Well, looks like I should have read Sally's post before I responded! I highly recommend both of Allington's newer books about struggling readers and RTI.
Sent via DROID on Verizon Wireless -----Original message----- From: Sally Thomas <sally.thom...@verizon.net> To: mosaic listserve <mosaic@literacyworkshop.org> Sent: Sun, Jul 17, 2011 17:51:59 GMT+00:00 Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] adding instruction for remedial... I agree with you Renee. So I would ask what would Allington say to do. I know one of his points in his RTI book is that then during the other parts of the curriculum, teachers should differentiate the literacy tasks....e.g. Have social studies texts available at varying levels of difficulty or adapt texts so that kids behind can use that reading as well to ramp up their reading mileage and skills. What about art/music etc....can then integrate "some" meaningful literacy as part of their curriculum - agreed that it should never take over the experienctial part of that subject. And what then about after school additional reading help? Just curious what is happening "out there" in the schools and what Allington would say. I had his website (or blog? I forget) for awhile. Would love to ask him. And of course I'm curious what you would think of any of these possibilities. I totally agree that a big issue is that reading is not being taught well and to its fullest possibilities, in part because of NCLB and reading first and so on. I think you would also agreee with me that it wasn't well taught by many teachers in the past either. In the late 80s and 90s as I got stronger as a reading teacher, I bemoaned the lack of knowledge about reading in many of the teachers I saw around me! Sally On 7/17/11 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 > > 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
