Thank you so much for sharing your successes with these first graders.
And...please keep sharing as you go about this wonderous process next year with
a new group of students. I too work in a Title 1 school and some days - well I
can feel your pain with the behavioral issues. It would be so motivating to
hear from you at least once a month next year PLEASE!!
You have truly earned your title - USE IT!
Date: Fri, 27 May 2011 19:15:23 -0700
From: sos...@sbcglobal.net
To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org
Subject: [MOSAIC] Synthesis in 1st grade
Its been a very long year and yet today I felt hope for my little ones. I
teach
a class of 33 at risk 1st grade students at a Title I school. I can't even
begin to describe the behavior and social issues I have faced this year that
interfered with learning and still interfere! Some I have never faced
before.a long, long year...but today...
I've been teaching about synthesis. We began with retelling as a step
before,
then we moved into summarizing and now this week, by using a think aloud, the
kids observed last week that synthesis is changing your thinking as you read.
This week, using the book Jin Woo by Eve Bunting, with think aloud and
conversations, the students decided that synthesis was changing your thinking
as
you read and using your synthesis. I asked the students to draw a picture of
what synthesis meant to them. Here are a few highlights:
One student (and this was a student that had severe behavior issues and I was
happy if she held a book in her hand, right side up, earlier in the year)
said:
I think synthesis is changing our ideas and what we know in our schema. I
told
her I hadn't thought of that before...but she is right...sometimes we have
the
wrong idea in our schema, and as we read, we have to change that as well. I
told her how smart her thinking was!!! Her smile could light the room!!!
Another student--one who used to sing and hum through readers workshop-
compared
synthesis to adding details to your writing. As you read, you are adding to
your schema-the details that make the story bigger-so your thinking gets
bigger. And when you use your schema-you get smarter!
A 3rd student said when you synthesize...your schema gets bigger, too.
Another student (1 of the 24 I had on intervention plans) drew a picture of a
person growing from a baby to an adult...just stick figures, but you could
clearly see the progression. She said synthesis is like growing up. You
change
as you grow and learn and as you synthesize, your thinking gets bigger and
bigger.
Finally, one student compared synthesis to planting a seed. Your first
thinking
is like planting the seed. Then just like the seed begins to grow, so does
you
2nd thinking (her words)then your 3rd thinking (her words) she compared
it
to the flower that the seed grew into. She drew a picture of the seed...the
seedlingthe full plant...and labeled it with the synthesis stages.
So.with 1 more week to gotoday made it all worthwhile. Through it
all,
I guess I was reaching them.
I just wanted to share because we had some behavior issues in the afternoon
that
really brought me down...and I wanted to end my day...remembering the great
things they can do. Why we persevere-it makes it all worthwhile!
Sandi
Elgin, IL
And I'm going to sign my name for the first time as:
National Board Certified Teacher-Literacy; 2010
(Hey...I never get to do that---so humor me!)
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