Ellin wrote: I'd be curious to hear if any of you have discovered new Outcomes or Dimensions in your own reading and/or in your classrooms. . . .
I have a baby step to share in my process of discovering potential new outcomes in understanding. Before lunch is when the focus has been on thinking and understanding in room eight, at least as far as my lesson plans map out for each day. One busy day after lunch, I wanted my second graders to get a task done quickly and move on because we had so much to cover (I know, the awful "cover" concept that I still succumb to). I described to my students what to do, finishing with, "We don't even need to think about this. Let's just get it done." In the blink of an eye, those words threatened to rip the understanding my students have of how to "just get it done." There was an awkward pause while my startled students held their breath and looked wide-eye at me. "What?" I asked obliviously. The startled look in their eyes was replaced with a look of alarm. Several students hesitantly began to raise a hand as they struggled to process this new information. Did their teacher actually say, "We don't need to think?" There are signs around the classroom reminding us all to think! One student silently pointed to one of those signs. My eyes followed the direction of the pointing finger and I read aloud, "Great ideas come from taking time to think." Many heads nodded in agreement and the class sighed in relief that I was making sense again. "Oh! Okay, then" I uttered, stunned by their literal interpretation of my words and by their insistence on their need to think. Taking this as the "Go ahead" cue, my class burst into action as they gathered needed supplies, met with work partners, and chose suitable places to accomplish their work. As I circulated around the room, I savored the awareness that my students faithfully apply all that they know about thinking even when that is not explicitly expected. Because I apply concepts and techniques from the book, *To Understand,* I know that they can think when I ask them to. I didn't know that thinking is becoming their treasured habit. Kare _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list Understand@literacyworkshop.org http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
