always a reader? Are there books at home? Are there opportunities at home to read? And importantly, how much time is offered in the classroom at other times for independent reading? Is there a problem at home? Is this an escape? Or is this a far more engaging option?
I am guessing the teacher is looking for establishing balance for this student and balance is a skill that needs assistance and some element of self-evaluation by the student. Are there rubrics or exemplars by which the student is measuring the quality of his rushed work? At grade four the student is more than able to now make judgments about how well his work compares to the expectation. This could be a good place to start. But, my final word on this. Let him ‘ride his bike’ but with some ‘qualifiers’ (helmet, distance, time) stated. What a joyful problem this is. --- On Thu, 21/4/11, judy fiene <jfie...@gmail.com> wrote: From: judy fiene <jfie...@gmail.com> Subject: [MOSAIC] Suggestions needed To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group" <mosaic@literacyworkshop.org> Received: Thursday, 21 April, 2011, 12:22 AM Hi All, I'm looking for suggestions on what to do with a 4th grade boy who likes to read and won't do anything else but read (I know, hard to believe). He reads instead of doing his homework. He finishes his in-class schoolwork fast in order to read. The teacher tells her class that if they finish their work early they could read. So, this fellow finishes early -- rushing -- and then reads. He has become somewhat passive in wanting to do anything but read. Any ideas on how to help his learning be more enriched because of his willingness to read?? Judy Education would be so much more effective if its purpose were to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they don't know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it." --Sir William Haley, British newspaper editor and broadcasting administrator Please consider the environment before printing this message. _______________________________________________ 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.
