The best PD our district ever had was when each elementary school had an instructional coach and the PD was geared for that site -not district wide. The coaches met once a week to refine their skills as coaches -and it was done in the manner of which Renee speaks -through talk, and sharing, and questioning. The district was focused on Readers' and Writers' Workshop and for 5 years we saw a transformation in students. They loved reading -it was no longer a "chore of skills", and they wrote with energy and confidence instead of in formulaic boredom. In these years I saw the most growth of students and they were happy and engaged in learning. Then we got a new superintendent who put all the coaches back in the classroom and mandated the use of textbooks. Scores have gone down -dramatically in Title 1 schools, and they wonder why...
Jan You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother. -Albert Einstein "*If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.*" Albert Einstein What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. -Ralph Waldo Emerson Nothing is as strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as real strength On Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 9:56 AM, Elizabeth Sledge < [email protected]> wrote: > Renee...amen...couldn't have said it better! I recently retired from > teaching elementary reading (30yrs.) and was fortunate to have a principal > who allowed me teach "outside the box". After reading mosaic of thought I > was truly inspired to create my own innovative and comprehensive approach > for teaching my students how to comprehend deeply using each of the key > strategies addressed in Keene and Zimmerman's book. It took me years to > develop a "roadmap" of how this powerful instruction would look like in a > classroom, but I did it! I call my sytem circles of learning. Circles of > learning not only supports and encourages students to develop each of the > strategic behaviors and make them part of their learning schema, but also > provides a way for students to engage in critical thinking and reflection > through authentic reading, rich accountable talk, text coding and > journaling. I created strategic thinking journals which are a students > hands on tool where they > use writing as a means of gaining deeper analysis of text. Keeping this > journal helps the reader notice and harvest observations and responses as > they read by providing diverse tasks to teach, guide, reinforce and apply > strategy use. Log term explicit strategy instruction framed around the > gradual release model is an integral part of the instructional routine. No > basals, text books, workbooks, ect...just authentic literature and jounals. > My students loved getting into what I called literature learning circles to > engage in meaningful talk about what they had read in a book using their > journals to guide discussions. Would love to share...many teachers observed > my classroom and are now implementing circles of learning using my > differientiated journals. Would love to share! > > > Elizabeth Sledge > > On Feb 26, 2012, at 10:03 AM, Renee <[email protected]> wrote: > > Warning.... this is long, and will appear contrary to some. > > There is much talk of professional development. I think the best and most > effective professional development is teachers talking among themselves > about what works in their classrooms. I also believe to my core that > teachers can create their own organized ways of teaching phonics, phonemic > awareness, etc. and that canned programs are 1. not necessary, 2. > upside-down in their fundamental philosophical beliefs, and 3. a lovely way > to divert classroom money to publishers. > > What if teachers were given time to meet every single week for an hour of > sharing? I can't imagine any "official" professional development program > that could do a better job. Imagine veteran teachers sharing their > expertise with new teachers, new teachers sharing new ideas and enthusiasm, > and the tweaking of these ideas that could happen under such circumstances. > Teachers are not given this time. Instead, they are sent off to the > district office or some conference where they often don't want to be, often > don't pay that much attention because their thoughts are back in their > classrooms, and where much time is wasted on such things as "getting to > know each other" openers and a lot of "lecturing to" the teachers. How much > time and money are spent/wasted on "professional development" on how to use > the teacher's manual? Just imagine the money spent on such PD, money to the > presenter and all the substitutes needed (and this is coming from a person > who *does* > professional development and who *does* substitute, so I'm basically > saying I am not needed!). > > I don't agree that we are not wired to read. I believe that we are wired > to see and relate patterns, wired to problem-solve, wired for learning. > What I think is that not enough time is spent in classrooms for children to > just read. Just simply read. For those who are on their way, let them read > and have them talk about it. For those who still aren't doing it on their > own, there is nothing more valuable than shared / interactive writing and > lots of time to listen to stories. In an ideal world (and yes, I know our > world is not ideal), every child would be read to, on someone's lap, with > the words in front of him/her. That would put them on the road to "cracking > the code." What teachers need, IN MY OPINION, is better professional > development on how to run a reader's workshop and writer's workshop that > includes tons of interactive writing, opportunities to explore the language > in a variety of ways, and plenty of time for independent reading and > writing along > with individual conferencing with teachers. > > Amy says, > There are only so many hours in the day. If those of you who > are having success with reader's workshop/ Guided Reading/ and WTW have > insights on how you balance all of this, I'm sure many of us would love > to hear from you. > > Yes, there are only so many hours in the day. In a classroom where > children are spending more time reading and responding to that reading than > being fed a program of systematic, explicit phonics instruction, most > children will thrive. And yes, there will be those children who will need > more specific direction, but it seems to me that the two main issues are > time and trust: time for reading and writing for one's own purposes, and > trust from the teacher that the child can do it, not without teacher help, > but without interference in the process. > > In my 2nd and 3rd grade and Kindergarten classrooms, I taught all my > phonics through the use of poetry, journal writing, interactive writing, > independent reading, key words, and a language experience approach. Oh, > wait.... I also used those plaid phonics workbooks in 2nd and 3rd grade.... > for homework. I didn't give lessons with them... just sent the pages home. > Never did I spend time doing Alphafriends, Zoo Phonics, or any other kind > of "phonics program." And guess what? No student who entered my 2nd or 3rd > grade classroom who was labeled a "non reader" left my classroom without > being at least very close to what was considered grade level (which these > days seems to have been pushed down to inappropriate developmental levels). > And nearly all my kindergarten students were "cracking the code" very well, > thank you, by the end of kindergarten. And those who were not were well on > their way, as evidenced by their use of phonetic principles and phonemic > awareness in their journal writing. > > In my mind, it isn't professional development in teaching phonics that > teachers need, it is professional development in running a > constructivist-oriented classroom, with the trust and time it takes to do > so, that could help teachers learn to trust that most students can learn to > crack that code by reading and writing on their own and then discussing > that work with a teacher who can guide them within a print-rich environment > that supports and enriches their learning. > > For me to explain what I did in my readers' and writers' workshop > classroom would take about ten emails as long as this one, in order to > explain how I used poetry, interactive writing, morning message, students' > names, student-written books, reading at home, independent reading, book > time, book sharing, literature circles, book chats, independent writing, > journal writing, collaborative writing, reading the walls, and other > strategies that can only work effectively in a print-rich environment in > which students are given their lead and teachers are trusted to do the job. > But I know from experience that it works, and works well. > > My two cents.... or I guess twenty-five cents.... > Renee Goularte > 3rd grade, 2nd grade, kindergarten, at-risk students, ELL students, GATE > students, art students.... > > > On Feb 25, 2012, at 2:48 PM, Amy McGovern wrote: > > > Someone on this thread mentioned the need for on-going staff development > in the area of phonics...I believe that all the elements of linguistics > (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, English orthography, > language development) work together when we teach reading, writing, > spelling, and speaking. Many of us underestimate both the importance of > teaching phonics directly to children, especially those who are at risk > for reading failure, and the challenge of teaching phonics > systematically and explicitly. 'Canned' programs, no matter what we > think of them, help us organize the explicit, systematic part of phonics > instruction, which is incredibly important for our challenged readers. > That is not a bad thing, in my opinion. > > Having said that, there > is nothing better than a well informed teacher. We need more > professional development explicitly focused on the teaching of phonics, > word study, and spelling. Our universities need to send teachers into > the field with this deep knowledge already in place. How many of us > have received formal instruction on how to successfully teach phonics? > Phonics is often treated as a lesser skill. But > as others have stated, without effortless decoding skills, we can never > really read for meaning. > > In my school district, I am currently > facilitating a book study on Speech to Print, Language Essentials for > Teachers by Louisa Moats (2nd edition). I highly recommend this book. > As educators we must continue to stretch what we know about the teaching > of reading, writing, and spelling. In many ways, this means building > our knowledge base. We cannot successfully teach ALL children what we > don't deeply understand. > > We are not wired to read. Cracking > the code is a challenge for at least one-third of the students in any > given classroom. The more we know about how to teach phonics and word > study, the more students will succeed. > > Speech to Print is a > challenging text. My colleagues and I are enjoying the challenge (pre-k > through 5th grade teachers). We are learning a lot. The book is a > balance of theory and practical application. But it is not a 'how to > book' on phonics and word study by any means. > > In addition, the link below is from the International > Dyslexia Association. The focus of this particular journal is on > Reading Recovery. The articles are very interesting and sight current > research on reading instruction. One of the articles states that > children who receive 15 to 20 minutes of out of context word work, prior > to their RR lesson, out performed those who did not. I'm paraphrasing, > but that is the main idea. > > http://www.onlinedigeditions.com/publication/?m=13959&l=1 > > I > had the opportunity to attend the International Dyslexia Associations > national conference in November 2011. It was outstanding. There is > really a wonderful movement pushing forward to merge the best of code > based instruction, with the best of meaning based instruction, combining > this with the most current research on the brain and how it learns to > read. > > One last comment...Words their Way is certainly research > proven. Moats even includes the Developmental Spelling Inventory in the > appendix of Speech to Print. However, WTW can be difficult due to > management issues. It's tough to group kids for meaningful small group > reading instruction, then bring another small group together for word > study. There are only so many hours in the day. If those of you who > are having success with reader's workshop/ Guided Reading/ and WTW have > insights on how you balance all of this, I'm sure many of us would love > to hear from you. > > Thanks for reading this. > > Amy McGovern > Educational Consultant > District Literacy Coach > Title I Reading Teacher > Wausau, WI > > > > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:52:06 +0000 > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Phonics research.. > > Gena... Can you share how you are using it and what PD was given to > teachers?? > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Feb 24, 2012, at 7:48 PM, "Gena Schuck" <[email protected]> wrote: > > I love words their way! My district is very data driven but sold on it!! > > Blessings, > ~Gena~ > > On Feb 24, 2012, at 2:49 PM, "Palmer, Jennifer" <[email protected]> > wrote: > > I will send the references for this research to the whole list when I get > a minute. In the Meantime, get your hands on Words Their Way. Run!!! Don't > walk! It references many of the studies you need. > > Sent from my iPhone > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive > > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
