You make great points Renee! Also, the students being pulled out of these "fun" parts of the day will resent it. These activities are the very things that keep the "struggling" student motivated to come to school -it certainly is phonics practice or worksheets. Jan You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother. -Albert Einstein "*If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.*" Albert Einstein
On Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 7:54 AM, Renee <phoenix...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > Oh my..... I SOOOOO disagree with this! No child should be excluded from > equal access to the curriculum, and that includes Art, Music, P.E., or > whatever else, no matter where they are performing. In fact, I would say > that low-performing children might need these parts of curriculum most of > all.... to help them see and experience the grand intertwining of all parts > of learning. Children who are "underperforming" according to some > standardized assessment shouldn't be punished and have their curriculum > narrowed down. Children don't need *more* reading instruction, they need > *better* reading instruction (and in my opinion, that means more actual > reading and less actual drilling). > > I understand too well the frustration of having students pulled out of > class for small group instruction and in fact I am not particularly > supportive of trading students around among teachers that people do so much > of these days. But narrow the curriculum because a child is reading below > grade level? Sorry..... can't support that one. > > Some food for thought: > > 10 Lessons the Arts Teach > > 1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative > relationships. > Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, > in the arts, it > is judgment rather than rules that prevail. > 2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution > and that questions can have more than one answer. > 3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. > One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret > the world. > 4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving > purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. > Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to > the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds. > 5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form > nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not > define the limits of our cognition. > 6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. > The arts traffic in subtleties. > 7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. > All art forms employ some means through which images become real. > 8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. > When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, > they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do > the job. > 9. The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source > and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we > are capable of feeling. > 10. The arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young > what adults believe is important. > > SOURCE: Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In Chapter 4, > What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. > Available from NAEA Publications. NAEA grants reprint permission for this > excerpt from Ten Lessons with proper acknowledgment of its source and NAEA. > > > Renee > > > On Jul 16, 2011, at 3:13 PM, Amy Lesemann wrote: > > We had arguments about this, and I lost until a new teacher came in and >> supported me. Frankly, if a student is 2 or more years- even less, frankly >> - >> then they really do need to sacrifice music, or art, or another special >> for >> extra reading instruction, and stay in the regular class for regular >> reading >> instruction. Before I got that extra vote in the faculty meetings, the >> remedial kids were getting pulled out of their regular classes to meet >> with >> me...so they were getting exactly the same amount of instruction as >> everyone >> else. That's not the idea. They should be participating in reading and >> writing workshop, and then going to the specialist to target their weak >> areas - in phonics, using context clues, and so on. >> >> Good luck! >> >> -- >> Amy Lesemann, Reading Specialist and Director, Independent Learning Center >> St. Thomas the Apostle Elementary School >> > > > " What was once educationally significant, but difficult to measure, has > been replaced by what is insignificant and easy to measure. So now we test > how well we have taught what we do not value." > — Art Costa, emeritus professor, California State University > > > > ______________________________**_________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/**mailman/options/mosaic_** > literacyworkshop.org<http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org> > > Search the MOSAIC archives at > http://snipurl.com/**MosaicArchive<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
