Jennifer, Making Meaning..... this has been a much discussed topic at our literacy mapping meetings these past weeks. Overall, I think it's a great resource and I will tell you some specifics in a minute. But I feel as though I must mention this disclaimer: A "program" is only as good as the teacher using it. The program is actually scripted (I don't know if you knew that), so anyone could pick up the teacher's guide and "do" it. What makes the program so successful, I think, are the talented teachers in my district who infuse into the program all of their knowledge and expertise in the area of reading instruction. That being said.... 1. It's a read-aloud program. The teacher reads the text, not the students - which makes the text accessible to a wide range of readers. 2. The text sets that come with the program are superb. Amazing picture books with big ideas in them. These are the books you would choose to read aloud to your class if you wanted them to think deeply. Good stuff. :) 3. It does address the comprehension strategies. As you read a book, the students focus on the strategy for that unit - questioning, inferring, etc. The way the script is written makes the strategies very accessible to struggling readers. 4. It also teaches social skills - such as working with a partner, listening to your partner, clarifying when you don't understand what your partner said. These skills are taught very explicitly and recorded on anchor charts. For example, students learn the prompt, "I heard you say _________. Did I get that right?" Or they learn to say, "In addition to what _________ said, I would like to add......". Very explicit - and my students use these skills throughout the day. They really did learn how to have intelligent conversation. 5. The program builds in a lot of reflection time. Ending a lesson by discussing how you did working with your partner. Class meetings to address issues. It's all about building a community of readers. Personally, the program works for me and a majority of my colleagues. The first year I used it, I followed the script because I was getting to know the program. But it's been 3 years now, and I've made some changes. There is not really a lot of opportunity for teacher think-aloud, but because I'm trying to connect Making Meaning with the rest of my literacy block, sometimes I use Day One of a unit to do a think-aloud for that strategy. The script calls just for a read-aloud, but I've adapted that. Also, some of the questions in the script are..... a bit watered down. For example, it might say to reread one sentence and ask, "What does this sentence tell you about Richard?". So, instead, I might stop at that page and have them share their inferences. I already know that much of our discussion about understanding next year will happen during our Making Meaning time. It's very conducive to talking about thinking. Sometimes it gets a bit repetitive, but that is where the professional knowledge of the teacher comes in. To someone like you, who is not new to the teaching of strategies, it may seem simplistic or watered down - like I said, I've adapted it to work in my room. Check out their website: http://www.devstu.org/making_meaning/videos/index.shtml :) Dana >>>>>>>>>
What do you think of Making Meaning? Our county reading specialists heard a presentation on it as a possible before or after school program. I liked that it seemed to align somewhat to MOT. _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list Understand@literacyworkshop.org http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
