Re: [MOSAIC] Good book to model the think aloud strategy to students with disabilities
To both Heather and Loretta, You might want to look into using scrolls and textmapping: www.textmapping.org For Loretta, this approach is an excellent fit for think alouds. For Heather, this will not help with the ELA exam, but it will help in class -- less so for passages than for more substantial texts such as chapters and whole books. As an ADHD/LD adult, I can identify with the notetaking problems -- with the anxiety caused by not being able to write and listen, of not having time to process before I write, of not knowing what to do at the moment when, as it always does, the structures that I've planned for structured notetaking break down. The larger issue here is that the current methods don't work so well for disabled learners. New, out-of-the-box approaches are needed -- and scrolls and textmapping are one such approach. It's a simple idea, but it really does work very well. More information: * http://www.textmapping.org/whWorkshopNotes.html * http://www.textmapping.org/comments.html Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 email: dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org facebook: http://www.facebook.com/textmapping linked in: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davemiddlebrook twitter: http://twitter.com/davemiddlebrook pinterest: http://pinterest.com/source/textmapping.org/ - Original Message - From: loretta kelly lorettalke...@hotmail.com To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Friday, February 01, 2013 6:32 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Good book to model the think aloud strategy to students with disabilities Dear everyone,I am currently taking the class Methods of Teaching Students with Disabilities. Also, I teach junior high students with autism and other cognitive delays. I have to present a lessonin my methods class next week, and I was thinking of modeling the think aloud strategy. Does anyone have a great suggestion of a particular book that is really good for this lesson? Also, I am open to other suggestions regarding ideas for this lesson I will be presenting next Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013. Thanks in advance. Loretta kellylke...@seal-il.com(630) 728-3022lorettalke...@hotmail.com From: heather_waymo...@hflcsd.org To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:59:52 -0500 Subject: [MOSAIC] Listening Comprehension I've got a high school student that I'm struggling to find appropriate strategies for. On our 11th grade state ELA exam students must listen to a passage read orally twice. They are given 5 minutes between readings where they may look at the questions. They may take notes at any point in time. Students then answer a few multiple choice questions. This student LOOKS like an excellent listener - eyes and ears on the speaker, pen in hand taking notes, and focused in all regards. Yet, the student then misses the majority of the comprehension questions. I've noticed the same thing while doing listening activities in my class. We've tried not taking notes, as she has expressed that she misses important information because she's focusing on writing her notes. We've tried structured notes - thinking about what type of information is generally presented in these passages and creating a quick visual plan of what to listen for. However, I'm still not seeing improvement. Ideas? Heather Waymouth High School Literacy Specialist Honeoye Falls - Lima High School heather_waymo...@hflcsd.org (585)-624-7050 Always show the you in you that makes you who you are. - Chidinma Obietikponah STATEMENT OF CONFIDENTIALITY This email message and any attachments may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are prohibited from using the information in any way, including but not limited to disclosure of, copying, forwarding or acting in reliance on the contents. If you have received this email by error, please immediately notify me by return email and delete it from your email system. ___ 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
Re: [MOSAIC] Rigor of Common Core in Kindergarten
I encountered a similar situation in a preschool -- a three-year-old boy who spoke very little. Much like the girl described by Pat in her post, below, Xavier would respond with body language and facial expressions, but he would't talk. For story time, I unrolled a scroll of Harold and the Purple Crayon. I had the children retell the story by taking turns doing picture walks -- real walks -- along the scroll. Xavier volunteered to go first. He used his fingers and body to communicate -- and he had a lot to say (without speaking, of course!). Of all the retells, his was the best. He really understood the big picture -- and how the details of the story went together to make a whole. With the scroll layed wide open and the whole story in full view, the children in that 3s class were able to communicate their thinking much more easily than they would have if we had been restricted to the fragmented display provided by the bound book version of this story. The result was real engagement and, at a three-year-old-appropriate level, some very sophisticated thinking (lots of questions, inferences, connections, etc). This was the kind of Mosaic-inspired book-talk that many on this listserve would recognize -- and it was quite rigorous, as well as hands-on, social, and lots of fun. Which leads me back to this thread, which is (mostly) about the Common Core and standardized testing, and to what it means to apply this level of rigor to kindergarten and preschool. The current stampede towards standardized testing is a disaster -- and it is not going away anytime soon. It is an ill-informed quick-fix-fantasy, fueled by politics and money. It will run it's course, if only because it can. It is a juggernaut. But the Common Core is, in my view, a very different animal. I like it -- or at least I like it in the early grades, which is the part of the CCCS that I have studied most carefully. I can't speak for Ellin Keene or Debbie Miller, Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis, or Ruth Shagoury and Andie Cunningham, or any of the other authors who have inspired me and informed my thinking about reading, but I see in the Common Core their influence (even if indirect). I hope that this does not offend or horrify them. Assuming that I am right about this -- that the CCCS are, to put a simple label on them, Mosaic-friendly -- then here's my concern: If we don't take ownership of the CCCS, those who see testing as the solution will. They will hijack a good idea, and turn it into a bad one. I think that the Common Core Standards, as they now stand, get things mostly right. They see reading as thinking, as problem solving, as social interaction, and as hands on learning and exploration. Am I wrong? If so, gently, please: I am interested in reading your thoughts on this! Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 email: dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org facebook: http://www.facebook.com/textmapping linked in: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davemiddlebrook twitter: http://twitter.com/davemiddlebrook pinterest: http://pinterest.com/source/textmapping.org/ - Original Message - From: Patricia Kimathi pkima...@earthlink.net To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2012 1:18 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Rigor of Common Core in Kindergarten Years ago when I taught kindergarten. I had one young lady who would not talk. But I could see her brain working when we talked about things. She would smile or look up or light up. I just knew something was going on. She would perform simple task witht eh rest of the clas just would not talk. Her parents said she talked at home. I just waited and gave her the same attention as anyone else. Never changed the way I treaated her included her in every discussion. The other students of course followed my lead. One day I asked her something and she started talking in full complete sentences and did not stop until she went to first grade. It was an unbelievable experience. We never do know what is going on in a child's mind. PatK On Sep 17, 2012, at 8:46 PM, Beverlee Paul wrote: One difference between a child and an engine is that you can see into an engine as it makes its way down the assembly line and so you know exactly what has been done and what is left to do. We're just plain foolish if we thi PatK ___ 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
Re: [MOSAIC] Rigor of Common Core in Kindergarten
Philomena and Stephanie's comments, below, struck a real cord for me. As some of you know, I've been working on a book for an embarrassingly-long time. The working title is Unrolling the Book. It has grown from a single book, into a series (and I have grown older as my ideas and experiments and drafts have accumulated ...) I have spent the past several years working mostly in Pre-K classrooms, and I am closing in on a completed draft on the first book in the series. It covers Pre-K through grade 1, and very specifically focuses on how unrolled scrolls of picture books can be used to during story time -- and on an ongoing basis, throughout the day and over a number of days -- to engage very young children in authentic experiences with reading-as-thinking: problem solving, social interaction, hands on learning and exploration. Like so many of you, I was really bowled over by Mosaic of Thought, and by the many books that have followed from Ellin Keene and Susan Zimmermann and their colleagues at PEBC. When I began my work at the Kindergarten level, Andie Cunningham and Ruth Shagoury's Starting with Comprehension was a great inspriation. These books -- and the conversations on this listserv -- have really shaped my thinking. So I guess my comment is this: Testing and measurable skills have a place -- there is value in them -- but they have become a juggernaut driven by politics and money. That juggernaut is not a good thing. It is important to keep our eyes on the prize -- which is the kind of teaching and learning that people such as Elllin Keene, Debbie Miller, Andie Cunningham, Ruth Shagoury, and some of the members of this listserve have written about in great detail. They have shown us the way. It is important not to lose sight of reading-as-thinking, as problem solving, social interaction, hands on learning and exploration. I see the juggernaut reaching back into Kindergarten. Let's take Mosaic back there, too! Let's take it all the way back to preschool! Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 email: dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org facebook: http://www.facebook.com/textmapping linked in: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davemiddlebrook twitter: http://twitter.com/davemiddlebrook pinterest: http://pinterest.com/source/textmapping.org/ - Original Message - From: stephaniep...@aol.com To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2012 11:04 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Rigor of Common Core in Kindergarten I agree. Please publish this or let me know if I can find it on ERIC or?where I can read the whole report. I would love to read more of this.?I have taught 5 years in prek and now the last 10 in Kindergarten at a public school. In?my school (NYC? here) the expectation is that the children exit on an FP lev. of E- D with introduction and E without introduction. We?had done away with the handwriting program and now only use the Handwriting without tears program and fundations writing component??as an academic intervention in select classes.Yet??there is an expectation that?the children?have at minimum of 5 publishing parties a year for self generated writing units. While I agree that if the child is capable you should take them to their highest acamdemic heights it should not be at the cost of their childhood memories and creating authentic learning experiences. I've read articles about a headstart /pre k programs that did scantron bubble testing with 4 year olds. One principal removed blocks in the class for fear that they could? inflict injury and another principal wonder why there were so many toys and crayons in kindergarten!? It seemes to me that?many of ?the basic principals and opportunities?that introduce our youngest learners to problem solving, social interaction and hands on learning and exploration experiences, are suffocated and swapped out for activites that are in fact not developmental proven, appropriate and in fact seem designed to manufactor guided results NOT authentic learned responses or experiences. PLEASE publish this article! -Original Message- From: Mena lt;drmarinac...@aol.comgt; To: mosaic lt;mosaic@literacyworkshop.orggt; Sent: Sun, Sep 16, 2012 6:49 am Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Rigor of Common Core in Kindergarten Ruth, You really need to publish your research. I would love for you to just share your introductory paragraph with the group! From, Mena Philomena Marinaccio-Eckel, Ph.D. Florida Atlantic University Dept. of Teaching and Learning College of Education 2912 College Ave. ES 214 Davie, FL 33314 Phone: 954-236-1070 Fax: 954-236-1050 -Original Message- From: Cathy lt;cag...@myfairpoint.netgt; To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group lt;mosaic@literacyworkshop.orggt
[MOSAIC] textmapping recommended in Georgia
Good news to share: The Georgia Department of Education is recommending scrolls and textmapping: https://www.georgiastandards.org/Frameworks/GSO%20Frameworks/Grade-5-Unit-2-Convince.pdf For the relevant section, search for text mapping. For those of you who are new to the list, scrolls are an excellent book format to use for teaching the strategies. When a picture book or textbook chapter is fully unrolled, students can see what is, quite literally, a strategic view of the text. It's a simple but powerful idea. More info. here: http://www.textmapping.org/whWorkshopNotes.html#introductionHead The Cornerstone Literacy Project has been using scrolls with schools in Muscogee County, GA, for several years now. I'm glad to see the GADoE adopting my work as well! - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 email: dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davemiddlebrook linked in: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davemiddlebrook twitter: http://twitter.com/davemiddlebrook ___ 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
Re: [MOSAIC] Help! Re: Ellen Closs' master's thesis
Laura Kump (the reading lady -- a longtime friend and supporter of this listserv, and a great resource) has it on her site: http://www.readinglady.com/mosaic/tools/TeachingReadingComprehensiontoStrugglingReaders-MastersThesisbyEllen.pdf - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: Troy F jayhawkrt...@gmail.com To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Cc: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 10:36 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Help! Re: Ellen Closs' master's thesis Sounds interesting. Where can I get this paper? Troy Fredde On Apr 6, 2011, at 8:13 AM, Megan Dorsay mdor...@sd735.org wrote: That looks like something I would love to read. Where can I locate this article? Megan Dorsay District Reading Specialist Skokie District 73.5 From: mosaic-bounces+mdorsay=sd735@literacyworkshop.org [mosaic-bounces+mdorsay=sd735@literacyworkshop.org] On Behalf Of June Schneider [jschnei...@paulding.k12.ga.us] Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2011 7:08 PM To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Subject: [MOSAIC] Help! Re: Ellen Closs' master's thesis I absolutely love Ms. Closs' Teaching Reading Comprehension to Struggling and At-Risk Readers: Strategies That Work paper. I would like to use it as one of my references in a literature review that I am writing for my master's degree, however, I cannot locate the date that it was written. If anyone can give me that date, I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much. June Schneider June Schneider EIP Teacher Sara Ragsdale Elementary ___ 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. Skokie School District 73 1/2 The information contained in this e-mail message is intended only for the confidential use of the recipient(s) named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you have received this document in error and that any review, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail, and delete the original 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. ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Science Fiction read aloud
Check out The Philip K. Dick Reader. It's a collection of his short stories. Short, easy reads, but lots of interesting ideas to talk about. You know his work, even if you think you've never heard of him. He's all over the culture: Blade Runner, Total Recall, Screamers, etc. He's a big name -- and deserves every bit of praise -- in sci fi. - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: JO NORBUTAS jo.norbu...@psd150.org To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 2:11 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Science Fiction read aloud any suggestions for high school struggling readers? sandra.he...@k12.sd.us 2/15/2011 2:14 PM Alistair in Outer Space by Marilyn Sadler Baloney (Henry P.)by Jon Scieska Cosmo and the Robot by J. Brian Pinkney Foating Home by David Getz June 29, 1999 by David Wiesner Sector 7 by David Wiesner Space Case by James Marshall Tuesday by David Wiesner Wallpaper from Space by Daniel Pinkwater Weslandia by Paul Fleischman Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg Dr. Sandra Henry Middle School Curriculum Coordinator Sioux Falls School District 49-5 201 E. 38th Street Sioux Falls, SD 57105 605-367-7871 605-367-7906 fax sandra.he...@k12.sd.us P BE GREEN Please don't print this e-mail unless really necessary! CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email, including any attachments, contains information which may be privileged, confidential and/or protected from disclosure. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you think you have received this message in error, please email the sender then delete the email from your computer system and destroy any hard copies of the email. If you are not the intended recipient any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email is strictly prohibited. From: mosaic-bounces+sandra.henry=k12.sd...@literacyworkshop.org [mosaic-bounces+sandra.henry=k12.sd...@literacyworkshop.org] on behalf of Candace Anderson [cander...@bancroftschool.org] Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 12:23 PM To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Science Fiction read aloud How about *How Rocket Learned to Read *by Tad Hills? On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 11:43 AM, Patsy Brown pbbr...@spartanburg3.orgwrote: Dear Group, I need the title of a child's book (K-2) about learning to read..never giving up and working hard to become a good reader, etc. If you know any titles, I would appreciate it if you would send them to me. Thank you so much. -Original Message- From: mosaic-bounces+pbbrown=spartanburg3@literacyworkshop.org[mailto: mosaic-bounces+pbbrown=spartanburg3@literacyworkshop.org] On Behalf Of mlred...@aol.com Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 8:55 PM To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Science Fiction read aloud What are the guided reading levels for these texts? In a message dated 2/11/2011 2:18:18 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, wittn...@fc.manatee.k12.fl.us writes: Science Fiction/Space Theme books My favorite science fiction for that age is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. The Robert Heinlein books for kids are classic science fiction. My daughter loved them. Also, The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key. Thanks Nancy ___ 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. -- Candace Anderson Reading Specialist Bancroft School 110 Shore Drive Worcester, MA 01605 508-853-2640 ___ 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
Re: [MOSAIC] How to create a database or spreadsheet of books?
Why not simply use a web page (html or xhtml)? It would be easy to create and maintain. And it would be easy to access: The students could access it from anywhere that had a web connection -- your classroom, the library, their homes, etc. You could have a main page that simply listed the books (a link to each book's page) -- perhaps arranged alphabetically by author. Each book could have its own web page, listing links to additional web pages, each of which would have a review or other relevant contributions from a student. That's my first thought. I hope it's helpful. - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: Amy Lesemann amy.lesem...@gmail.com To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org; Jeff Gaynor gay...@aaps.k12.mi.us; Tony Moskus tmos...@stthomasannarbor.org Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2010 2:44 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] How to create a database or spreadsheet of books? Hello - I need some advice. My students have been writing short book reviews/summaries of the books they read and we're keeping them in a big notebook. But that's unwieldy and not very useful. So I want to go electronic, and have them write them (or the older kids will type them up) in a database or spreadsheet that we can then reference. That way, kids can easily see what their buddies recommend, other books by the same authors that kids have liked and so forth. What should we use - a database or a spreadsheet? Excel? Something else? We have excel for free, but I can't really find a free database. It has to be something most kids can use easily, so I don't end up doing all the typing! I figure first they'll type up something, then I'll have them type it in. We can link it to my webpage, too, so they can use it from home or the public library. Your thoughts? Thanks! -- Amy Lesemann, Reading Specialist and Director, Independent Learning Center St. Thomas the Apostle Elementary School ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Comprehension in Content Areas
You might try scrolls and textmapping. * When you unroll a scroll on your blackboard, you and your students can work with whole portions of text -- such as chapters. Scrolls present book content as continuous and complete. Everyone can see the entire text. This enables real top-down thinking, reinforced by rich, direct, sensory access to the full text. Scrolls are a simple, inexpensive, and powerful tool for both content-area and comprehension strategies instruction (such as determinging importance, and SQ3R). * Textmapping is a simple and powerful graphic organizer technique. Unlike most graphic organizers, which are implemented off of the text (such as on a separate piece of paper), textmapping is done directly on the text. This links comprehension -- and the thinking that goes into it -- directly and explicitly to the text. The learning that comes from these methods is rapid and persistent. Scrolls and textmapping together place students in a flexible, intuitive, richly multisensory, and learner-friendly environment for hands-on discovery of the comprehension strategies described in books such as Mosaic of Thought (Keene Zimmermann), Strategies that Work (Harvey Goudvis), Reading With Meaning (Miller), I Read It, But I Don't Get It (Tovani), and How to Stay in College (Pauk). I hope that you will give it a try. More information: * An introductory piece: http://www.textmapping.org/whWorkshopNotes.html#introductionHead * Teacher comments: http://www.textmapping.org/comments.html * Main Site: http://www.textmapping.org Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: Lascelia Cadienne Dacres ldal...@fau.edu To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 10:30 AM Subject: [MOSAIC] Comprehension in Content Areas Hello Everyone, I am a Learning Team Facilitator (curriculum specialist) and I work with other teachers in the various content areas such as social studies, math, and science etc. At my middle school, we want our students to use the same strategies in their different classes.We believe it will be easier for students to see how reading strategies are relevant outside of their reading class. As Reading Specialists, teachers with a reading background, your suggestions are very important. What are some comprehension strategies that you think will work well in the content areas described above? and why? Thank you in Advance for your Responses, Lascelia Dacres ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Fluency
Hi Renee, This is rough news. And eight of 'em in ten years? Now your email address makes sense to me! I'm don't doubt that you'll be back on your feet soon. In the mean time, I'm sending you a song -- or at least the reference. I'm sure you know it: Johnny Nash's I can see clearly now. Hum a few bars. Is has gotten me through a lot. Nothing but blue skies! - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: Renee phoenix...@sbcglobal.net To: beverleep...@gmail.com; Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2010 5:31 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Fluency Twenty-five teachers received RIF notices in my district. All but two of them were permanent staff. I am not even included in that twenty- five because my art program was a temporary position, and yes, I received a pink slip letter also, as did the four other people in the district who were in temporary positions. That makes thirty. This is in a district with only four schools, total: three elementary schools and one middle school. This is my eight pink slip in ten years (one of those years I did not have a teaching position at all). I could wallpaper the bathroom with them. I keep asking for them to be actually pink, but they are all official on ivory-colored paper with the district logo on the corner. My biggest beef at the moment is the specific wording of my pink slip, which I dislike; I am going to ask the superintendent to issue another one to me with kinder wording. I've known him for enough years (he was actually my principal for three years in the district next door) that I feel comfortable doing so. California is an utter, disastrous mess. The state could save millions of dollars a year by just eliminating the high school exit exam, a fact which Stephen Krashen has been very eloquently submitting to newspapers all over the state, and probably more millions by eliminating second grade testing, which is not even required by NCLB. Yes, I got a pink slip. Renee On Mar 20, 2010, at 1:11 PM, beverleep...@gmail.com wrote: Oh no! Renee, I thought you were talking about a figurative pink slip!! You didn't really get a. pink slip, did you? Please say no. Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel -Original Message- From: Renee phoenix...@sbcglobal.net Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:06:42 To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Groupmosaic@literacyworkshop.org Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Fluency Yes, I am in Northern California. On Mar 20, 2010, at 10:55 AM, Mary Ann Walker wrote: Oh Renee, I'm really sorry to hear about your pink slip. Are you in California? Mary Ann Cy-Fair ISD Houston, TX - Original Message - From: Renee phoenix...@sbcglobal.net To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2010 4:49 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Fluency If I had tenure, I would do a lot of things. Renee waving another pink slip in the air. On Mar 14, 2010, at 11:17 AM, jan sanders wrote: Renee, if you had the tenure, you could send back an email stating the fact about the lack of problem solving and that you were wondering what was going to be used to fill in that void. For anyone not familiar with Saxon -they literally tell the student what to do. I piloted in 4th grade and the directions would tell the student what to do -no thinking there... One day (long division) the directions said use the LSD method on this problem. I had to laugh! LSD!! Of course LSD was an acronym for procedures used in the algorithm. Anyone remember Daddy, Mother, Sister, Brother? Divide, Multiply, Subtract, Bring down. Saxon is a very rote program. Jan Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain.BJ Gallagher From: phoenix...@sbcglobal.net Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:17:40 -0800 To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Fluency I agree with Nancy. I am so sick and tired of the supported by research claim that I could scream. One of my principals sent out an email a few weeks ago with a link and an article that showed research about student achievement with Saxon math. ick. So I read it, and it referred basically to test scores AND also mentioned that Saxon math did not do well in problem-solving, which was better addressed with a different program that was studied. I think it was three or four math programs that were compared, and maybe it was Everyday Math that was better at problem-solving, but please don't quote me. Anyway, the point is that it truly is like a game of telephone. Perfect analogy, Nancy. Renee On Mar 13
Re: [MOSAIC] College Help
Hi Karen, You wrote to Mary that: I'd really like to find a way to apply the Mosaic of Thought techniques to his college textbooks somehow. That's one of the things that scrolls and textmapping are particularly good for. They make the content much more concrete (to William's point) and provide a much wider range of sensory access. I've had quite a bit of interest from remedial and developmental reading programs at community colleges. It might be a good fit for him. The method is simple, low-tech, inexpensive, and surprisingly powerful. More info here: http://www.textmapping.org/whWorkshopNotes.html#introductionHead I hope you'll give it a try. - Dave - Original Message - From: g...@aol.com To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 4:06 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] College Help Mary, We are working with the Office of Disabilities at his College. He does have a legal diagnosis and the college has acknowledged it. His professors have allowed him more time to take tests. This has helped somewhat but it's not solving the problem. He doesn't have a learning disability so much as a learning weakness. The way it was explained to me he was never taught how to visualize and he never picked it up on his own as many good readers do. He just sees words when he reads. He has to read material over and over again to get any meaning out of it. He was never diagnosed in grade school or high school (he was tested three times) because although his comprehension was well below grade level, his decoding was always way above. The school district was happy to label him an average reader. I've tried to find a reading specialist in our area that works with adults but it has been very difficult to find someone. We have a Linda Mood Bell center in our area but it's a 45 minute drive each way and he just doesn't have the time at this point. I'd really like to find a way to apply the Mosaic of Thought techniques to his college textbooks somehow. Thank you for your suggestion. Karen In a message dated 3/7/2010 3:39:14 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, medwa...@daltonstate.edu writes: Karen, Has your son spoke with the Office of Disabilities at the college? They are most helpful and can recommend avenues to pursue. If he has been legally disagnosed as having a learning disability, he can receive services of OofD and because of their efforts, his work can be modified and instructors must adhere to the guidelines/requirements set forth. Seek their help first; otherwise, the frustration you and your son feel will only exacerbate.k Mary - Original Message - From: Carol Lau Date: Sunday, March 7, 2010 3:11 am Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] College Help To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Linda Mood Bell teaches visualization to learning disabled students. - Original Message - From: To: Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 3:04 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] College Help Hello list, My son is 21 years old. He is a Junior in college and struggles despite working extremely hard. After years of trying to determine why learning is so difficult for him, a neuropsychologist discovered that he does not visualize AT ALL when he reads or when he listens. I have read The Mosaic of Thought and have followed the mailing list for a couple months now trying to figure out how to help him. We tried IdeaChain by Mindprime over the Summer and had some success but the work he is doing in college is much too abstract for me to try the methods used in that program. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can help him with subjects like Biology/Physiology, Statistics, or any other college level material? Thank you! Karen ___ 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. Mary W. Edwards, PhD Professor School of Education 615 College Avenue Dalton, GA 30720 Phone: 706.272.2590 Fax: 706.272.2495 ___ 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
Re: [MOSAIC] College Help
You might take a look at the Textmapping site: http://www.textmapping.org - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: g...@aol.com To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 6:04 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] College Help Hello list, My son is 21 years old. He is a Junior in college and struggles despite working extremely hard. After years of trying to determine why learning is so difficult for him, a neuropsychologist discovered that he does not visualize AT ALL when he reads or when he listens. I have read The Mosaic of Thought and have followed the mailing list for a couple months now trying to figure out how to help him. We tried IdeaChain by Mindprime over the Summer and had some success but the work he is doing in college is much too abstract for me to try the methods used in that program. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can help him with subjects like Biology/Physiology, Statistics, or any other college level material? Thank you! Karen ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] fluency
I really liked this part of Maureen's comment (the full comment is below): All they see is that when their ten-year-olds read aloud, they read painstakingly slowly and they stumble over easy words. Through a variety of measures, I have shown that these children are often comprehending texts above grade level at deeper levels than many of the good readers, to no avail. This is a comment that keeps popping up on our conversations. I am glad that it does. I'll make a personal observation here: Perhaps it is the nature of our society. I don't know. But my experience has been that the comprehension that is most valued always seems to be the expected, the most easily shared, the least divergent, the one that gets the most heads to nod in agreement in the shortest amount of time. To me, there is a tension to comprehension: To be valued, it must be quickly formulated and easily shared, but to be truely valuable, it must be stewed on the back burner and allowed to veer off the beaten path. The second is the more valuable because we only grow through struggle, and by going where we haven't been before. My sense is that people who struggle with reading are more likely to be divergent comprehenders -- which makes their insights less easily shared, less socially successful, but potentially much more valuable. And I think we've done a disservice to fluency, by deeming it critical, and by forgetting that it is about the music and not the metronome. - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org Learning Diffabilities blog: http://diffabilities.wordpress.com - Original Message - From: Maureen Morrissey mobil...@optonline.net To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group' mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 5:58 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] fluency Lori, I wish that some of the parents of my students with the same issue had your wisdom. I cannot convince them that oral fluency does not impact reading comprehension, and that reading comprehension is the most important part of reading. All they see is that when their ten-year-olds read aloud, they read painstakingly slowly and they stumble over easy words. Through a variety of measures, I have shown that these children are often comprehending texts above grade level at deeper levels than many of the good readers, to no avail. I tell them that instead of having their child read aloud at home, to have her/him read silently and then discuss what was read. The parents also cannot hear when I say that oral fluency is only meant for performance, even when I ask them to tell the last time they read aloud in their lives (other than reading to their kids). I too use Readers' Theater and poetry to make fluency authentic, and one nice resource is Benchmarks Readers' Theater books which have a variety of topics and genres, and level each part so that a variety of children can participate in the same book. I am not sure why fluency has suddenly become so imperative; I know it is one of the facets of reading the NRP came up with for the ESEA legislation, but I'm not sure why Maureen ___ 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] ***SPAM*** Re: URL Problems
To Keith and whoever is feeling particularly geeky at the moment: Here's a simple solution to long links that break. It usually works, but not always. I'm not sure what the reason is for the occasional problems. But it works most of the time, so I haven't been motivated to look into it further. So here it is: Type (or paste) your link in between and brackets, just like html tags. When you are composing an email and you finish typing the link inside the brackets, your email program will automatically recognize the tag that you have inserted. It will automatically turn on the link and get rid of the brackets. Example: http://www.reading.org/Publish.aspx?page=/publications/journals/rrq/v44/i3/abstracts/rrq-44-3-mckeown.htmlmode=redirect -- which didn't turn into a link because I surrounded it in quotation marks -- becomes http://www.reading.org/Publish.aspxpage=/publications/journals/rrq/v44/i3/abstracts/rrq-44-3-mckeown.htmlmode=redirect Pretty simple? - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org Learning Diffabilities blog: http://diffabilities.wordpress.com - Original Message - From: Keith Mack km...@literacyworkshop.org To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group' mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2009 1:35 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] URL Problems In looking at the URL that I sent I'm seeing that for some reason the link may include the period as part of the URL. A period at the end of a URL that becomes part of the URL will cause it to fail. I'm not sure what causes this as I see three places where the link works fine, but then just one instance where it includes the period at the end of the link. The original link was very long and divided up into 2-3 lines. Only the first line showed the link. This required people to copy and paste the link and then copy and paste additional lines. ### http://www.reading.org/Publish.aspx?page=/publications/journals/rrq/v44/i3/ abstracts/rrq-44-3-mc keown.htmlmode=redirect ### (above is ONE URL divided up into 3 lines - it will likely fail for everyone) The lesson for all of us it to be careful when posting longs URL's. Also try not to put a period at the end of a URL as this can cause problems for people. http://sn.im/rethinkingcomp (no period - should work fine for all) http://sn.im/rethinkingcomp. (period after URL - will not work for some members) Also if a link doesn't work for you, try taking a quick look at the email and look for additional URL tidbits on additional lines. Also see if a bad URL has a period at the end of the URL. Thanks, Keith Mack Web Administrator for Mosaic List km...@literacyworkshop.org -Original Message- From: mosaic-bounces+kmack=literacyworkshop@literacyworkshop.org [mailto:mosaic-bounces+kmack=literacyworkshop@literacyworkshop.org] On Behalf Of Keith Mack Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2009 10:01 AM To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group' Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Strategy instruction Inhibit Comprehension - URL I've seen a couple requests from members on this article. The URL was garbled in the post. If you couldn't get the complete link: Try http://sn.im/rethinkingcomp. If you have any problem with the URL please contact me directly. Thanks, Keith Mack Web Administrator for Mosaic List km...@literacyworkshop.org -Original Message- Nancy I have a copy of the article and am reading it now. I am in the process of contacting IRA and see if I can get temporary permission to post it on the tools page. I am an IRA member so we will see. Jennifer In a message dated 8/16/2009 10:20:00 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, creeche...@aol.com writes: _Click here: Reading Research Quarterly : July/August/September 2009 : Abstract of Rethinking Reading Comprehension Instruction_ (http://www.reading.org/Publish.aspx?page=/publications/journals/rrq/v44/i3/ abstracts/rrq-44-3-mc keown.htmlmode=redirect) ___ 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
Re: [MOSAIC] anecdotal data
ss content? All I can think of is Social Studies. If that's what you mean, then you'll find a basic introduction with a textbook example (links below). From this you could infer what to do with drama -- map the characters, plot, etc and discuss so that the students understand what it is that they -- as actors, set designers, etc -- should be trying to communicate (emotions, back stories, etc). There are also some interesting things that you can do with music scores -- mapping the arc and flow of the score and of the dance that tracks it. Contact me off list if that interests you. But back to the textbook example: * using scrolls: http://www.textmapping.org/using.html * mapping scrolls: http://www.textmapping.org/mapping.html (you'll need to scroll down to read the whole page) I hope that this is helpful. Stay in touch. Let me know how it goes! - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org Learning Diffabilities blog: http://diffabilities.wordpress.com - Original Message - From: Lori lori.re...@insightbb.com To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 10:29 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] anecdotal data I will be teaching 6-8 dance and drama. The classes are based on the ss content for each grade level, I love the idea of text mapping I would love to usecit in my room Suggestions please Sent from my iPhone On Jul 31, 2009, at 6:12 PM, Susan Cronk slhcr...@gmail.com wrote: Hey Dave I used Text Mapping with my sixth graders in Social Studies we studied Ancient Cultures. I used this for the opening chapters for each of the four cultures as they were good overviews to set-up for the kids what each culture would be like. It also reinforced all the features of non-fiction text that they were exposed to as we explored internet sites, magazine articles, and books. Hope this helps. Susan C On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 10:59 PM, Dave Middlebrook davemiddlebr...@verizon.net wrote: A penny for your thoughts: If you used scrolls and textmapping in your classrooms last year, would you take a moment to summarize how things went? It could be as simple as, I teach fourth grade language arts in Timbuktu, and it made a big difference for eight of my twenty-four students. (And perhaps you could give an example of a lesson that worked particularly well, or of a child who benefitted) Your feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks, Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org Learning Diffabilities blog: http://diffabilities.wordpress.com ___ 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. ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] anecdotal data
Textmapping is an easy, simple, inexpensive, and effective way to differentiate instruction of book content and comprehension strategies. It is a great fit with the strategies that Ellin Keene and Susan Zimmermann wrote about in Mosaic of Thought, as well as with the broader notion of teaching for deeper understanding that Ellin writes about in her most recent book, To Understand. You can read more about textmapping here: * workshop notes: http://www.textmapping.org/whWorkshopNotes.html#introductionHead * introduction: http://www.textmapping.org/textmapping.html I hope that you find this information useful. - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org Learning Diffabilities blog: http://diffabilities.wordpress.com - Original Message - From: W.Robertson w...@shaw.ca To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group' mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 12:02 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] anecdotal data Sorry to ask such a simple question, but what is text mapping? ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] anecdotal data
Woops! I neglected to ask that you reply to my post (see below) off list. Thanks! - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org Learning Diffabilities blog: http://diffabilities.wordpress.com - Original Message - From: Dave Middlebrook davemiddlebr...@verizon.net To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 11:59 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] anecdotal data A penny for your thoughts: If you used scrolls and textmapping in your classrooms last year, would you take a moment to summarize how things went? It could be as simple as, I teach fourth grade language arts in Timbuktu, and it made a big difference for eight of my twenty-four students. (And perhaps you could give an example of a lesson that worked particularly well, or of a child who benefitted) Your feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks, Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org Learning Diffabilities blog: http://diffabilities.wordpress.com ___ 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] anecdotal data
A penny for your thoughts: If you used scrolls and textmapping in your classrooms last year, would you take a moment to summarize how things went? It could be as simple as, I teach fourth grade language arts in Timbuktu, and it made a big difference for eight of my twenty-four students. (And perhaps you could give an example of a lesson that worked particularly well, or of a child who benefitted) Your feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks, Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org Learning Diffabilities blog: http://diffabilities.wordpress.com ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm
Zen... Incredible book. I've read it with new eyes three or four times over the decades. The margins of my copy are filled with scribbled notes in different inks and different handwritings. Amazing to see how my handwriting has changed over the years! The pages are brittle, slightly tea-colored (the acid in the paper, I'm thinking) and the dog ears are dog-eared. Where I've run out of margin, I've got stapled bits of paper (from the days before sticky notes). There are only four other books that I have worked over this intensely: The Greening of America by Charles Reich, a collection of the works of Karl Marx, The Marx Engels Reader, edited by Robert Tucker, Stephen Hall's Mapping the Next Millenium, and Rudolf Arnheim's Visual Thinking. I've read lots of other books, but these five keep pulling me back. And Pirsig's Zen was, for me, the first book that really just stopped me in my tracks. It is breathtaking and emotionally powerful. What a great thing to wake up and read Renee's post, and then to read the nods and smiles that followed! Feeling good! - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: Joy jwidm...@rocketmail.com To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 8:13 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm Me too, thanks Renee for talking about this book, and for showing me the beauty of his words and thoughts. I'd even venture to say that a book talk may be in order. Anybody game? Joy/NC/4 How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org From: thomas sally.thom...@verizon.net To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 2:40:08 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm I am just going to finally have to read it! Too many people I admire have loved it over and over. sally On 6/19/09 10:39 AM, Renee phoenix...@sbcglobal.net wrote: Funny. I was at our local espresso place yesterday having lunch and my copy was on the table. The owner was wandering around, spied the book, and asked, How many times have you read this, now? I thought it was pretty funny that he automatically assumed I was rereading it. He said he hadn't read it for about twenty years and that it might be time to reread. He also recommended a book by Buckminster Fuller, called Critical Path, which he said he has read several times. I haven't checked that out yet. Anyway, for those who don't know ZMM, yesterday I read the part about how Phaedrus experimented in his university writing class by giving no grades until the end of the semester, how students reacted to that, and his assertion that we, including students, already know what quality is even if we can't define it, and that the writing process itself is more important than knowing the rules about writing. And how this is all wrapped up together. Sound familiar? Renee On Jun 19, 2009, at 10:23 AM, creeche...@aol.com wrote: In a message dated 6/19/2009 12:53:19 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, phoenix...@sbcglobal.net writes: Right now, I am rereading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is more about teaching than it is about motorcycles. Or Zen. Or Art. You addicted me to that book I would say it is much about life! Nancy El fin de toda educacion debe ser seguramente el servicio a otros. ~ Cesar Chavez ___ 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. ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm
No, I didn't scroll it. It's still in book form. This was long before I started scrolling my books. An interesting side effect of this is that when I tried to talk with those amongst my friends who had read it, they thought I was crazy. The book that I had read was not the book that they had read. Our comprehensions were different. But there was no grade or income at stake, so it didn't really matter. I'm happy with what I comprehended. I know that I'm more mainstream in my comprehension when I read a scroll, but that doesn't mean that I can't read a book and make sense of it. Sometimes the sense I make is, frankly, much more intersting than anything in the book! But I know that there is a mainstream comprehension that people seem to form, and I have learned how to find this. I have learned a lot about how to read bound books from reading unrolled books. I still prefer scrolls, but I am now capable of anchoring my comprehension a bit more closely to the text when I read a book that has been fragmented into pages. - Dave Now, if I had to read something today, knowing that I would need to discuss it with other people, - Original Message - From: Joy jwidm...@rocketmail.com To: beverleep...@gmail.com; Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 2:38 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm Ah, a most treasured text, for sure! mine looks much like Dave's Zen. One question for Dave, you haven't turned it into a scroll? Joy/NC/4 How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org From: beverleep...@gmail.com beverleep...@gmail.com To: Dave Middlebrook davemiddlebr...@verizon.net; Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 9:00:55 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm And how many of us have the deceptively simple To Kill a Mockingbird, looking much like Dave describes above, rubber-banded together to wait for the next read? Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel -Original Message- From: Dave Middlebrook davemiddlebr...@verizon.net Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:55:24 To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Groupmosaic@literacyworkshop.org Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm Zen... Incredible book. I've read it with new eyes three or four times over the decades. The margins of my copy are filled with scribbled notes in different inks and different handwritings. Amazing to see how my handwriting has changed over the years! The pages are brittle, slightly tea-colored (the acid in the paper, I'm thinking) and the dog ears are dog-eared. Where I've run out of margin, I've got stapled bits of paper (from the days before sticky notes). There are only four other books that I have worked over this intensely: The Greening of America by Charles Reich, a collection of the works of Karl Marx, The Marx Engels Reader, edited by Robert Tucker, Stephen Hall's Mapping the Next Millenium, and Rudolf Arnheim's Visual Thinking. I've read lots of other books, but these five keep pulling me back. And Pirsig's Zen was, for me, the first book that really just stopped me in my tracks. It is breathtaking and emotionally powerful. What a great thing to wake up and read Renee's post, and then to read the nods and smiles that followed! Feeling good! - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: Joy jwidm...@rocketmail.com To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 8:13 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm Me too, thanks Renee for talking about this book, and for showing me the beauty of his words and thoughts. I'd even venture to say that a book talk may be in order. Anybody game? Joy/NC/4 How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org From: thomas sally.thom...@verizon.net To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 2:40:08 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm I am just going to finally have to read it! Too many people I admire have loved it over and over. sally On 6/19/09 10:39 AM, Renee phoenix...@sbcglobal.net wrote: Funny. I was at our local espresso place yesterday having lunch and my copy was on the table. The owner was wandering around, spied the book, and asked, How many times have you read this, now? I thought it was pretty funny
Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm
No worries. I'm not sure exactly what I wrote that lead you to think that you were...implying something. It wasn't on my mind. Or more precisely, I think I was (and still am) thinking about what I wrote in different terms than, perhaps, you are. Because of my experience, I have a very broad notion of what it means to comprehend. I'm used to people telling me that I didn't comprehend a book that we all read. Long ago I came to the conclusion that they were simply stuck inside a box -- that they were missing something. Then I tried scrolls and I realized that I had been missing something, too. I realized that I had spent a lot of time way, way, way out of the box. Now I'm comfortable in both places, but since I know that comprehension is, from a practical standpoint, meaningless if it can't be shared -- i.e., if people all look at you funny and say, that's not the book I read -- I prefer to use scrolls to read books that I will need to talk about with others. It keeps me in the mainstream -- or at least, it helps me quickly understand what the mainstream will be. Anywhere I go from there is gravy. While scrolls have helped me understand what this kind of shared comprehension is, and how to produce it, I have not lost my taste for venturing to the far reaches when I'm reading. So the idea that I might not have comprehended a book like Zen has a different feel to me now. Does that make sense? And yes, I'd love to scroll the book. But I have so many books that I would love to scrollAnd I am so attached to the wild ride I had through those page-fragments. I wonder if my experience of the book would be ruined by the kind of focused comprehension that I can achieve on a scroll. Maybe I'm better off with the experience as it was? - Dave - Original Message - From: Joy To: Dave Middlebrook ; Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 5:08 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm Dave, I didn't , mean to imply that you couldn't comprehend, was just curious if you had turned it into a scroll. Do you wonder what it would be like? I do. I even think this might be the perfect book to scroll because if I copied it I'd have nice big margins to write on! Joy/NC/4 How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org -- From: Dave Middlebrook davemiddlebr...@verizon.net To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 3:58:43 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm No, I didn't scroll it. It's still in book form. This was long before I started scrolling my books. An interesting side effect of this is that when I tried to talk with those amongst my friends who had read it, they thought I was crazy. The book that I had read was not the book that they had read. Our comprehensions were different. But there was no grade or income at stake, so it didn't really matter. I'm happy with what I comprehended. I know that I'm more mainstream in my comprehension when I read a scroll, but that doesn't mean that I can't read a book and make sense of it. Sometimes the sense I make is, frankly, much more intersting than anything in the book! But I know that there is a mainstream comprehension that people seem to form, and I have learned how to find this. I have learned a lot about how to read bound books from reading unrolled books. I still prefer scrolls, but I am now capable of anchoring my comprehension a bit more closely to the text when I read a book that has been fragmented into pages. - Dave Now, if I had to read something today, knowing that I would need to discuss it with other people, - Original Message - From: Joy jwidm...@rocketmail.com To: beverleep...@gmail.com; Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 2:38 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm Ah, a most treasured text, for sure! mine looks much like Dave's Zen. One question for Dave, you haven't turned it into a scroll? Joy/NC/4 How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org From: beverleep...@gmail.com beverleep...@gmail.com To: Dave Middlebrook davemiddlebr...@verizon.net; Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 9:00:55 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Professionalism-zmm And how many of us have the deceptively simple To Kill a Mockingbird, looking much like Dave describes above, rubber-banded together
Re: [MOSAIC] Teaching Literacy in Older Grades question
Hi Heather, The draft is just a portion. That explains the abrupt end. Little Bear and Frog and Toad: I'd scroll both books, chapter by chapter. In other words, instead of making a single long scroll of Little Bear, I'd make four scrolls -- one for each story. Same idea for Frog and Toad. Both of these books offer lots of opportunity to talk about sequence and structure. Of course, you can talk about these things in the book, too, but the scroll makes it all so much more explicit. It is much easier for the kids to really engage and think when they can see an entire story -- and all four stories -- right in front of them. Little Bear: Third story, Little Bear Goes to the Moon, can be divided into two parts (the second part starts when he climbs to the top of the hill). Instead of telling your students this, you might ask them. Let them discover the structure. Let them figure it out. Having the scroll right there will make it much easier, and helps them understand that they can answer questions by referring back to the story and thinking about what they see. Fourth story, Little Bear's Wish, can also be divided into two parts (the second part starts when his mother tells him a story). Again, ask your students to figure out the structure. Also, notice that in the fourth story of Little Bear, in recounting what happens in the first three stories, the mother tells them out of sequence -- first, third, second. It's a small point, but see if your kids catch that. If not, ask them to look back at the other stories. Make them think about it! With the scrolls in front of them, they CAN figure it out. And then there's the larger theme: happiness. You can talk with your kids about the different kinds of wants/desires/wishes, and differences between what we might want, and what is. This is a conversation that your students will be able to have with the scrolls in front of them to prompt their thinking. Days with Frog and Toad: Similar opportunites: sequence, structure. The first story, Tomorrow, lists the taks that Toad dreads, and then he does them in the order that he first listed them. Ask your students if he did them in the order that he first thought of them. Ask them how they can confirm their answer. The second story, The Kite, is another good opportunity to talk about story structure. It begins with a 2-page set-up (problem), then the main body in which the problem is addressed (divides into four parts -- running + waving + jumping + shouting), then winds up with the resolution. You can ask your kids to divide the main body into sections (how many? where are they? show me!). The third story, Shivers, starts with a 2-page set-up, scary story in the middle, then 1 page resolution (safe back home). The fourth story, The Hat, starts with a 2-page set-up. In the main body there is a small sequence (tripped, bumped, fell) that is repeated later when they take their second walk. The end is a 1-page conclusion. The fifth story, Alone, starts with a 1-page set-up (the note) which sets up a conflict that Toad sets out to resolve by making lunch, waving his jacket, riding on the turtle's back, and falling off the turtle. Frog pulls him out, and then we learn that the conflict didn't exist (Frog was happy all along). Ends with a 1-page summary. The point here is that these are repeating structures that your kids can find on the scroll. Lots to discuss, too, about what happens in the story and how the characters feel. The scrolls make all this so much more accessible to young minds. I hope that this is helpful. Don't hesitate to call or email if you have further questions. And please let me know how it goes for you! Thanks for your interest! - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: Heather Green To: Dave Middlebrook ; Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 9:15 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Teaching Literacy in Older Grades question I am still trying to understand this. I scanned through the e-book, and I'll read it more closely this summer. It seemed like it stopped right in the middle. I was reading an anecdote of how someone used it in the classroom, but then it just kind of stopped. Can Dave or someone give me an example of how you might use this during a guided reading lesson in 1st grade using a fiction book? Say, maybe Little Bear or Frog and Toad? It seems so cool, but I feel like I'm missing something. Thanks, Heather On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 6:49 AM, Dave Middlebrook davemiddlebr...@verizon.net wrote: Still chugging along on the book. YouTube will have to wait. If you haven't already done so, you can sign up
Re: [MOSAIC] Textmapping for beginners
Getting permission is the safest route. Another approach is to buy two copies of the book, cut the spines off, and then make your scroll from that. That's what I do most of the time. It's faster and easier, and the quality is better than you get with photocopies. And then there's the copying route. Infringement or Fair Use? I can't say for sure where the line is on this issue. There may never be one. Here's my stab at it: http://www.textmapping.org/fairUse.html I am a bit rushed today and so must cut this short. But I have irons in the fire on this. More another time. Thanks for your interest, - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: Joy jwidm...@rocketmail.com To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 1:05 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Textmapping for beginners While this is a good idea, make sure you get permission from the publisher. You don't want to break copyright. Joy/NC/4 How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org From: Michelle TeGrootenhuis tgfa...@c-i-service.com To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, June 6, 2009 10:31:03 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Textmapping for beginners Love the idea of laminating the scroll on butcher paper. Then you can also use overhead markers to mark it each year. Thanks for the idea, Lori! I wrote about using scrolls to teach nonfiction features here: http://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blogs/649749:BlogPost:190834 Dave--when is your book coming out? This message sent from the home of Scott and Michelle TG 712.752.8641 www.mrstg.com ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Textmapping for beginners
Hi Diane, I'll start with a simple idea: Try scrolling a short novel that the students have read, and post the scroll on the wall somewhere in the room. Do a quick walk-through summary -- literally, by walking along the scroll and saying what happens. As you walk and talk, make marks or use sticky notes along the scroll. You'll come back to these later. Encourage your students to interrupt you as you are doing this. They may want to mention something that you missed -- for example, an observation about the plot or the characters, or some detail. Others may want to weigh in, as well. Encourage conversation. Post sticky notes to record student observations. Have them tell you where the notes should go. If a student needs to find a particular event so that a note can be posted there, have the other students help -- tell them that their job is to be detectives. If, for instance, one student finds an event that happened before the one in question, that's a useful clue as to where to look. Help your students be strategic about bracketing and homing in on specific parts. These are useful searching skills that are even more important in bound books. If you let the students engage and share their thoughts, you will likely not make it through your summary. I'd consider that a success! Student engagement in the conversation is the real goal. You're walk-through is just a conversation-starter. The scroll will help your students remember the story. It will help them generate questions and inferences. I will help them determine importance. It will help them with sequencing, recalling details, and putting it all together for a much richer comprehension. There are significant differences between the process of doing this by paging through a bound book and doing this on a scroll. The spatial diimension -- the physical sense of the scroll's length and of where different observations tie to the text (the scatter-plot trail of sticky notes -- is very powerful. The fact that you and your students can see it all at once is very powerful. You can do a lot with scrolls. If this sounds like it might work for you, then save it and use it. Contact me if you want to talk through the lesson in more detail. Or if this doesn't sound right for you, tell me what you might be starting off with next Fall and I'll suggest a way that scrolls can help improve the lesson. I hope that this is helpful. Thanks for your interest! - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: Diane Smith dianelyn...@yahoo.com To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 9:24 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] Textmapping for beginners Hi! I am going to be teaching fourth graders next fall and just heard about the idea of textmapping. I find it intriquing. No one I know has heard of this concept at my school, so my students will not have any previous experience with it. Can you give suggestions on how to begin and types of text to use? ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Teaching Literacy in Older Grades question
Still chugging along on the book. YouTube will have to wait. If you haven't already done so, you can sign up for an email alert for when the book comes out. The link for that is on the book page: www.textmapping.org/unrollingTheBook.html - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: beverleep...@gmail.com To: Dave Middlebrook davemiddlebr...@verizon.net; Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 1:53 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Teaching Literacy in Older Grades question Dave, you are still doing a book, right? I love the youtube idea! Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel -Original Message- From: Dave Middlebrook davemiddlebr...@verizon.net Date: Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:16:05 To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Groupmosaic@literacyworkshop.org Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Teaching Literacy in Older Grades question Very useful for fiction. One of the key benefits of scrolls is that you can see an entire story at a glance. This helps students keep track of sequence and context; it enables conversation to be more concretely anchored to the text (Show me where she says that... Can you show me where she learns about her best friend's secret? etc.). Because everything is right out there, in front of everyone, conversations can go deeper into the details AND can see the larger themes and ideas as well. The strategies -- Inferences, predictions, questions, etc. -- are much more richly supported in an unrolled scroll than they are in a bound book. There are lots of ways to use scrolls for fiction. You can first read a story in bound book form and then go back and view the scroll and discuss the story. Or you can simply unroll the story as you read. This allows students to look back as you read -- which is a great thing. Scrolls can be simply opened and read and discussed -- and not mapped. Or you can map them. You can also use sticky notes. As the sticky notes and/or mapping accumulate, patterns will emerge -- characters coming in and out of the story, time sequences, etc. You can also talk about how a story can be divided into parts, based on shifts in the story line, etc. There is so much that you can do. Think of the scroll as just another book form -- one that provides capabilities that bound books do not provide. Scrolls really are an excellent book form for instruction. They really do complement the kind of constructivist teaching that Mosaic and To Understand and so many of the other books of this ilk are all about. I hope that this is helpful. - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: Heather Green heath...@gmail.com To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 7:54 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Teaching Literacy in Older Grades question Dave, I am trying to understand textmapping. It sounds very cool. Is it only used for non-fiction? Can you give me an example of how you'd textmap a 1st grade story? I'm not sure I understand what you do besides highlight text features you see like titles, headings, charts, diagrams, etc. You should put up a youtube video of texmapping in action! Heather On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 4:38 PM, Montana Vasquez montana.vasq...@gmail.comwrote: Thanks! I've never seen those used in the classrooms in the I've seen. This sounds great. On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 4:28 PM, Dave Middlebrook davemiddlebr...@verizon.net wrote: Try scrolls and textmapping. The approach makes reading -- and thinking and talking about reading -- about as multisensory as is imagineable. All you need is a copy machine, colored markers, cellophane tape, and a classroom full of kids. Scrolls are an excellent platform for constructivist teaching that is richly differentiated and inclusive. The simple act of unrolling the book opens new opportunities for reaching students. It broadens access, expands the zone of proximal development, invites engagement, creates extraordinary openings for conversation, and facilitates sharper insights and deeper understanding. They are being used in K-16 classrooms precisely because of the multisensory component. It works. More information: background: http://www.textmapping.org/whWorkshopNotes.html#introductionHead book draft: http://www.textmapping.org/unrollingTheBook.html Best of luck, - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers
[MOSAIC] new draft, unrolling the book
Hello All, I have just posted a new draft of my book at www.textmapping.org/unrollingTheBook.html Under the book link is a link to a short, anonymous survey. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your interest! Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] RTI interventions and Progress Monitoring
You might consider The Textmapping Project website. Here's a good page to start at: * http://www.textmapping.org/whWorkshopNotes.html Best of luck, Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: SPINELLO, Carol cspine...@branford.k12.ct.us To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group' mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 10:49 AM Subject: [MOSAIC] RTI interventions and Progress Monitoring Hello Everyone, I am on a school-wide committee working to create a district document outlining RTI. My group has the large task of compiling resources for literacy interventions and literacy progress monitoring assessments...HELP!! Can anyone recommend resources, web-sites, professional books, etc? Also have you developed a way to get these resources into the hands of classroom teachers and support staff? Any and all help is appreciated. Carol Spinello Literacy Specialist John B. Sliney School Branford, CT ___ 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] book, draft preview selection
For those of you who might be interested, I have posted a preview draft selection of my book in my sandbox: http://www.textmapping.org/unrollingTheBook.html You will also find a link to a short and anonymous survey. I encourage you to use the survey to share your comments and thoughts about the draft. Thanks, - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] comprehension intervention strategies
Scrolls and Textmapping are already being used in Michigan, as part of the MiClass program for training Middle School teachers. You might try this approach, particularly since it was developed first for struggling readers. More information here: http://www.textmapping.org/whWorkshopNotes.html Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: Pam Owens pow...@mtpleasant.edzone.net To: Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 11:01 AM Subject: [MOSAIC] comprehension intervention strategies Our district is compiling a list of research-based intervention strategies = for comprehension. Does anyone know of a resource for this information - = research studies, web sites, or books that might be helpful in our search. = We have found lots of information on teaching comprehension but are = struggling to find information on specific comprehension interventions for = struggling readers to use in a Response to Intervention model. Thanks, Pam from Michigan ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] textmapping
There is no research as of yet. My hope is that this will change. A few years back I had some university interest, as well as some teachers who were doing action research, but the university interest died due to a lack of funding and in one case, due to a graduate student strike that hit just as a study began; and while several of the teachers who were doing the action research did complete their studies, none of them ever took the next step and published their findings, largely for personal reasons: babies were born, parents needed to be taken care of, spouses lot their job, life intervened. I am now writing a book. Between that and the website, I am hoping that researchers will take an interest -- and that those who fund them will choose to support research in this area. In the mean time, the experience of teachers such as you seems to keep confirming that scrolls and textmapping are very useful; but to be fair, I only hear from those who like these methods! I share your interest in seeing researchers step up and really test the ideas that I have proposed. This is more likely to happen if teachers like you push the envelop a bit -- although I realize that you can only push the envelop so far, and that in the final analysis, you need to be able to point to research to support your classroom practices. With that as background, know that really I appreciate your interest and support. Someday we'll see a study in RRQ or some other peer-reviewed journal. In the mean time, there's always that envelop... - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 dmiddlebr...@textmapping.org - Original Message - From: Pam Owens pow...@mtpleasant.edzone.net To: Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 12:12 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] textmapping David, We have used textmapping and believe it is a great strategy for struggling readers. Do you have any specific research for textmapping that we could site that would support their use for struggling readers? Or any studies that are being done now that would support their use? Pam ___ 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] book, teacher voices
I am writing a book and could use some teacher voices. If you have used scrolls and textmapping in your classroom, please consider sharing something about how you used them and how they worked for you and your students. For example: * a classroom story (short and sweet is fine; more if you have it in you) * short supportive comments that could be sprinkled around for emphasis or interest. If this is something that you would like to discuss, or if you just want to send me your comments, please email me off list. As always, thanks so much for your interest and support! - Dave Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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] connecticut contact?
I need a small favor from the MOT community. If you teach in Connecticut and use scrolls and textmapping in your classroom, would you please contact me off list? My email address is below. Thanks! Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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] connecticut contact
I need a small favor. If you teach in Connecticut and use scrolls and textmapping in your classroom, would you please contact me off list? My email address is below. Thanks! Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Thanks Dave! Textmapping is Great!
Hi Diane, I can't speak for Michelle, but here's how I would answer your questions: (1) Using white out: It depends on your purpose. You can leave the entire text unmasked, or you can mask selected features. If your purpose is to simply have your students survey and comprehend the text, it makes sense to leave the text unmasked. If you want to work on summarization or determining importance, you might mask every heading in a textbook chapter, and then ask your students to read each section and come up with appropriate headings on their own. If you want your students to focus first on illustrations -- to do a picture walk -- you might try masking everything but the illustrations. I'd include page numbers in this. Mask everything and then have the students come up with their own questions, connections, inferences and predictions based on what they see in the illustrations. When they've run out of steam on the picture walk, you can then remove the sticky notes and start a whole new round of conversation. This works real well. You will be surprised at how far this can take the class into thick questions and deeper thinking. (2) Length of text: What text will you be working with? Choose that. If it's very long it can be hard to handle, so practically speaking there are limits, but I wouldn't shy away from the longer texts. In my workshops, I regularly work with texts in the 20-50 page range, and for my own reading I commonly will scroll books in the 200-400 page range. It takes about a day for me to scroll a 300-page book, but the work pays off for me since I can really move quickly through the book after that. So I guess my larger point is, the length of the text is what it is. If you can accommodate a 30-page scroll in your classroom, and you have such a text that you would like to scroll, go ahead and do it. My experience is, there is a real pay-off to practicing MOT strategies on a scroll. It helps bring everyone in the class along. (3) Type of text: Any kind. Textbooks and other non-fiction, magazines, picture books, fiction, short stories, poetry and music -- all can be scrolled. Whether you do it depends on what you hope to accomplish with your students, and what their needs are as learners. (4) Same text: If you want small group conversations to spill out into the class, or if you want to have a discussion with the whole class after they have done their mapping and strategies work, use the same text. You may find that the whole-class discusssion will begin on its own, as students begin to reach out to the other groups and discuss what they see. This is hard to control, and I'm not sure I would try. Your room will be much noisier if they all use the same text -- and this isn't necessarily a bad thing! On the other hand, if you want them to stay focused in their small groups, use different texts. Having small groups share their insights about different texts does not seem to work too well -- the rest of the students in the class, not having read the text being discussed, tend to get bored. I hope this is helpful. Thank you for your interest, Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Diane Baker [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 10:09 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Thanks Dave! Textmapping is Great! Hi Michelle - thanks for your post...just a few quick questions if you don't mind. Did you white out the page numbers, and/or the the features for them to fill in on their own, or were the copied pages exactly from the text? Also, how long of a text did you choose? Was it an instructional text or informational? and one more question...did all groups have the same text? Thanks you so much!! Diane From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Michelle TeGrootenhuis Sent: Wed 9/17/2008 10:00 PM To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group' Subject: [MOSAIC] Thanks Dave! Textmapping is Great! Just wanted to publicly say Thanks to Dave Middlebrook for sharing his textmapping project with everyone via his website at www.textmapping.org. I wrote about it and shared some pictures of the process on my blog at http://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/list?user=ujmo7mw58i1a My kiddos LOVED it and they will definitely remember how those nonfiction features help them read and understand the text. THANKS DAVE! -Michelle TG This message sent from the home of Scott and Michelle TG www.mrstg.com ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search
Re: [MOSAIC] Thanks Dave! Textmapping is Great!
I like the blog. The flikr photos are great! Any chance I could use some of the photos on my site? I am glad that you have found this useful! Thanks for your support! Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Michelle TeGrootenhuis [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group' mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 10:00 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] Thanks Dave! Textmapping is Great! Just wanted to publicly say Thanks to Dave Middlebrook for sharing his textmapping project with everyone via his website at www.textmapping.org. I wrote about it and shared some pictures of the process on my blog at http://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/list?user=ujmo7mw58i1a My kiddos LOVED it and they will definitely remember how those nonfiction features help them read and understand the text. THANKS DAVE! -Michelle TG This message sent from the home of Scott and Michelle TG www.mrstg.com ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Choosing content area textbooks
One way to clearly get a handle on textbook selection is to scroll one or two sample chapters from the books you are evaluating, and see how they look, posted on the wall for a side-by-side (really and up-and-down) comparison. I've heard from quite a few teachers who have done this and found it very revealing. If their experience is any indication, you'll find that the scrolls will really help you and your collegues nail down what you do or don't like and will help you see how you might use these books more effectively in the classroom. To get started: http://www.textmapping.org/scrolls.html Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Felicia Barra [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 10:54 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] Choosing content area textbooks Hi everyone, My principal asked me today if I knew where I could find information on criteria selection for science textbooks. I told him I would try a few sources, this listserv being one of them. So if you know or have served on a committee and have criteria that you've used for choosing science textbooks for grades 1-5, please e-mail me off the list at [EMAIL PROTECTED] I know that this board is used for reading comprehension and I also know students need to comprehend content area textbooks so I don't think I'm off topic here. Thanks in advance for your help. Felicia ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Online Reading Comprehension
I am particularly interested in Dr. Leu's finding that ...the kids who tested poorly in traditional reading actually scored the highest for online reading. Did he give you any sources/citations for this? Interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Joy [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 6:31 AM Subject: [MOSAIC] Online Reading Comprehension Yesterday I attended a lecture by Donald Leu, How Reading Comprehension Has Changed While We Weren't Looking. I learned that online reading has some novel literacy skills; however, many connected back to Ellin's work. Questioning is very important. Students must be able to identify important questions because in order to do a search or analyze the results they have to know what question they are trying to answer. They must citically evaluate the usefullness of the information, or determine importance. They must synthesize the information in order to answer their questions. Finally, they must communicate what they learn to others. Dr. Leu asserts that your create your own text with each click. The biggest problem he sees is that there is no correlation between state reading tests and online reading. Evidently the US is way behind the rest of the world in this respect. He showed us data that indicates that being able to read online well is not correlated to high/low reading abilities, and that the kids who tested poorly in traditional reading actually scored the highest for online reading. He believes teaching online reading skills to the less able readers is the way to go (rather than allowing students who finish first to go online, he suggests starting the lowest readers online, and allowing them to teach and scaffold their peers.) I join faculty, staff, and graduate students at NC State today for a lunch discussion about the New Literacies today. I hope to learn more, and make more connections. This is fascinating. Has anyone else had any experience with this? Do you see the things he describes? Joy/NC/4 [EMAIL PROTECTED] How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org - Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] textmapping
That's great! I am glad to hear that scrolls and textmapping have been helpful to you and your students. And I am glad to hear that the site provided enough information for you to take away something useful -- enough so that you were able to develop workable lesson plans. This is all a work in progress. The Mosaic listserv has been particularly helpful as a sounding board. Thanks to all who have written. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Olga Reynolds [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Dave Middlebrook [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 2:13 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] textmapping Hi Dave, I just wanted to let you know that after much effort (mostly thinking about it) I finally put together (amplified) some text mapping lessons. I think that I can honestly say that the lessons helped my students score better on story elements. Now I've put all their short stories on scrolls and use them for a variety of purposes---looking for word families, main characters,it's endless. The students now use the scrolls to reread to improve their fluency. It's like reading a story on a billboard.!!! I especially like that students don't have to worry about spelling because it's there. They can concentrate on the task. Thanks! olga - Original Message - From: Shannon Brisson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 2:39 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] Strategies instruction for older adolescents I have a question about implementing strategies instruction. I understand that the best way to teach students how to use a comprehension strategy is through explicit instruction, modeling, and then a gradual release of responsibility. My question is this: How well does this work at the high school level? I have seen model strategies instruction lessons, and the way that teachers give explicit instructions ( I always see teachers start out by saying things like, Today we're going to learn about a strategy that good readers use) and model through a think-aloud seems more suited to an elementary setting. Do high school students react positively to this type of explicit instruction, or do they feel like they are being babied or talked down to? Is there a better approach for teaching older adolescents? Also, I'm wondering if anyone has any opinion on which comprehension strategies are the most useful for high school aged social studies students. Thank you! Shannon (first year grad student, literacy grades 5-12) _ Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser! http://biggestloser.msn.com/ ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Strategies instruction for older adolescents
Hi Shannon, You might want to try using scrolls and textmapping. My first work was with middle school and high school students. At that age they like to discover things on their own. Scrolls provide the perfect environment for cooperative, discovery-based learning. Textmapping engages students in text and really helps them think about process -- about what comprehension is, and how to go about building it. Might I suggest that you go to: http://www.textmapping.org/teacherTraining.html On that page you will find three hands-on exercises that you could try with your students. They are listed under textbooks, poetry, and fiction. The fiction exercise is lots of fun -- and will really get them thinking -- but it requires quite of bit of historical schema, and the scrolls are long. So you'll need two or three class periods to complete it. The textbook and poetry exercises, on the other hand, are simpler and more forgiving. If scrolls and textmapping are new to you, you can read more about them here: * http://www.textmapping.org/whWorkshopNotes.html * http://www.textmapping.org/textmapping.html Don't hesitate to email me if you have questions. Good luck! Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Shannon Brisson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 2:39 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] Strategies instruction for older adolescents I have a question about implementing strategies instruction. I understand that the best way to teach students how to use a comprehension strategy is through explicit instruction, modeling, and then a gradual release of responsibility. My question is this: How well does this work at the high school level? I have seen model strategies instruction lessons, and the way that teachers give explicit instructions ( I always see teachers start out by saying things like, Today we're going to learn about a strategy that good readers use) and model through a think-aloud seems more suited to an elementary setting. Do high school students react positively to this type of explicit instruction, or do they feel like they are being babied or talked down to? Is there a better approach for teaching older adolescents? Also, I'm wondering if anyone has any opinion on which comprehension strategies are the most useful for high school aged social studies students. Thank you! Shannon (first year grad student, literacy grades 5-12) _ Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser! http://biggestloser.msn.com/ ___ 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] site back up
The site is back up. For those of you who are scratching your heads, you need not read further. Over the last 8 days I received a lot of email about the site being down -- people checking in, offering encouragement, even a few offers of server space. Very kind. I was pleasantly stunned by the attention. And so I wanted to thank you. Since it is late (here on the East Coast of the US) and I have been working on this for hours, rather than replying to each of you individually, I chose the lump sum approach. I hope that all of you who wrote will receive this thank you. The good news is that my site is now back up and running. I just got it going about an hour ago on a new server owned by another web hosting outfit. I had to give up on my old web host, which is a shame because they were good. But they so botched up my account -- a perfect storm of large-company-itis -- that leaving them was my only practical option. I am very pleased with them so far. The price is good and the quality looks good as well. Their systems seem solid. The transfer went very well. I am gladand very relieved to have this done. Thanks again for your kind emails, Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] compiling lists
Perhaps a wiki? They offer all the collaborative benefits you mention, and then some. There is some initial start-up stuff to wade through, but once you get started it's pretty easy to collaborate and build. * wikiversity: http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Main_Page * wikibooks: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page * or Keith could set up one on his server (sounds like more work for Keith, but it's an option -- providing he's up to it) Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: A.Michele Paci [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Cc: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 10:21 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] compiling lists You're right Bev. I wonder if there could be a document that is editable (is that a word?). This would allow for everyone to make their contributions in order to compile a comprehensive, but not repetitive list. I know that I can do this within an internal e-mail system at work. Maybe it could be something that is posted in the teaching tools section???I wonder if the tech people might have some ideas. Michele ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] text mapping in kinder
The basic idea is that when you use a book to do a picture walk with your kids, there are some limitations imposed by the medium (bound pages): 1. Nobody can see more than two pages at a time. 2. Your students can't look back without asking you to stop readingand then you have to page back and forth through the book. How often can you do that without losing the rest of the class? So access to looking back is severely limited, and when you do look back, It's an interruption. 3. When a teacher is reading students a story, a passenger mentality sets in: the students are physically in the position of least control over the book, the story in its pages, and the speed at which the reading of the story is progressing. By comparison, scrolls are a much more flexible and usable environment: 1. You can see much more of the text. You can simply unroll it fully, in which case the entire story is visible. Or you can unroll the story as you go, leaving in full view the pages you've read without exposing the pages ahead. 2. Your students can look back whenever they want to, without asking you to stop. So they can see a character and a question can pop into their minds about something that character did earlier in the story, and all they need do is look back along the scroll to see the information they need. 3. Furthermore, with so much of the story visible, students can become more engaged. They will come up with more I wonders. They will be drivers and not just passengers. There are two ways to make a scroll: 1. photocopy the pages and tape or glue them together 2. buy two books, use a razor knife to cut off the spine, then lay out the pages in order and tape or glue them together For picture books like Good Night Gorilla, it's cheapest and easiest to buy two books. Make sure you buy the paper, not the board-book version! When you scroll Good Night Gorilla, your kids will be able to interact with the story in ways not available in the bound book. They'll be able to walk on it (it feels good in socks or bare feet), sit on it, roll on it, and move back and forth along it. These are all useful ways of engaging. The length of the story can be understood in concrete terms -- the length of the scroll; they'll know where things are -- literally where things are in the space occupied by the scroll. And they'll see more things, too. The persistence of the information -- the fact that it all remains instantly accessible -- is an important benefit. Your kids will be more engaged because of this. Things to look for: in Gorilla, the balloon. Consider: There are 16 two-page spreads in the book. The balloon (or evidence of it) is in 14 of them. Can you spot the balloon? Can you see where it isn't? on each of the pages? More questions: Where is the balloon going? Where does it end up? What might it feel like to be this balloon? What might the balloon be feeling at different points in the story (I think balloons can feel in this story!) -- and what evidence makes you think that? What might it feel like to end up where the balloon ends up? What does the balloon have to do with the rest of the story? How is the experience of the balloon similar to, and different from, the experiences of the other characters? How do the actions of the balloon mirror the actions and emotions in the story? In effect I'm asking, What does the balloon mean/symbolilze?. The balloon is, by itself, a very rich topic. Lots of opportunities to model MOT strategies. And yes, when you're ready for Ten Minutes 'Til Bedtime (same author) and text-to-text connections, you'll find more balloons. Same questions apply. And more. Great material. Lots of interesting things happening in Ten Minutes 'Til Bedtime. For example, there is a healthy dose of self-referential humor. At one point you see a picture of the boy reading a book. And as luck would have it, the book he is reading is Ten Minutes..., and he has his copy of the book open to the very same page that you are looking at, which means that on the page he is looking at there is a picture of a little boy (him) reading the same book (Ten Minutes), and he has it turned to the same page, and you can see that there is a picture of a little boy (him again) reading the same book.. So there are lots of things you can say about this, one of them being that you are, by implication, on a page that is being viewed by a bigger you, and so on. OK. So it's very Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. It's not like you can't do this stuff with the book, but it's just so much more accessible on the scroll. Scrolls are a great way to support MOT instruction. More information here: http://www.textmapping.org/textmapping.html and here: http://www.textmapping.org/whWorkshopNotes.html I hope you have fun with it! Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction
Re: [MOSAIC] questions for Dave, Joy, others on textmapping
You asked, Is it stretching it to have the kids see the entire story before listening to it How will this affect their ability to visualize?? Some of the fun of a story is in the discovery, in the feeling that something is just around the corner and not knowing what happens until you get to the end. Showing your kids the whole scroll before they've read the story can take some of the wind out of their sails, but there are times where it makes sense to let them see the whole thing and to look either back or ahead as they wish. There are at least three ways to cut this: * Show them the whole story as a scroll, and work with them on previewing the pictures and generating questions, connections and predictions. * Unroll the scroll as you read, leaving exposed the parts you have read so that your students can look back as they wish. This has the advantage of keeping alive the mystery of what happens next. * Read the book first, and then use the scroll as the common text for discussion. With regard to visualizing, my experience is that scrolls result in a higher level of engagement -- which translates into more engagement with sensory imagining (visualizations, etc.). Have fun with it! Thanks for your interest, Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Olga Reynolds [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 2:40 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] questions for Dave, Joy, others on textmapping Hi all, I just revistited Dave's site and after reading and thinking about it---I have questions that probably can only be answered by trying it outthe whole concept sounds like it makes a lot of sense. I am going to try it on the first day of school with a read aloud (probably about the first day of school). Is it stretching it to have the kids see the entire story before listening to it How will this affect their ability to visualize?? I am feeling comfortable with the idea that they will sense many of the feelings they will experience throughout the day and start to develop a sense of comfort that they will be ok??? Dave, Joy anyone help me out with this. olga ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] textmapping Joy
The key is the scroll. Lori's example of the picture walk is a good one. She scrolls a picture book and lays it out on the floor. Suddenly the kids have a new way to access this story. They can see the whole thing. They can look down at it from afar; they can get real close to it; they can walk on it and roll on it. They can look anywhere in the story at any time. If they see something interesting half way through the story, they can look back to see if they missed anything earlier or they can look ahead to see what happens later. This is a real conversation-starter -- which is one of the ways in which scrolls support MOT instruction. A student can take a friend's hand and walk them over to something that has caught her attention: Hey! Look over here! You can take your class through a picture walk of a scroll, and if something you point out sparks a connection to an earlier part of the story, anyone who is curious can look back over the story to see where that connection is -- and each of your kids is free to look wherever they want in the book to find that connection since they don't have to wait for you to page back through the story. They can disperse to search and then share what they have found. Can you imagine 30 kids poring over a scroll, conversing, looking for connections, asking questions, making predictions? It is chaotic -- but you will be amazed at the level of engagement. The chaos, in this case, is what you get when you cut loose 30 little minds and give them a way in to self-motivated, engaged thinking. You don't get this kind of interaction -- or learning -- when you work within the constrained environment of a bound book. Scrolls are a very supportive environment for MOT instruction. Don't get too caught up in the marking/mapping. Once you understand how to use the scroll, you'll quickly figure out how the mapping works. Start by letting your kids spend some time with the scroll. If you want to model the strategies, try asking questions: Show them where on the scroll your question was sparked and maybe even show them where on the scroll your question is answered or where you find information that helps you answer your question. Make connections and predictions, all the while showing them where on the scroll these things happen for you. Talk about determining importance -- and point to the scroll as you talk through your thought process. As you do this, be sure to walk back and forth along the scroll and put your finger directly on the places that you are talking about. And as you do this, be aware of how your connection to the text and to the story becomes more direct and physical -- how, as Lori said, ideas such as beginning/middle/end become concrete and much more accessible. The point of the scroll is that it invites interaction and engagement in ways that simply are neither possible nor imaginable in the constrained environment of the bound book. My experience is that the instructional benefits are immediate and tangible, but if that is not your experience -- if the word tedious enters your mind as you and your kids are working with scrolls -- drop the whole thing like a hot potato. Scrolls and textmapping are only useful if they work for you -- for your teaching style and for your kids. My apologies for the thin explanations on the site. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have further questions. I appreciate your willingness to give this another try. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: gina nunley [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 10:10 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] textmapping Joy To everyone who is using text mapping. I am feeling like a real idiot. I have looked on the site, and understand the process BUT I do not get exactly what you are doing with it. Is it as simple as doing a kind of SQ3R with text features? Coding the text with reading strategies? Joy you talked about using it with fiction to reread. Can you give me an idea of the process? I have tried it once and the kids found it tedious and not really worth the invested time. I am certain I have been missing something in my approach. Thanks, Gina _ Puzzles, trivia teasers, word scrambles and more. Play for your chance to win! http://club.live.com/home.aspx?icid=CLUB_hotmailtextlink ___ 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] textmapping research
As we head into another school year, I thought I'd update you all on my efforts to interest reseachers in studying scrolls and textmapping. Bottom line: the going has been slow; I am still plugging along. As far as I know, only three studies have been completed -- but none of them have been written up. They were done at a community college, a middle school and an elementary school. Anther study at a university was derailed by a graduate student strike, and one at a state college died for lack of funding. From what I hear, the results of the three completed studies were strong, but the teachers who completed them do not have the time to close the process. Family emergencies and the usual ups and downs of life have their own pull; time passes and the data grows cold (as does the motivation to restart the work). At this stage of the game, research is essentially a volunteer and out-of-pocket undertaking. While this is not the ideal situation, it can work. We all know that this is a familiar stage in the process of innovation. New ideas take time to rise. We're still very much in the bootstrapping phase of things. Sooner or later, this will take off. I am trying to speed this process by writing the book -- which is intended to reach researchers as well as teachers. With any luck, this will work. In the mean time, since so many of you have had experience uing scrolls and textmapping in your classrooms, I'd like to encourage you to write an article that describes what you have found. It need not be very long and it most certainly does not need to be backed by hard data. A straight telling of your experiences would do. I have compiled a short list of publications -- IRA, NCTE, and others -- that regularly and enthusiastically publish such articles from classroom teachers. You'll find it about half way down this page: http://www.textmapping.org/collaborate.html Articles of this kind are not peer reviewed, but they can be very influential in building support for new ideas and approaches. And they are also a good way for teachers to build their own credentials. I hope you will consider giving this a try. Sooner or later this will catch. Thank you for your interest and support. I look forward to seeing some of you in your classrooms this year! Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] I wonder, morphed from business case against high stakes testing
The piece is copyrighted, and the Financial Times has chosen to limit access -- as is their right. I think it's important to honor that -- especially when it comes to releasing someone's work into cyberspace without permission. Sorry if that comes off as Boy Scout. I can offer a few snippets: * Both reports criticised the practice of offering earnings guidance and urged corporate leaders to conduct more grown-up, substantial conversations with their shareholders about the long-term aims of their businesses * Managers who place so much faith in dodgy forecasts are fundamentally misunderstanding how organizations really work... * But surely measurement is everything in business? `What gets measured get managed,' runs the old saw. Yes -- and what gets managed gets manipulated. Targets distort people's behaviour, and rarely, in the long term, for the good. What the piece does, in my opinion, is nicely summarize the business case AGAINST metrics and targets used blindly like a hammer -- and by inferred connection, high stakes testing. which is being used blindly like a sledge hammer -- in a way that will help teachers understand that the so-called business case for praying to measurement (measurement mania) is fiction. Businesses don't do it, either -- or if they do, their performance slips. In education, there is a strong sense of being under seige from business -- from an imposed regimen of testing, pushed by the bottom line mentality of business leaders in our country. So I thought it would be helpful for you to read what business thinks of measurement. As in education, the opinion is far from one-sided. Businesses struggle with measurement in many of the same ways, and with much of the same passion, as do educators. The moment you can see this, you are empowered to counter what has been presented by some in the US as a compelling and irrefutable business case for high stakes testing. To say that such measurement makes sense from a business perspective is hogwash -- and that comes from a business columnist. So you are not alone. Business doesn't thrive under high stakes measurement, any more than does education. So the larger point is, you are in good company. You have more friends than you think. There are three ways to get to the piece. For the first two, you'll need to be a subscriber, or you'll need to sign up for the free trial: 1. Direct link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/351ec946-392b-11dc-ab48-779fd2ac,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F351ec946-392b-11dc-ab48-779fd2ac.html_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fbusinesslife%2Fmanagement 2. Go to http://www.ft.com About halfway down the left column menu, you'll find Business Life. Rollover that and a submenu will open. Click on Management. As of this posting, the article is the first one that comes up in the main window, but if not just look for any column by Stefan Stern and click on More from this columnist. When you get to the article opener, you'll be given an opportunity to sign up for a free 15 day trial. To read the piece, you need to sign up. 3. Go to your local library. It's free there. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Beverlee Paul [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 2:31 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] I wonder I also was unable to access article. Also was not able to get into the FT article. Is there anyway you can copy and send the article. Education (public and private) is a Huge pot of money ready for the taking!! thanks olga _ Need a brain boost? Recharge with a stimulating game. Play now! http://club.live.com/home.aspx?icid=club_hotmailtextlink1 ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] the business case against high stakes testing
My apologies. I didn't realize that you had to subscribe for a year. I get the paper and didn't feel the need to see it on my screen. I should have clicked on the Free Trial link myself. That'll be a lesson to me about free. You'd think I'd have that down by now. As to the specific argument, much of it has to do with unintended consequences of using metrics and targets blindly like a hammer. Pricilla's previous post with the Edweek article says it all and more. The Financial Times piece is not important from the standpoint of the specific arguments -- nothing new to anyone here -- but it does make the point very nicely that this is a business issue as well. We might as well suggest that corporate managers read the Edweek article that Priscilla posted, as well as the position papers of the NCTE and Joanne Yatvin's minority report, etc. They would recognize their situation in yours, just as you can recognize yours in theirs. There is plenty of room for cross-connections here. The problem is a shared one. So I simply wanted to communicate to you that this is not a metter of us against them -- educators against business. Rather, it is about the use and misuse of numbers and targets, and about how they skew corporate operations (and, as we know, education). I figured that you would find new support and strength in just knowing that this is a problem in the business world as well and that people are talking about this in the corporate world with the same passion. It is important stuff. Perhaps it is worth a trip to the library, where you can read the piece for free -- truely for free. Or maybe not. The point is, it's the message -- that your battle is being waged in the business world as well -- that is important. Perhaps just knowing that this is the case is sufficient. Despite the heavy hand of the Business Rountable, which makes me livid (try http://www.businessroundtable.org//taskForces/taskforce/issue.aspx?qs=6545BF159F849514481138A6DBE7A7A19BB6487BF6B38 ) you can rest assured that the business world is not united against you in support of NCLB. There are sound business arguments that debunk the simplistic reliance on numbers. I thought the column in the Financial Times was the perfect vehicle for communicating that to you. I should add that all of this leads us back to MOT -- to constantly questioning and trying to improve what we do. The difference between MOT and high stakes testing is the difference between asking thick or thin questions, between authentic and cheap fix, between thoughtful analysis and thoughtless consumption. Same problem in the business world, different language. My apologies for not testing the Free Trial button. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Renee [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 11:02 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] the business case against high stakes testing On Jul 24, 2007, at 7:59 PM, Dave Middlebrook wrote: I've had a few off-line replies -- very nice, thankyou -- but this is going nowhere on the listserv. I thought it worth a second try. Given all the conversation recently on points related to this subject, I was surprised that there hasn't been a flurry of interest here. OK. So it's from the Financial Times, Not an education publication. All the more reason to check it out: See yourselves from a different angle! Get some new schema! Dave, I'm sure the reason you are not seeing conversation about this article is because it requires a login or signing up for a free 15-day trial. The problem is that when you click on the offer to get a free trial, what you have to do is actually subscribe for a year (they get your credit card number) and the free trial is tacked on to the subscription, which is pricey. Is there a possibility that you might be able to give us some of the main points? Renee The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen. ~ Frank Lloyd Wright ___ 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] I wonder
Can anyone tell me the original source for the use of I wonder? Thanks, Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Summary of Stahl's summary of the NRP on Fluency
This is great. Thanks! Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: RASINSKI, TIMOTHY [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 7:48 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Summary of Stahl's summary of the NRP on Fluency Hi Dave-- I agree completely with your sentence -- you're right on. And, thanks for the invitation to expand on your definition --Fluency instruction is most effective when it involves authentic reading for authentic purposes (overt and single-minded focus on speed and accuracy are not what I would consider authentic). Moreover, I would add that the methods suggested by the NRP and others -- modeling fluent reading, repeated reading, assisted reading should be included in the instruction in ways that are authentic (e.g. repeated and assisted reading are most authentic when students engage in repeated reading or rehearsal for eventual performance to an audience).Texts most approrpiate for fluency instruction are texts that are meant to be performed (e.g. poetry, scripts, song lyrics, etc.) and have a strong sense of voice (voice in writing is the other side of prosody in reading -- narrative, poetry, scripts, song lyrics, etc fit well here too. Informational texts can be a bit more challenging -- not always written with strong sense of voice). Finally, I will make one more addendum to suggest that there is an existing and growing body of research that indicates that when students and teachers engage in this sort of fluency instruction fluency, comprehension, and overall reading achievement improves. Timothy Rasinski 404 White Hall Kent State University Kent, OH 44242 330-672-0649 Cell -- 330-962-6251 FAX 330-672-2025 [EMAIL PROTECTED] informational website: www.timrasinski.com professional development DVD: http://www.roadtocomprehension.com/ https://exchange.kent.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.roadtocomprehension.com/ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Dave Middlebrook Sent: Wed 7/11/2007 7:11 AM To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Summary of Stahl's summary of the NRP on Fluency Hello Tim: It would be helpful to have your response to my one-sentence summary of the research on fluency. In case there could possibly be an argument behind my question, let me assure you that I am not looking for one. I just want to know your opinion. Here is the question: Elaine summarized Stahl's research, and I summarized her summary. Elaine thought my summary was right on. The full text of the exchange is below. Now, I realize that even if you agree with Elaine on Stahl -- and perhaps you don't -- you still might not agree with Stahl on fluency. So my question to you is this: How accurate do you think my one sentence summary is, vis-a-vis where fluency research has taken us so far? Does my sentence say essentially what you would say about fluency at this time? Here is my sentence: ...fluency is important in the context of authentic reading, but that the farther fluency work gets from authentic texts and the more targeted it gets on speed and accuracy without comprehension, the less useful it is. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a more complex answer. Whatever you have to say would be welcomed. Thanks for the advice on googling NAEP oral reading. I found the study. Interesting stuff. Very helpful with respect to prodosody (they call it fluency, but they defined their terms clearly, so I get it). Looking forward to your response. And thanks again for all of your input during this conversation. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: elaine garan [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 11:45 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Summary of Stahl's summary of the NRP on Fluency On the nudge front, I didn't see much on prosody. I believe your summary is right on. Perhaps there's less on prosody because while you can measure speed and accuracy, prosody is less easy to quantify and so the focus is on what can be measured? Maybe Tim knows. While you're reading my book, I think you'll see a lot in the chapter on ELL's that converges with what Stahl has synthesized. On Monday, July 9, 2007, at 07:29 PM, Dave Middlebrook wrote: Thanks Elaine! Lots to chew on. My quick take after reading your summary is that fluency is important in the context of authentic
Re: [MOSAIC] Summary of Stahl's summary of the NRP on Fluency
Thanks so much to Elaine and Tim -- and to the list for pushing the conversation along with observations and questions. Fluency seems almost too hot to touch, which makes conversations about it difficult. And my impression after trying to read some of the research on my own is that the questions surrounding it are extremely complicated and that firm answers to many specific questions seem to be dependent upon so many variables, and thus elusive: What are the best ways to work on speed and/or accuracy and/or prosody? Which ways work best under which conditions for which readers? Just how far from inauthentic text and comprehension can you go and still be effective -- and what are the goals of going inauthentic? Are there any benefits to using inauthentic text? etc. In the end, the process of formulating conclusions appears to require one to dash through a mine field while making sausage. I hope the conversation continues. For now, at least, my questions are answered. Thanks. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Summary of Stahl's summary of the NRP on Fluency
Thanks Elaine! Lots to chew on. My quick take after reading your summary is that fluency is important in the context of authentic reading, but that the farther fluency work gets from authentic texts and the more targeted it gets on speed and accuracy without comprehension, the less useful it is. Is that an accurate way to put it? On the nudge front, I didn't see much on prosody. That is an area of current and significant interest for me. If you have any other sources on that, I'd be interested in looking into them. I'll be digging into your book before the summer ends. Thanks for your detailed replies. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: elaine garan [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 1:05 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] Summary of Stahl's summary of the NRP on Fluency Ta-Dah!! For Dave or anyone else-- here it is hot off the press: Ok—Here is the information from Stahl’s chapter on Fluency in The Voice of Evidence in Reading Research. This was sanctioned by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the various sections were written by members or contributors of the Report of the National Reading Panel. Its purpose is to put the panel’s research into practice so this has the federal stamp of approval. Stahl was a contributor to the NRP report. What he’s done is try to pull together the various studies and the findings of the NRP and discuss their implications for classroom teaching. I’m going to outline the chapter section by section since so that the big picture isn’t lost. If I have a personal comment, I’ll note it as such. Otherwise, this is the flow of undiluted, uncherrypicked federally- sanctioned Stahl. I think what he says is well-balanced, fair and makes a lot of sense. This is a draft—it is accurate in terms of content-- but no doubt has spelling or grammatical errors but I’m not cleaning it up now. 1. Ch starts with how fluency has been a neglected topic but is destined to move to the forefront because of NCLB. (p. 187) 2. Then Stahl discusses models of reading development that emphasize fluency—Chall, Ehri—and how the belief is that if kids can recognize words automatically, they can devote energy to comprehension. This is the same argument and the same researchers who support heavy phonics instruction for the same reason. Note: He describes this in terms of models and does not agree or disagree. He then moves on to the definition of fluency (p.187-188) 3. Stahl states that conventionally, fluency is defined as 1) a reasonable rate; 2) “accurate without too many miscues” NOTE: Stahl uses the term “miscues” instead of “errors” thus appearing to validate the concept—I would note that later he cites Marie Clay and others connected to Reading Recovery to promote the use of context, rather than decoding alone to help kids identify words. 3) prosodic—read with expression to sound like language. 4. THEN—and this is important—Stahl (p. 188) says that these definitions of reading (those 3 components) are over simplified and that “Reading, however, is more complex” 5. He then qualifies and expands on that oversimplified definition of fluency by saying, (p. 188) “Teachers assume that those who… are struggling with the text, making many miscues, hesitating and repeating words are struggling readers and that those who read the text comfortably are comprehending accurately. He says, for the most part this is true. But then he gets into the complexities and the qualifications: 7. “Reading however is more complex. Sometimes children can be reading accurately but do not understand what they read” He cites (Carpenter an Paris and also Pinnell et al (1995) 8. He then goes on for 2 pages saying how the 3 components of fluency (rate, accuracy and prosody) are not enough. He cites Pinnell’s study for NAEP—who found that 4th graders tested in this special study “showed that overall, oral reading accuracy was not significantly related to comprehension “(p. 188) 9. Pinnell et all DID find however that “significant miscues were strongly related to comprehension. ([pp.188) 10. Stahl then further supports the Pinnell findings that “oral reading accuracy was only related to comprehension In first and second grades with correlations in third grade and beyond dropping to near zero.” This quote is from studies by Carpenter and Paris—also a study by Schwnaenflugel, Kuhn , Meidnhrt, Bradley and Stahl. 11. Stahl then concludes. “Thus, oral reading accuracy may be important only in early grades, with other factors such as vocabulary and comprhension strategy use becoming important later.” NOTE: This does not mean that training kids to read faster influences comprehension since
Re: [MOSAIC] Repeated Readings for Fluency - Question for Tim
Hello Elaine and Tim, Regarding Elaine's quote from Steven Stahl “Oral reading accuracy is related to comprehension only in first and second grades with the correlations in third grade and beyond falling to near zero” (p. 190). Question: Is it significant that, at least in this quote, he used the word accuracy rather than fluency? Seems to me that reading with feeling/intonation is a different thing than accuracy -- related, but different (same for speed, as well). What does the research -- Tim's and Elaine's -- say about intonation? Enjoying this. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: elaine garan [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 11:22 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Repeated Readings for Fluency - Question for Tim I am going to have to respectfully disagree with the comment that there is a zero correlation between fluency and comprehension beyond first grade. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that fluency is a huge concern with our struggling readers through high school. luency Ok, here are the quotes from Steven Stahl, from the Voice of Evidence. That book was, as you know, written by members and contributors of the NRP to help teachers put the findings into practice. It was dedicated to Reid Lyon. It was supported with funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Stahl, confirms and I believe, cites the findings from Kuhn's study. So, here respectfully, are part of Stahl's summary of the research on the relationship between fluency and comprehension. I think this is important especially when we put it in the perspective of Kuhn's studies and all the research that converges with her findings. There's more-- Jay Samuels (chair of the NRP Fluency section) agrees but a lot of what he's done is in opposition to DIBELS and I don't want to open that can of worms again! The following quotes are from National Reading Panel contributor Steven Stahl’s chapter on fluency in the federally approved book The Voice of Evidence in Reading Research: “Oral reading accuracy is related to comprehension only in first and second grades with the correlations in third grade and beyond falling to near zero” (p. 190). “Sometimes children can read accurately but do not understand what they read” (p. 188). “Teaching children simply to say isolated words faster does not seem to improve reading comprehension. A number of studies have examined teaching children to say words . . . . faster. Although all found that children’s passage reading fluency improved, NONE found differences in comprehension between the study group and the control group” (p. 189). Again, I am not arguing that laborious reading hinders kids' comprehension especially if we're forcing them to read aloud. But I am saying, respectfully and the research confirms that as soon as we train kids to think about fluency, they do what we are telling them is important and they lose the focus on comprehension. However, if we focus on comprehension, fluency will come and kids will be as fluent as they need to be. As you noted, correlation is not causation. On Sunday, July 8, 2007, at 06:27 AM, RASINSKI, TIMOTHY wrote: I am going to jump in and share my own thoughts. I agree that fluency may be a craze, and may be passing phase, especially if it is nothing more than teaching kids to read fast and faster. However, reading fluency and comprehension are strongly connected. When children read words automatically or effortlessly they can use their good brain to make sense of what they read -- not struggle to read the words. Try reading a poem from Shel Silverstein's Runny Babbit and you will probably find yourself spending more effort figuring out the words and less attention is place on making meaning. This is what I think so many of our children go through. They can read the words, but so haltingly that they are unable to pay much attention to meaning. And, when students read text with appropriate expression, phrasing, emphasis, pausing and all the other prosodic cues that linguists talk about they are giving evidence that the are making meaning with their voice. I am going to have to respectfully disagree with the comment that there is a zero correlation between fluency and comprehension beyond first grade. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that fluency is a huge concern with our struggling readers through high school. I have a study in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy where we showed a significant and substantial correlation between fluency and 9th graders' (from an urban school district) performance on Ohio's High School Graduation Test. I now
Re: [MOSAIC] Re-replies to my fluency v. comprehension
This is an interesting thread -- as evidenced in part by the fact that it has split a few times into sub-threads. My thoughts: Whether and to what degree fluency is important depends upon the text being read and what the reader needs to get from that text. Two examples come to mind: poetry and contracts. Poetry requires a lot of fluency. Lose the fluency and, more often than not, you miss the magic -- and many layers of meaning as well. Contracts can -- and are often designed to -- put you to sleep. The littlest details count. Much can hang on small words like and and or; and where you put the emphasis in a sentence -- which word or phrase -- can often make all the difference in whether a deal will work for you. In short, if you don''t put some serious fluency into the reading of a contract, you can get skinned alive. Having said all that, I can also think of plenty of texts that don't require much fluency -- but even those are richer with fluency. Think Stop signs and advertising slogans and other such pedestrian texts that are the wallpaper of our lives. Bottom line: fluency is important sometimes, and beneficial most of the time. Some texts make little or no sense without it, and even where it's not necessary it can add richness to our lives. I agree with Laura's comments, below. Fluency is a bridge to comprehension. Children need to make the connection between fluency and comprehension. It is an important tool. That said, I liked the way Nancy Haggerty struck the balance: ...fluency will actually allow for more in-depth reading. We do have to be careful to take the entire child into consideration. Yea for the child who is exhibiting comprehension using the thinking strategies despite low fluency, but I would also continue to work on some fluency with that child. These are all pieces to a complete package. Has anybody read The Joys of Yiddish? Now there's the argument for fluency! Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 7:22 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Re-replies to my fluency v. comprehension In a message dated 5/22/2007 7:19:03 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Skip the fluency and work on inference and questioning techniques... Hi all. Just weighing in here. Fluency is the bridge between decoding and comprehension. When we free up brain space by developing fluency that is all the more space children can devote to the thinking we are asking them to do. It can not and should not be skipped. It also should not just be timed reading without attention to comprehension. We need to include retelling in our fluency work to insure that the children make the connection back to comprehension. Laura readinglady.com ** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Reading Literacy and Literature Circles
Not sure what you did, but SMTP is a mail server. You don't want that. Here's the URL again: http://www.lauracandler.com When you click on it, your browser should open. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Comprehension in general
Hello Alan, I'd be real interested in reading Luke's thoughts about Bill's first post, and some comments he added this morning, which I've copied just below. I get the optimism that some have about solutions, nevertheless I have this feeling that the ground is shifting under our feet and I don't have a clue as to where this might be going. I'd like to know what a younger person with Luke's skills and interests thinks about Bill's posts. I spend a lot of my time in the tech world -- on line, working with technology -- but clearly I live and breathe in this world in ways that are different than younger people are. There is a disconnect -- at least for me -- when I read Bill's descriptions of his kids -- their outward attitudes, at least. Sometimes I think the shoe is on the other foot. The late 50s through the early 70s, when I was growing up, were also times in which older people had a hard time understanding younger people. And I remember, as a kid, being aware of the confusion adults felt, but not understanding it. And I remember feeling alienated -- not sure by what, but I would have said by adults. So perhaps this is just a new flavor of the same old story. But I don't know. I would have thought that, having been a young person, I would be able to recognize myself in today's young people. And sometimes I do. But Bill's kids leave me completely without reference points. Anyway, still unanswered -- for me at least -- is the question of whether Bill's class is an anomaly or part of a tidal wave of change. It was helpful to read Donna's post -- reassuring in that she found ways to reach her kids. That said, I think a lot about how literacy and thinking are changing -- and how where and how we get our information and where and how we engage in conversations might be changing our ability to connect to older literacies and ways of thinking (such as books, older movies, etc.). Will we reach a point -- or have we already reached it -- where the older and new literacies are disconnecting or already disconnected? And what would (or does) that mean for our futures? Bill got me thinking. Lots of questions. I would be real interested in reading Luke's thoughts. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] If I hadn't spent the time teaching about how to watch a movie I wouldn't be concerned, but I spent a lot of time discussing what made a good story. What made a good movie. We watched TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD which previous years got. Previous classes experienced anger, shame, shock, excitementthis group just sat and watched. We discussed music, cinematography, special effects, make up, costumes, acting, genres, etc. and I applied the reading strategies to each and every one. I knew they were lacking skills to discuss books and movies which is why I did the lessons. All they do is talk on their cell phones, go on Myspace, and sleep. They all want to be famous, but when I ask what they are going to do to become famous, they tell me it will just happen. No plans, no goals. They all think they are great at whatever they do...even when evidence shows otherwise. They refuse to look at something they do as well done or poorly done -- only that it is done. Everything revolves around themselves. I tried to stress with the kids that if a work of art (music, painting, movies, etc) has been around for awhile, there is probably a reason for it. Their job was to figure out the reason. That's what being grown up is all about.looking at things from other's viewpoints. But they are so self-centered, they can't see the value of anything. The things in the world only have value IF THEY DECREE IT, otherwise, they won't even try to experience anything different. Don't recommend any professional books, please. I've read everything and have been doing this for a long time.this is the first year I've had such a group. - Original Message - From: Harvey Family [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Listserv' mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2007 1:01 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Comprehension in general Hi Bill Something IS going on in their lives. You just have to find it. One powerful access point is the Spoken Word. Poetry made to be performed. Find a young poet with a boom box and a contemporary issue and they will create a spark. A poet who can help them find their voice. There are probably all sorts of issues within your room - issues of drugs, abuse, poverty, and power - that have kept these students down. Even affluence has major stuff going down - status, video violence, and, once again, drugs. Not everyone is comfortable with the Arts but the students have to find a passion or they will sink out of sight
Re: [MOSAIC] Comprehension in general
Question to other middle school teachers -- and perhaps high school and college as well: Does Bill's description of his 8th graders match your experience? Is Bill's class an anomoly? If not, what have you done about it that worked? Bills description is stunning: * no hobbies, interests, opinions * zombies * The had 9 weeks to find a film... * 18 weeks cajoling...about half did it * They could tell me in detail about the first 10-15 minutes of the films * Some even remembered wrong endings... * Most could not stay focused on 90 minutes of film long enough to process and remember it. Ouch. There are all kinds of opinions out there on how literacy and thinking and social interactions are changing -- and on the role of culture, technology, the economy and the generally high-pressured, mobile, fast paced lives we lead. Is Bill's class an example of this kind of change, or is it just a spectacularly bad piece of luck for Bill to have been assigned the task of educating a classroom of zombies? I keep re-reading Bill's post and looking for an opportunity -- some light leaking in from somewhere. For example, if I stretch, I can imagine giving a class of 8th graders a list of 350 of the best movies of all time, and seeing nothing but bored yawns and blank stares. How many of these movies came out after they were born? What connections do they have to Casablanca? Gone With The Wind? Let's be realistic here. The First Gulf War was over before these kids were born. The Balkan War was over before they were out of diapers. So perhaps more needed to be done to set up this assignment -- something along the lines of a discussion on how we pick movies, similar to how we pick books. Perhaps this is a line of discussion that could benefit Bill and his students. But then I re-read Bill's post again -- I try to take in his obervations. It's a lot to digest (see list above). No hobbies... Most could not say focused on 90 minutes of film... In the face of this, I feel helpless. What more could anyone do? Which is why it would be helpful to hear from other middle/high/college teachers regarding Bill's description of his kids. The conversation goes one way if this is just Bill's bummer-of-a-class. It goes another way if this is evidence of a sea change. So which is it? Or is this not the right question? I look forward to hearing back from you middle/high/college teachers. Bill - For your future and ours, I hope it's just a bad-luck year for you. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Bill Roberts [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Listserv mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2007 5:19 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] Comprehension in general Hi, You haven't heard from me in awhile because I've met my match with this year's 8th graders. They don't read, they don't do homework, they don't do anything. They have no hobbies, interests, opinions. They are zombies who come into the classroom, sit, and take up space. For the first time ever, I can say they are not any smarter or better prepared than they were in the beginning of school...and this is confirmed by every 8th grade teacher I work with! But I've discovered something that at least explains what is going on, even though it offers no solutions: They have NO comprehension at all. I assigned movie reviews thinking it might get them to try and do something. I gave a list of the AFI Top 100 Films of all time, plus a list of the top 250 foreign films of all time. The best films ever made. I hoped they might discover a new world by seeing classics like CASABLANCA or GONE WITH THE WIND or even SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Was I wrong. Most couldn't even watch a film because they didn't want to make the effort. They had 9 weeks to find a film, watch it, review it, and they didn't do it. So I made it an assignment for the next grading period...I wasn't going to give up. Same assignment, but this time they had to do an oral review and talk about the movie. My plan was for them to use their reading strategies and apply them to a movie 18 weeks of cajoling, reminding, and pleading, and about half did it. The ones who did, though, couldn't remember how the movie ended. They could tell me in detail about the first 10-15 minutes of the films, but they couldn't tell me the story, who the characters were, how the movie ended...nothing. I thought they might have fallen asleep, or stopped watching, but all said they watched the entire moviethey just couldn't remember anything. Some even remembered wrong endings like the girl who said the shark survived the ending of JAWS. Her logic? The shark was in JAWS 2 and 3, so it must
Re: [MOSAIC] {MOSAIC} Middle school reading motivators
Hello Andrea,
Here's a poetry exercise using a scroll. I have had good results with
this -- especially with regard to engaging reluctant readers. The poem is
by Edna St. Vincent Millay. It's pretty wide open -- lots of opportunityies
for connections and inferences. There are four documents in the set:
* http://www.textmapping.org/millayScrollPages.pdf
* http://www.textmapping.org/millayInstructions.pdf
* http://www.textmapping.org/millayLayout.pdf
* http://www.textmapping.org/bioMillay.pdf
Scrolls are an excellent format for engaging students -- very hands on, very
multisensory, very supportive of cooperative learning and discussion. You
can read more about scrolls here:
* http://www.textmapping.org/whWorkshopNotes.html
* http://www.textmapping.org/scrolls.html
* http://www.textmapping.org/benefits.html
If you try this, please let me know how it works for you and your students.
Dave Middlebrook
The Textmapping Project
A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction.
www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues!
USA: (609) 771-1781
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- Original Message -
From: ANDREA B LOCKHART [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 12:20 PM
Subject: [MOSAIC] {MOSAIC} Middle school reading motivators
Hi,
I am new to the list, but I have enjoyed reading everything that has been
coming through. I am currently teaching 6th/7th/8th grade remedial reading
(students who are not served through special ed but who are below grade
level readers regardless). Many students coming into the class have such a
negative attitude towards reading --something that I continually work
toward
changing. Does anyone have any ideas for motivating or interesting lessons
that are geared toward middle schoolers--lesson ideas/reading topics/real
world reading/fun reading/vocabulary games that might interest them? I
have
a solid base for my everyday plans, but when students lack motivation,
it's
difficult to interest and engage them sometimes. Any
ideas/advice/suggestions?
Thanks,
Andrea Lockhart
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[MOSAIC] Introducing the Book
Some of you know of my work with scrolls for teaching reading comprehension. From an historical perspective, the book is a much newer technology than the scroll -- neither better nor worse, just different. I have often wondered what it must have been like for people 2000 years ago -- for those rare birds who were literate and had used scrolls for all of their lives -- to encounter this zippy new technology called the book. And finally, someone with a better imagination and a pretty good sense of humor has imagined this for me. I thought it was a hoot and thought you might, too. It's a video on youTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRjVeRbhtRU Smile! Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] textmapping question
Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back I have also used Peggy Rathmann's 10 Minutes 'Til Bedtime and Goodnight Gorilla. Lots of opportunities for strategies -- for example, some really cool text-to-text connections involving the timing and setting of the two stories (they happen at the same town, in the same neighborhood -- and the cool part is how Rathmann tells us this), some weird text-to-itself (don't know how else to describe this) connections within 10 Minutes, lots of room for interesting inferences having to do with balloons and freedom, and more Fun stuff. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Barbara Punchak [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Listserv' mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 9:20 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] textmapping question Dave, What two picture books are used with your sample lesson? I didn't see them listed. (Or did I overlook the titles?) Barbara/6th/FL ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Technology and Reader's Workshop
Hello Mary Beth, Have you tried scrolls and textmapping with them? I originally developed these methods for LD students -- and my first work in this area was with middle school students who were reading way below grade level. I found that these students responded particularly well to scrolls. They liked being able to see the whole text at one time. Rather than getting bogged down by decoding problems, they were able to stand back a bit and think about the text as a whole. They could then selectively zoom back down to the word level -- dropping down here and there to struggle with the words only after they had gleaned a foundation of information that could be used to help with the decoding. They found this liberating since they were able to engage in comprehension at their thinking level, rather than being forced to work with texts that were intellectually less challenging and written at a much lower grade level that matched their decoding skills. This had a feedback effect. With higher interest came more motivation; with more motivation came more progress on decoding; with more progress on decoding came more interest in reading. The result was that while these kids still had (and will always have) learning disabilities, they did learn how to circumvent their weaknesses and instead use their strengths -- their visual, spatial, tactile, and kinaesthetic abilities -- to engage with and comprehend text. It's a decidely low tech approach, but it is highly interactive and does give struggling readers a chance to read more demanding texts. It also costs significantly less than high tech solutions -- all you need is access to a copier, tape or glue stick, and some colored markers. If you try it, please let me know how it works for your students. Don't hesitate to contact me off list if you have questions about implementation. Best of luck to you and your students, Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: LOOSE MARY BETH [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Listserv mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 9:15 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Technology and Reader's Workshop I have a related question for the group...have any of you come across worthwhile websites for interactive reading for middle school students reading way below grade level (at first-third grade levels)? It's hard to find something a little more sophisticated, but yet matches their reading level. Any ideas? Thanks, Mary Loose ___ 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] poetry and scrolls; fluency and comprehension
I have been playing with poetry and scrolls for a few years now -- especially with fluency and comprehension -- and have, in the course of this work, developed some materials that some of you might find interesting. * The main document in the set is here: http://www.textmapping.org/millayScrollPages.pdf It provides some basic background which will help you understand the purpose and method behind the exercise. * You'll find the remaining documents here: http://www.textmapping.org/teacherTraining.html#resourcesPrinterReady , about 8 items down on the list, under the heading, Poetry exercise: Afternoon on a Hill, by Edna St. Vincent Millay (4 document set).. This is a deceptively simple poem that works well at many levels (in terms of connections, inferences, etc.), and for students from upper elementary through college. This is still very much a work in progress, so your feedback would be appreciated. If you use these materials, please let me know what you think. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] study group
Mosaic is about really engaging in reading -- and about talking about your reading, sharing observations, etc. So why not start by asking everying to talk a bit about something recent from their reading. It could be a novel, or a poem, or a journal article, a particularly interesting article from last Sunday's newspaper, or a textbook that they are preparing to use in class. Or maybe they saw something on TV that really got them going. For example, I like PBS shows like Front Line, Air, POV, and Charlie Rose. Lots to talk about there. Lots of connections, questions, inferences, insights, etc. The point is to get people talking about about how they engage and think about the world around them -- more about how they think than what they think. If people don't hold back, this could be a lot of fun. It could also be a good ice breaker. And it will set the context nicely for a discussion about Mosaic of Thought. Whatever you do, I hope you get your study group off to a good start. Good luck!. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: William Forsyth [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2006 6:39 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] study group Hi, I'm conducting a study group for 5-8th grade teachers who don't have the book Mosaic of thought in their hands yet. They will have the book shortly, but I need to met with them this week for an hour. Does any one have any ideas on what I should do with them?I was thinking of just giving them an overview of the bookThat seems so boring to me. Any ideas? ___ 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Long Links in email - use tinyurl.com
Another, arguably simpler, solution: Bracket your links -- long or otherwise -- using and . For example: http://www.sandwich.k12.ma.us/District%20Guided%20Reading%20Program.pdf#search=%22defining%20guided%20reading%22 and tell most (perhaps all -- not sure) email readers to keep the link intact across line breaks. Very easy. Just make sure any links you send are bracketed between and . That solves the broken link problem. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Keith Mack [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Listserv' mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 12:22 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] Long Links in email - use tinyurl.com One thing to think about when posting URL or web links to a listserv is how will this link look to 1000+ people? We had several instances of broken links that have come across to the list. This happens when a really LONG URL looks fine when you paste it, but then is broken up in the translation of sending and then eventually to what the recipient sees. Example of broken link (this looked fine when I pasted it): http://www.sandwich.k12.ma.us/District%20Guided%20Reading%20Program. pdf#search=%22defining%20guided%20reading %22 SOLUTION - use http://www.tinyurl.com TinyURL takes a really long link and makes is into a link that is much friendlier in email. The long URL above becomes: http://tinyurl.com/k65tb. This is useable by our 1000+ member community where the long URL is not. REASONING 1. Communication - you want people on this list to be able to click and find the resource, not to spend time trying to trace what the URL really is. 2. Prevents the annoying The link you sent does work! message from being sent out to 1000's of members again and again. (Thankfully this hasn't happened yet - whew) Another one that I use is http://snipurl.com/. Does the same thing, but allows me to keep my own list of links. So, when you paste a great link in a message to this list, take a look at how it wraps. My rule is that if link is that half of a line of text is OK for a URL. Longer than half a line I use http://www.tinyurl.com. It just takes a few seconds and can save us all a lot of time and server resources. IF a link doesn't work, resist the urge to hit reply. Instead, contact the INDIVIDUAL not the entire list and let them know about the problem. Thanks, Keith Mack Web Administrator for Mosaic Listserv [EMAIL PROTECTED] Office 360.398.2479 Mobile 360.739.6477 Fax 360.398.2679 ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.
Re: [MOSAIC] Long Links in email - use tinyurl.com
An added comment: I prefer the brackets ( and ) because at least I know what I'm sending. I have always been leary of tiny url. I don't know how they do this, except that they use javascript. And they have no privacy policy posted. And I don't know what's in a tiny url -- tracking code, for example? Something has to happen on their server -- your click has to go through them. So what's up here? When someone clicks on a tiny url link in an email, my understanding is that there is code running in the background. I assume that there is a trade-off here -- that tiny url is getting something from this transaction, and they aren't telling anyone what that is. Makes me nervous. Just my paranoid two cents. Dave Middlebrook The Textmapping Project A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction. www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! USA: (609) 771-1781 [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Keith Mack [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Listserv' mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 12:22 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] Long Links in email - use tinyurl.com One thing to think about when posting URL or web links to a listserv is how will this link look to 1000+ people? We had several instances of broken links that have come across to the list. This happens when a really LONG URL looks fine when you paste it, but then is broken up in the translation of sending and then eventually to what the recipient sees. Example of broken link (this looked fine when I pasted it): http://www.sandwich.k12.ma.us/District%20Guided%20Reading%20Program. pdf#search=%22defining%20guided%20reading %22 SOLUTION - use http://www.tinyurl.com TinyURL takes a really long link and makes is into a link that is much friendlier in email. The long URL above becomes: http://tinyurl.com/k65tb. This is useable by our 1000+ member community where the long URL is not. REASONING 1. Communication - you want people on this list to be able to click and find the resource, not to spend time trying to trace what the URL really is. 2. Prevents the annoying The link you sent does work! message from being sent out to 1000's of members again and again. (Thankfully this hasn't happened yet - whew) Another one that I use is http://snipurl.com/. Does the same thing, but allows me to keep my own list of links. So, when you paste a great link in a message to this list, take a look at how it wraps. My rule is that if link is that half of a line of text is OK for a URL. Longer than half a line I use http://www.tinyurl.com. It just takes a few seconds and can save us all a lot of time and server resources. IF a link doesn't work, resist the urge to hit reply. Instead, contact the INDIVIDUAL not the entire list and let them know about the problem. Thanks, Keith Mack Web Administrator for Mosaic Listserv [EMAIL PROTECTED] Office 360.398.2479 Mobile 360.739.6477 Fax 360.398.2679 ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.
