It is vital to experience these dimensions for ourselves first. I'm currently planning a monthly professional development for 2nd year teachers in our district. They have already read MOT and they all have a copy of To Understand. The main focus of our group is teaching the comprehension strategies, but our wise asst. superintendent thought I could incorporate elements of To Understand into this group.
During our first meeting, I discussed the premise of To Understand with them. I asked them "How do you know when you truly understand something?", and I mostly got a lot of blank stares. So, I left the topic alone for the time being. After rereading Ch. 4, I decided that this very activity that Ellin used is exactly what I need to do with them. They need to experience understanding and consciously reflect on that process. Our next meeting is Monday and I'm excited to see how they respond. I'd bet the discussion will be much different! I think this same concept - of experiencing it for ourselves - applies equally to the teaching of the strategies. Unless we know ourselves what good readers do, we can't possibly model it for our students. The other night, my husband (who has recently started a photography hobby) showed me a picture from a magazine and just said "look at this picture". I did, and I commented on it, but then he said, "didn't you notice this? and how about how the photographer did this?" and so on. I immediately thought - I need to take this picture to school and share this conversation with my kids! THIS is how we determine importance - his purpose for looking at the picture was different from mine, his knowledge of photography is different from mine - so we each looked at the picture differently. Just like readers. It is through these experiences in my own life that I'm better able to teach my students. Dana M. ________________________________ From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: understand@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 8:20:21 AM Subject: [Understand] Sarah, Audrey and the Hopper painting There are many of us who are involved in professional development ---we are either planning it, or participating in it. Consider the powerful teacher learning described in pages 92-96. How do we find such learning experiences for ourselves and how do we provide them for others? How important is it for teachers to experience the dimensions of understanding at a conscious level before trying to implement these ideas in the classroom? Jennifer **************Check out smokin’ hot deals on laptops, desktops and more from Dell. Shop Deals (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1213345834x1200842686/aol?redir=http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;209513277;31396581;l) _______________________________________________ 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
