I read To Understand this summer and now that the school year has started I'm finding it difficult to put my finger on where exactly I should be practical and diligent about implementing Ellin's ideas. I've increased wait time in a major way, I have discussed savoring the struggle with my students, but I feel like I'm barely skimming the surface of what I learned and took away from her book in my classroom. Does anyone else feel the same? Anyone have any suggestions?
--- On Sun, 9/28/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [Understand] Beginning with Chapter One To: understand@literacyworkshop.org Date: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 7:28 PM Bev... You are on to something, I think. Ellin isn't just writing about what kids need to understand, she is writing about what people need... You have my thinking going in a new direction now! Thanks! Jennifer In a message dated 9/28/2008 8:01:26 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Maybe. We forgot to keep our eyes on where we were really headed, and stopped off at the first town we came to? I was thinking of working with students when I wrote that, but now that you bring it up, it's definitely true for teachers and other learners, I think. It's why Ellin said we don't get to understanding because our literacy concepts are not "applied in a variety of texts and contexts," even after we've gotten most of the way there. When we work with teachers, maybe we stop right before we get to the place our conversation would help them to "apply to other contexts." So we're teaching everything as a separate piece of knowledge or skill, so we have to reteach and reteach and reteach. It's no mystery that we have to teach fraction operations and percents and decimals over and over again because we haven't ever really taught them at all. There isn't enough "understanding" to generalize. Maybe that's what we need to tell Jamika. What we mean when we talk about understanding is a lot about generalizability or, if we want to bring in Bloom, another model that has influenced us all, evaluation along with all others included. Maybe, in our work with teachers, we do need to examine our language just as carefully as Jennifer describes in her post. "So what do you know now about fluency that you didn't know before?" "What was there about these investigations that will change your teaching ____ in the future?" or "How will learning to respond to students in reader's workshop help you to respond in _______________?" One of my biggest mistakes as a coach has always been failing to debrief in a timely manner, or sometimes at all. I continuously try to juggle our need to develop our teachers as professionals and their needs to have enough time to be well-prepared for their classroom and/or able to get their classroom work done before 7 p.m. It's a tightrope walk. But now, today, I'm thinking that by saving that needed debriefing 20 minutes with the teacher, I'm throwing away the hour and a half I just spent modeling, coteaching, whatever. Hmmmm.> Good question! That extra ten percent might be the most important...and in > light of our other conversations...essential to include in our work with new > teachers. It is the "So What" piece we often don't bring to our students. What > did the strategies do for us? What do we know now that we didn't know before? > That last question I started using after every strategy lesson last May and > it made a world of difference. > > Do you think we cut off that last ten percent because we were teaching > strategies as the end goal not understanding?> Jennifer _________________________________________________________________ Want to do more with Windows Live? Learn “10 hidden secrets” from Jamie. http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!550F 681DAD532637!5295.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_domore_092008 _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list Understand@literacyworkshop.org http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop **************Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial challenges? Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips and calculators. (http://www.walletpop.com/?NCID=emlcntuswall00000001) _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list Understand@literacyworkshop.org http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list Understand@literacyworkshop.org http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
