Martha, I agree with you so much. I have taught for many years and I still
have the feelings that you do. I am dealing with a question as I have been
nominated for Teacher of the Year. I have such mixed feelings about the
award. There are so many others who do a better job than I and as I read
the listings I know I have so much to learn and improve. But on the other
hand it is nice to be seen as someone who is willing to keep improving just
as I ask my students. I don't know whether to accept the nomination or not.
What are your feelings?
++++++++

Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 19:06:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Kerry McDonald <mcdonaldatstrath@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] Tonya

Tonya:

Good for you on your nomination. I say, go for it! I think we want to
model to our students that we are lifelong learners. There isn't any text
out there that tells us the best 1 way to teach (there isn't is there??) I
admire people who try new things and work through the process of teaching in
a new way. We don't have to "know it all" to know that change is best. By
accepting this nomination, you are showing your students that working
through a new method can be rewarding (and rewarded?)

I hope that all makes sense.

Congratulations!

Kerry
grade 6
+++++++++

From: "Kelley Roberts" <krober15@tampabay.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] questioning study/text mapping
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 22:16:25 -0500

Tonya,
I'm new here, but old to teaching. I find the best teachers never feel as
if they know enough or do enough. Many who think they know what they are
doing are just following a routine because it works for them or helps them
get by. Go for it! I wish you luck!
Bill
++++++++

From: "Teresa /AR" <Kidruler@hotmail.com>
Subject: [mosaic] Katie Wood Ray-About the Authors
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 21:18:53 -0600

I purchased this book for our school's professional library; =
however, I'm thinking it is going to be mine! I'm almost half way =
through it but I am thinking I would like to reread it taking notes and =
doing additional reflections. I am planning on purchasing the lists of =
books she gives for writing anchor books. I'm thinking I could put a =
library pocket with a card noting the unit of study. This book is =
making me think about what a writer's workshop mini-lesson should/could =
be. I think that I'm use to more modeling of writing or taking kid's =
papers to revise on the overhead. I do use anchor books but I always =
take what the author does well and transfer it to my modeling or kid's =
paper. From reading this book I'm thinking she does more showing of the =
author's work and more taking about writing rather than the actual =
writing. That is something new for me. I also love how this book shows =
actual children's work.
+++++++++

Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2004 22:27:35 -0500
From: "KAREN VOLK" <volkk@bcschools.net>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] Learning Along the Way

I just got the book on Friday. So far I have only had time to get the
first chapter read but can't wait to read the rest! I love what I have
read so far!
+++++++

From: "jan sanders" <jgousan@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] basals: yes or no
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 20:56:07 -0800

I did not find the sentence insulting or dangerous -Why do we need to be =
careful and aware of them?
I would hope we have a community of learners that allows us to voice our =
thoughts and ideas. People need to feel "safe" to post their thoughts - o=
ften it is like baring your soul...
jan
CA
literacy coach K-6
+++++++++

From: "Martha Hitzel" <mehitzel@cox.net>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] questioning study/text mapping
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 22:29:21 -0700

Tonya - YES!!!! You must accept the award! I know others are going to
write in the same exact thing as me, but here goes, and please know that
I'm not always very good at wording things the way I want to. To me, a
lot more would go into qualifying a person to be a Teacher of the Year
than skill in delivering instruction. Have you seen what the nomination
form was like? I bet it includes things like the relationships you form
with your students and their families. I bet it includes things like
the type of learning community you create within your classroom. I bet
it includes the ways you work with your peers. I bet it includes your
attitude about yourself as a learner - a willingness to have the same
high expectations of yourself as you do for your students. We know that
our students' learning will occur over a lifetime and that it is a
developmental process. The same is true for us as teachers! It is the
ability to examine our practice in a critically constructive way and the
desire and effort to continually improve and also to not lose sight of
the big picture (the kids) that makes a person deserving of something
like "Teacher of the Year," not the ability to deliver perfect lessons
everyday. Your questioning about whether or not you deserve this award
tells me that you are probably this type of teacher. I'm sure the
people that nominated you saw this in you.
Martha/4/5/az
++++++++

From: "Martha Hitzel" <mehitzel@cox.net>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] New member
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 23:00:46 -0700

Hi, Rosie and welcome to the listserve! I graduated with my bachelor's
at age 38 and I'm in my fourth year of teaching. I had a couple of
suggestions for you. Please forgive me if they're obvious things that
you've already thought of. I'm wondering if your students are reading
self-selected books for their independent reading. You mentioned the
anthology, but I couldn't tell if this was separate from the 30 minutes
of silent reading time. You mentioned AR and I totally don't want to
get a conversation started about that, I know there are pros and cons,
but my experience is it can really, really turn kids off to reading if
they can only select books that your school has that are in their level
and then are faced with taking the test after. My school has AR, but I
don't use it in my classroom. The kids can take the test if they've
read an AR book. I don't worry about the level. I'm amazed how much
anxiety even some of my very best readers feel about taking these tests.
What we work on instead is a big focus on choosing "Just Right" books.
All kinds of things besides the ability to decode the words go into
this. Readability, interest, schema, etc. I could send you a copy of
the characteristics my class came up with for a "Too Easy, " "Just
Right," and a "Too Hard" book if you are interested. Another thing I
did with my class after Ginger wrote in about doing it with hers was
develop as a class an Independent Reading Rubric. I'm pretty sure
Ginger has the one her class came up with posted on the Tools page. Our
goal each time we independently read is to be a three or four reader.
When we first did this I would ask about halfway through readers'
workshop for the kids to take a minute and think about where they would
be at this day on the independent reading scale. The effect on focus
during independent reading has been tremendous. I think developing the
rubrics really created a clear picture in their mind of what good
independent reading was. Now, I only once in a while ask them to
evaluate at the end of readers' workshop. They hold up fingers and if I
see any ones or twos I'll ask that student what they thought interfered
with their being a three or four that day. Often they share that they
didn't make a wise decision about where to sit or they didn't have an
appropriate book picked out. This is getting long, but just one more
thing. Make sure you are modelling how much fun reading can be. Share
fun poems, interesting things you've learned, beautiful language, parts
of stories that make you laugh or cry. I know there has been a big
discussion about the use of basals on the listserve and I'm not meaning
to get into it, but if our children only see the purpose of reading as
preparation for completing the worksheets that come with these stories
or taking a test on the computer, no wonder they dread it. I would,
too! Oh dear! I've thought of one more thing! I know our students'
listening comprehension is higher than their reading comprehension
level, but I think we need to remember that we don't always have to read
things that are a higher level. Sharing my love of Henry and Mudge
books and reading one aloud made it acceptable that students in my class
could choose those for independent reading. At the beginning of the
year I had a couple whose reading level was very low and it removed some
of the percieved stigma of being seen with these "lower" books. I read
the first in the Dragon Slayers Academy and started about half my class
on these. There was a long waiting list for the books. So, I hope this
might be of some help. Please make sure to keep sharing how it's going!
Martha/4/5/az
+++++++++

From: "Martha Hitzel" <mehitzel@cox.net>
Subject: [mosaic] LAW-Chapter 3
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 23:41:15 -0700

Hi everyone! Well, I volunteered to write the reflection/focus
questions for chapter 3 and I've probably waited until way too late in
the evening to do it (not probably - definitely and the Panthers lost
and Tina got voted off right away for no better reason than she had won
already!), and I'm struggling. I don't have much experience with this
particular type of professional development at all and I'm wondering how
common it is outside of the Denver area? So, I thought it would be
informative if any of you do have something similar in your district to
talk about it. Does it look like this model? How did it get started
and what were some of the issues/struggles involved. I was struck by
the Final Thought - "Isolation is a regular part of school life.
Teachers feel isolated within their classroom, and schools feel isolated
within the greater community." I think this thought ties into some of
the discussion we've had about teachers always feeling like other
teachers are doing so much better a job than we are. I don't know about
the rest of you, but I really, truly have very little idea of what
instruction looks like in other classrooms on my campus. I know which
teachers have a reputation for being "really good," but have little idea
of what they're doing that sets them apart. I'm wondering about how
those of us who don't have this kind of opportunity currently could
introduce it on a small scale within our school community? Honestly,
I'm thinking it might be awkward to have two or three teachers set up as
"experts" within a school community. I'm wondering if a first step
might be more on the lines of reciprical observations? Maybe a small
group of teachers who had an interest in focusing on one aspect of their
instruction could observe in each other's rooms at certain intervals
throughout the year? And then meet to debrief? Do any of you do
anything like this? I really liked the emphasis that Diane put on the
need to do multiple observations in order to get past the more
surface/organizational type of observations. I guess my big question is
how to bring this aspect of professional development into a school that
doesn't presently have anything closely resembling it and how to deal
with the logistics of it?

So, that's it. I'm sorry if it isn't very coherent and that it's not
just straightforward questions. I did wait until late to write, but I
have been thinking about it all weekend! I'm off to bed!

Martha
+++++++++

From: SKosmoski@aol.com
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 04:49:18 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] basals: yes or no

In a message dated 2/1/04 8:17:39 AM, CATHYMILLR@aol.com writes:

> For me, the ideal teacher would choose stories that interested her class
as
> a whole
>

Cathy--
Your comment is of great interest to me. As a Secondary Supervisor I hope
that my teachers are choosing stories that support their children as they
learn
strategies and attempt to meet the Sunshine State Standards. Interest just
isn't enough anymore.
Mary Anne
+++++++++

Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 04:47:51 -0800
From: Lori Jackson <ljackson@gwtc.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] basals: yes or no

I agree, Mary Anne. But even in the context of guided reading, I can
generally find three choices that will allow me to make the same
instructional points. My groups often make choices like these. I
present, through book talks, three chapter books for reading outloud and
the students vote.

There has to be a role for self-selection, but I think of it the
Montessor sense. Years ago a friend's daughter was enrolled in a
wonderful Montessori kindergarten. She told us, amid alligator tears
that accompany laughter that is deep, that when she picked up her
daughter she was wear striped toe socks (mom's, a joke gift from me),
open toed sandals (mid-winter), her father's boxer shorts (pinned at the
waste) and one of mom's oversized t-shirts, which fell to her knees.
She explained that her husband was having truble defining choice. The
school encouraged parents to allow children to make selections from two
or three outfits for school but my friend's husband saw choice as
anything goes.

Choice, in school, is not anything goes but it has to be there. And it
can be. And the strategies and standards can still guide the choices we
provide students.

Lori
+++++++++

From: CNJPALMER@aol.com
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 06:57:16 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] New member

In a message dated 2/2/2004 1:08:18 AM Eastern Standard Time,
mehitzel@cox.net writes:
Share fun poems, interesting things you've learned, beautiful language,
parts
of stories that make you laugh or cry
Here's a wonderful read aloud that I have used to teach mood and tone as
well
as the power of beautiful language: Whale Song by Dyan Sheldon. Beautiful
pictures too. I had my fifth graders enthralled with it last week...one boy
even
told me it gave him the end gave him shivers! I prefaced my lesson talking
about the power of written language...that you may never meet the authors
yet
they have the influence to change your emotions...make you laugh, cry, feel
shock
or even awe. I followed Whale Song with some Donald Graves poems including
The Accident (where a family pet gets hit by a car) and The Thunderstorm
(which
describes the excitement that comes from a summer storm). Anyway...if you
want kids to love language and want to illustrate the power of it...these
worked
for me.
Jennifer
Maryland
+++++++++

Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 05:09:29 -0800
From: Lori Jackson <ljackson@gwtc.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] LAW-Chapter 3

> I was struck by the Final Thought - "Isolation is a regular part of
> school life. Teachers feel isolated within their classroom, and
> schools feel isolated within the greater community."

I have taught in schools where the best means of survival was staying
well within the doors of the classroom. I am happy to say, things are
very different in my building (and it is a building level
accomplishment). We are working with a district level literacy
consultant but have a teacher in our building who is shadowing her, and
will be our coach next year. I have tremendous respect for both of
them, but our local coach came back to our building this year and taught
her before. She knows us all well, both as people and teachers.

We are spending time in other classrooms this year. It is following
both the model classroom approach (mine is one) and the reciprocal
observation model. Teachers in other buildings in the district are
struggling for a variety of reasons to incorporate the elements of
balanced literacy in their classrooms. Several of us have been asked to
serve as model classrooms for teachers from other buildings. These
schools are planning inservice days so that their teachers can spend the
whole day in classrooms where our district coach feels instruction,
organization and student management are especially strong. In our
building, we are doing lots of reciprocal observations. At our grade
level, we will all see one another teach. The reasoning is, we are all
doing something well, something interesting and we all have something to
share. Some of the teachers in our buildings are very, very nervous
about having anyone observe in their rooms. It is a sort of stage
fright issue and I know that part of the motivation behind reciprocal
visits is to help these teachers begin to feel comfortable with
colleague observations (these teachers were not asked to step out of
their comfort zones and host strangers, not yet anyway). Another reason
for this is not to single out anybody. We definitely have teachers who
need to see more than others. Some know that and eagerly seek out
opportunities. Others are convinced that their practice, which would
definitely be very traditional and worksheet driven without pressure to
do otherwise, is THE way and rather than force them into observation and
single them out, we will all do it. It is building rapport and trust
among teachers. Although my looping partner and study group members are
in and out of each other's classrooms, many of us remain isolated in
practice from one another. We are talking more, all of us, and the
nature of conversation in the lounge is changing, becoming more
child-centered, more instructional practice driven. It has been good
for us as a school.

I also liked Diane's model for multiple observations because I think the
idea of looking at specific aspects of organization and instruction are
very important. I think many teachers tend to overwhelm themselves by
trying too much too quickly and then give up. I always coach mypre
service teachers to be active learners BUT not fall into the first year
pitfall of trying to constantly do it all. Pick something doable and do
it until you do it well and comfortably and then try something else. I
think this is good advice to give myself, let alone other teachers! I
believe in changing the world, but rarely see it happen overnight.

Lori

PS Thanks so much, Martha, for getting the ball rolling.
++++++++

Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 07:54:02 -0500
From: "Grace Florence" <FlorenGA@spart5.k12.sc.us>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Katie Wood Ray-About the Authors

To what grade level is About the Authors appropriate?
+++++++

Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 09:21:51 -0500
From: "PJ Morrow" <PMorrow@spart7.k12.sc.us>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] basals: yes or no

Coming from another perspective, I think that interest is sometimes the
ONLY thing that will do the job of teaching a child to read. I'm
reminded of students that I taught in a self-contained class of boys who
were severely learning disabled, and several of them emotionally
handicapped as well. All of them were 5th and 6th grade age, and most
of them read at first and second grade level. We took time to interview
each of them about their reading interests, and used books about these
topics to teach small group guided reading. I remember one student who
came from me from second grade, reading on a first grade level. The
only thing he was interested in was Star Trek, which I happened to like
too. I got his mother's permission to use a Star Trek novel to teach
him to read. At first I read to him, before school, at recess, at
lunch, after school, etc. Then I'd read a paragraph and he'd read a
sentence, and so on. I taught strategies from the content we read
together, both decoding and comprehension. By then end of his second
year in our class, he was reading widely and he was mainstreamed for 6th
grade reading. I've seen interest turn the trick in both reading and
writing many times. In writing the kids were interested in one thing -
roaches (or as they initially called them, "roachy bugs"). That's what
we read about, and what they wrote their first "book" about. From there
we went to other insects, and by the end of the year we had studied
about many categories of the animal kingdom and written books about
them. And yes, we had standards to meet, and we were able to teach to
them.
+++++++++

Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 10:04:23 -0600
From: jetheridge <jetheridge@hsv.k12.al.us>
Subject: [mosaic] new member

I just joined the list, and I wanted to introduce myself. I teach
seventh grade English/language arts at a middle school in Huntsville,
Alabama. I have about 125 students divided into five classes. One of our
big focuses for school improvement is reading in the content area. Most
of the messages I've seen are from elementary teachers, so I am not sure
if other middle school teachers belong to this list. I will surely read
and learn from all of you. I've been at this for 28 years, still going
strong.
Jean
Mountain Gap Middle School
+++++++++

Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 14:54:48 -0500
From: Elisa Waingort <elisawi@fcaq.k12.ec>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] re: Learning Along the Way, Chapter 2

Hi Heather and everyone!
I'm sorry I'm coming into this conversation late, even though I
initiated it, but I had some computer problems while I was at a
conference in Panama and couldn't access my email. In any
case, I'm enjoying catching up right now.

Heather, it's funny you mention the issue of whining...in the
two sessions we've had (Olivia join in at any time!) we've
started to get off track a little bit though it really has to do with
the fact that we're making lots of connections to our school
community (we were discussing chapter 2 at the time). It's hard
to stay on track sometimes. I wonder what others do so that the
discussion doesn't veer off into complaining about the school or
other related issues. Better yet, is there any way to avoid this
completely??
Elisa
+++++++++

From: "Carrie Becker" <pigsrock@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] new member
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 17:42:18 -0500

Hi Jean--

I'm a middle school teacher--5th grade social studies and reading--but th=
is is my first year at it. I find I use the strategies such as making con=
nections, determining importance and inferring when we are reading in the=
content area or having discussions about things of the past. =20

Just wanted to let you know that there are other middle school teachers o
ut here!
--Carrie :)
++++++++++

From: CATHYMILLR@aol.com
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 18:03:13 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] New member

Wow! A new teacher at 41. That is wonderful. Since you are on this website,
I
am assuming that you are reading or have read Mosaic of Thought. These
comprehension strategies can certainly help you with your class. However, I
imagine
it will be difficult for you without some sort of anthology to depend on?
Does
your district have a reading series?

Depending on fourth graders to do most of the reading at home is probably a
bit unrealistic. I would try to allow as much time as possible for them in
class, combining some partner reading, reading aloud by you, and strategy
instruction. And also some written response to reading.

It is difficult to motivate students to read if they do not enjoy it.
Unfortunately, accelerated reader can be a real turn off - for low and high
achievers. Try to allow your students choice of independent reading
materials and help
them find books about things that interest them...like sports, animals, etc.

Good luck!

Cathy
El. Super.
+++++++++

Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 15:04:34 -0800 (PST)
From: Kerry McDonald <mcdonaldatstrath@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Pied Piper of Hamlen

Hi there:

Bill Richardson (Canadian) has written a book called After Hamlin that might
be an interesting read aloud. It is a hard read for grade 6's, although a
few years ago it was selected by grade 4-6 students as the best book of that
year. It is a story of what happens after the Pied Piper leaves taking the
children with him.

I know that isn't what you were looking for, but thought I would share.

Kerry
grade 6
+++++++++

From: "Ginger/Rob" <elephant@foxvalley.net>
Subject: [mosaic] Information for NEW MEMBERS
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 17:12:10 -0600

I'd like to welcome all the new members since Friday. We DO have teachers
of all grades as members. From the university level on down. So write in
your questions/comments.
You are among friends!!

We are currently reading and discussing on line the book: Learning Along the
Way by Diane Sweeney. Diane is also a Mosaic listserve member during our
discussion. We have just started Chapter 3 today. So it's not too late to
join in. The book is published by Stenhouse.

I just want to tell you about the other resources we have available here for
us all to use.

We have an ONLINE BOOK DATA BASE located at:
http://www.u46teachers.org/mosaic/strategies.htm
where any of us can add titles of books used in our strategy teaching along
with comments. Take some time this summer to add some books and/or
comments.

We have all of the previous conversations since we started our listserve in
the ARCHIVES at:
http://www.u46teachers.org/mosaic/archive/archive.htm
I try and put about one week's worth of conversations up at a time. Grab a
cool drink and spend some time reading the wealth of information found
there! :)

We have a TEACHING TOOLS web page found at:
http://www.u46teachers.org/mosaic/tools/tools.htm
where I have added documents for assessment, lesson plans, reporting sheets,
staff development information, etc. that members have sent to me to share
with others.
**If you have something you want me to add there, please send it to me at
HOME at:
elephant@foxvalley.net in an attachment.

Ginger
moderator
++++++++++

Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 15:35:20 -0800 (PST)
From: David Stubbart <davidstubbart@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] questioning study/text mapping

Tonya:

That is such a great honor to be nominated for T.O.Y. What state are you
in? Follow through with the whole process. Don't let any "dark clouds" at
work bring you down because that recognition from one of your former
students will always be yours and yours only.

Dave S.
3rd
MA...a Championship Fan,,,of the Patriots
++++++++++

Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 18:17:00 -0600
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Pied Piper of Hamlen
From: Datsauer <datsauer@chartermi.net>

Barnes and Noble (bn.com) lists a version illustrated by Kate Greenaway.
Maybe a library near you has it. Debbie in Duluth
+++++++++

From: Thegreensub@aol.com
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 19:47:11 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Pied Piper of Hamlen

I teach a first grade enrichment class and I use Junior Great Books
Read-Aloud Program. The Pied Piper story is in the Pegasus Series of the
program. If
you know anyone who uses that program you might be able to borrow a book. I
always worry that my little ones will be frightened by the story but they
love it.
We always act it out walking around the room following the Pied Piper.
Kathy
+++++++++

From: "lclendenin" <lclendenin@sc.rr.com>
Subject: [mosaic] new member
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 19:47:36 -0500

Hi! I would like to introduce myself. . . My name is Lynn and have been
teaching since 1971 (took a little time off when I had each of my three
children) and have taught everything from Kg - 8th grade, plus art! I am
now teaching fifth grade in South Carolina and our school's focus is on
improving our students' reading and writing. We have done a book club using
Strategies That Work and are just starting another. Our school is also in
the first phase of becoming a technology magnet school.

Even though I have been teaching forever, I am always willing to learn (in
fact, have finally gone back to finish my Masters -- had to stop when my
kids were in college and now have had to start over -- and I was half way
when we moved to SC!)

Lynn/5/sc
++++++++++

From: RR1981@aol.com
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 20:15:57 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] LAW-Chapter 3

In a message dated 2/2/2004 7:04:33 AM Eastern Standard Time,
ljackson@gwtc.net writes:
> I was struck by the Final Thought - "Isolation is a regular part of
> school life. Teachers feel isolated within their classroom, and
> schools feel isolated within the greater community."

I have no idea what the professional development that you were referring to
is about. However, as a new teacher, I have certainly felt isolated. My
first
year was very isolating. I too, have no idea what the other teachers on my
grade level are doing all day! I just know that their test scores always
look
better than mine, and I always seem to have the lowest level kids.

Rosie
++++++++++

From: sleeves211@comcast.net
Subject: Re: [mosaic] need suggestions for teaching metaphors
Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 01:31:21 +0000

Canoe Days is one of my favorites! Wonderfully poetic language.
+++++++++

From: RR1981@aol.com
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 20:33:11 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] New member

I am not sure what happened, I must have a ghost, everything I typed in
reply
did not show up!

My students have silent reading in addition to reading instruction. Reading
instruction is 60 minutes long. Silent reading is done at the end of the
day
and the students read self selected books at that time. They are able to go
to the media center each morning to choose books, and they all have logs
that
they take with them they indicate their reading range. Unfortunately, I am
not
able to go with them and help guide their choices.

I would love the paper on Just right books. Please send. We are required
to
"push" AR in our classroom, and students are assigned points. I am not
permitted to lower their AR points either.

Rosie
++++++++

From: "Kelley Roberts" <krober15@tampabay.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Information for NEW MEMBERS
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 21:23:43 -0500

My boss wants me to head a book group based on Mosaic. Any ideas? I
thought we'd get a small group of five, read 2 chapters a week, have each
person run one session. Any other ideas?
Bill
+++++++++

Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 21:21:25 -0600
From: "Michelle R. York" <teacher24_70@yahoo.com>
Subject: [mosaic] Pied Piper of Hamlen

At my last school/district, I used the version that's in the "Step
into Reading" (mass publication) series --I believe that it's level 2
or 3. It's too easy for 6th grade, but might be something useful for
struggling readers in your class.
Michelle

"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have
trouble remembering how to fly."
+++++++++

Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 22:56:40 -0500
From: "PJ Morrow" <pmorrow@spart7.k12.sc.us>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] LAW-Chapter 3

Thanks, Martha, for starting us off.

Our district doesn't have lab classrooms, but we do have 3 primary
literacy demonstration sites developed cooperatively by an SC READS
early literacy coach and a primary classroom teacher. Only, I don't
know that a lot of observing takes place in them. Tomorrow I'm going
to find out about that. They would certainly be a place to start
looking for lab sites.

Here is what I noticed in Chapter 3:
*"Who dares to teach, must never cease to learn" John Cotton Dana p. 27
The most obvious trait to me of the teachers with whom I enjoy working
and collaborating, is this quality of non-threatened realization that
what we're doing in our classrooms is not a finished product, but a
learning process in which we too are learners.
*p. 28, Mira the art teacher
I wonder what it was she tried and what it was she learned, because she
isn't mentioned when the rest of that group came back to observe and
debrief. I wonder if she dropped out of the group, left her job, what?
*p. 31, part of Rebecca's reflection, "I could take what I saw back to
my classroom since I had seen it work. At first, I thought I had to do
it all at once. Then in the debriefing, the facilitator said to pick
one thing to start with, so I began by rearranging the physical aspects
of my room. I changed the schedule and moved the desks, so my students
could have conversations. Later, I started turning over more
responsibility to my students. Now teaching reading feels like a
natural thing, a part of life." This reminds me of the many times as a
classroom teacher when I had a chance to go to a conference or a
presentation (because I never, not once, even when doing student
teaching, go to observe another classroom teacher at work), I would go
back and completely redo my classroom and my practices. The children
would be baffled, I'd get frustrated, and I dropped some wonderful ideas
because I tried to do too much too fast without any support from anyone.
No wonder we have so many teachers leave the field within 3-5 years of
entering it - even the good ones! As you said, Marth, we are isolated.
*p. 33 The first lab teachers, when thinking about what other teachers
would see when they came to observe, "They knew that what they offered
had to be good. Debbie decided to offer a look at reader's workshop in
her first-grade classroom. Kathy's...focus was on emergent writing.
...Bruce's... on writing workshop..."
I have read this chapter four times, and only this time did I realize
that each lab teacher specialized in one kind of thing that they did
really well, and then they worked on doing it better themselves so as to
provide a quality experience for the teachers who came to observe. THAT
realization helped me to think of several teachers in our building who
could be lab teachers for some aspect of literacy learning/instruction.
Before this "lightbulb moment," I was still trying to think of perfect
teachers who could model EVERYTHING. (Picture me with my blushing head
under a pillow).
*pp 35-36 I really like these observation guidelines..."leave no trace"
reminds me of how I led my Cub Scouts through nature preserves so many
years ago!
You guys are wonderful. I love our learning community, and am learning
so much from the thoughtful reflections so bravely shared.
PJ
++++++++

Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 23:14:56 -0500
From: "PJ Morrow" <pmorrow@spart7.k12.sc.us>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] re: Learning Along the Way, Chapter 2

Elisa, your question on staying on topic is a good one, and I also
welcome suggestions from others. One of the strategies that they told
us to try in our Writing Improvement Network seminar on school wide
study groups was to begin the study group with a set of "guidelines for
working together." I don't have the list here, but it explains that
study group time is valuable and to be used for getting to know one
another better, building a learning community, discussing our
professional reading and what we're trying in our classrooms. It also
tells us to have a system of rotating facilitators whose job it is to
keep us on track and make sure everybody gets a chance to speak. The
other thing that we have done is to use strategies like "Say Something,"
"Save the last word for me," "Sketch to Stretch," "Book marks," etc. to
guide our sessions. At first these strategies felt artificial, but
after awhile they became more comfortable. The quality of our sharing
and the way we build on one anther's reflections has deepened markedly,
just since October.
That's not to say we don't get off topic, but we're getting better at
staying focused and not wasting our time complaining or gossiping.
PJ
++++++++++

Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 23:29:26 -0500
From: "PJ Morrow" <pmorrow@spart7.k12.sc.us>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Information for NEW MEMBERS

If possible, meet off campus, eat together, and share what you're trying
in classrooms that relate to the chapters you are reading. Do one
chapter at a time, bring artifacts and children's work to share from the
"try-its" you're doing in classrooms. If some of you don't have your
own classrooms, ask a teacher if you can come in to try out the ideas so
you have something real to anchor your new learning to, and so you'll
have something to share.
+++++++++

From: "Martha Hitzel" <mehitzel@cox.net>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] Information for NEW MEMBERS
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 21:33:07 -0700

"My boss wants me to head a book group based on Mosaic. Any ideas? I
thought we'd get a small group of five, read 2 chapters a week, have
each person run one session. Any other ideas? Bill"

There are a couple of study guides posted on the tools page. I kind of
think two chapters a week is too much. It might be hard for busy
teachers to keep up with the reading and there would be so much ground
to cover during your meetings.
Martha/4/5/az
++++++++++

From: "mary l bettez" <rid23598@ride.ri.net>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] new member
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 05:47:15 -0500

Hi Jean,
I teach 7th grade ELA on a looping team in RI. Our focus this year also is
reading across the content areas. This year to help support this focus my
principal has arranged an alternate use of our common planning. Once every
two weeks we adjust our schedule and departments meet to discuss a common
strategy being used across the school in all content areas (i.e. last month
we were looking at questioning). Throughout the month each team focuses on
the teaching of that strategy. Our literacy coach joins us once per month
to introduce the strategy. This time has really helped us to propel the
initiative forward in a purposeful way.
Mary Lou
++++++++++

Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 07:54:30 -0500
From: Olivia Foulkrod <ofoulkrod@fcaq.k12.ec>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] re: Learning Along the Way, Chapter 2

Elisa,
Thanks for writing. I don't think we were off topic at all. In fact
neither does
our director. The chapter we were studying was on building a community and
I tried
to pull it into the book all the time. It is interesting what our director
said to
me after the two meetings, she told me that she felt uncomfotable and
started
thinking about what she could do better. She felt out of her limits and too
uncomfortable for her liking. My response was this is reflection!
Reflection
should not make us feel comfortable and should motivate us to do better. I
feel
that whin ing sessions make you feel hopeless where as constructive criticim
and
refection make you feel empowered to change a practice or make something
that you
are already doing even better. What do you know, my director did agree with
me on
this. So if you are indeed on topic, I feel there is a fine line between
whining
and reflection.
Thanks Elisa for bringing this up
Olivia
++++++++++

From: "Virginia Ros" <vilros@adinet.com.uy>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Information for NEW MEMBERS
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 09:57:56 -0300

DEar Ginger,
I have attentively followed the letters and very interesting discussions of
different topics. I am still waiting to find colleagues who teach English
Literature at University level to exchange ideas about reading and mainly
writing at that level.
Do you have any suggestions?
I may have to join another list.
thank you,
Virginia
++++++++

From: "Davis, Kimberly" <Davis.Kimberly@lebanon.k12.oh.us>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] Nonfiction Conventions
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 08:41:19 -0500

Hi Suzanne,

Here it is. It's under Worksheets, Reporting Forms, etc.

http://www.u46teachers.org/mosaic/tools/tools.htm
<http://www.u46teachers.org/mosaic/tools/tools.htm>

Kim
+++++++++++

Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 10:53:14 -0500
From: Elisa Waingort <elisawi@fcaq.k12.ec>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] re: Learning Along the Way, Chapter 2

Hi Olivia,
It's interesting that you bring this up since I had been thinking that
this was possibly what was
going on...Sometimes when we feel most uncomfortable is when we make the
greatest
breakthroughs!
Elisa
++++++++++

Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 11:18:50 -0500
From: Elisa Waingort <elisawi@fcaq.k12.ec>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] re: Learning Along the Way, Chapter 2

Hi Judy,
Can you give some examples of the warm ups you use with teachers??
Thank you!
Elisa
+++++++++

Date: 03 Feb 04 11:21:42 -0800
From: Patricia Kutyla <pkutyla@mail.sandi.net>
Subject: [mosaic] Carolyn's Comprehension Strategies Notebook

Has anyone out there ordered Carolyn's Comprehension Strategies Notebook =
for $35, and would be willing to share their feedback with me? =
Thanks,
Pat
++++++++++

Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 15:16:01 -0600
Subject: [mosaic] Scholastic's Read 180 Program
From: "Don B. Shaw" <shaw@platteville.k12.wi.us>

Our middle and high school is looking at implementing the Scholastic's
Read 180 program. This is a reading intervention program that targets
struggling readers. I am trying to find out some information about this
program from schools that are using it. This program sounds great. Almost
too good to be true. Anyone out there using this?
Thanks,
Don
+++++++++

Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 16:30:30 -0500
From: "Belinda Snow" <SNOWBB@spart5.k12.sc.us>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Carolyn's Comprehension Strategies Notebook

please give me the details for ordering this..thanks!
++++++++++

From: CNJPALMER@aol.com
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 17:06:55 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Scholastic's Read 180 Program

Don
I am an elementary reading specialist but some of my secondary schools in
our
district are using it. I have heard both extremely positive and extremely
negative feedback. It does seem to jump-start struggling kids...scores
immediately go up. They do not seem to stick however...as time goes by, the
kids do not
hold their gains. This is only hearsay...I have no personal experience.
Jennifer
\Maryland
In a message dated 2/3/2004 4:21:54 PM Eastern Standard Time,
shaw@platteville.k12.wi.us writes:
Our middle and high school is looking at implementing the Scholastic's
Read 180 program. This is a reading intervention program that targets
struggling readers. I am trying to find out some information about this
program from schools that are using it. This program sounds great. Almost
too good to be true. Anyone out there using this?
Thanks,
Don
++++++++++

Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 17:36:20 -0500
From: "PJ Morrow" <PMorrow@spart7.k12.sc.us>
Subject: [mosaic] re Pied Piper request

Thanks to everyone who sent me the huge pile of ideas for locating The
Pied Piper of Hamelin!
I have a list of over 20 possibilities, and have ordered the two most
likely looking.
Although I'd already checked Amazon.com and B&N for "The Pied Piper of
Hamelin" before I asked you guys for help, thanks to the nice person who
said if I'd check again with "Pied Piper" I'd find the books! and I
did.
PJ
+++++++++

From: CATHYMILLR@aol.com
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 17:45:21 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Information for NEW MEMBERS

We are doing a similar thing. Be sure you work on identifying the big ideas.
If you talk about too many details, it will take forever.
++++++++++

From: CATHYMILLR@aol.com
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 17:51:01 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Scholastic's Read 180 Program

It is being used at one of our middle schools, but I am not in them
regularly, so am not too familiar with it. The struggling readers are using
it, and
they seem to like the computer part. I observed one class with the teacher
reading aloud, and she was trying to get them to think at higher levels.

I am always skeptical of programs...esp. those that include computers, but I
know the teachers feel it is helping.

Cathy
El. Sup.
+++++++++

Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 07:47:10 -0500
Subject: [mosaic] Persuasive Writing
From: bernadette domenick <bernadette.domenick@verizon.net>

Taking an informal poll - -

Is this developmentally appropriate: requiring second graders to write a
persuasive piece on this topic: Persuade your parents to buy you the pet
you've always wanted.

If "yes" is your answer, how would you approach it?

Thanks,
Bernadette

(Can you tell I think it is not DA?)
++++++++

From: "Kelley Roberts" <krober15@tampabay.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Persuasive Writing
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 20:05:40 -0500

Persuasive WritingNahhh. I would think persuasion requires a little =
more higher levels of thinking. That's why most state writing tests =
have persuasive essays in middle grades or higher.
Bill
+++++++++++

Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 18:06:52 -0800
From: Lori Jackson <ljackson@gwtc.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Persuasive Writing

Strangely enough, I did just finish working with a child who was writing
to persuade her mom to get a puppy. Her idea, not mine, but the piece
was wonderful. My fear is not so much that it is developmentally
inappropriate, but I could see it clearly as emotionally inappropriate.
After putting time and energy into a piece like this, they would have an
expectation. As a teacher of second graders, and a mother, I hate to
think what family conflict this would generate! Personally, I think
second graders are ready to write simple persuasive text (they practice
persuasion all the time, just try to tell them to go to bed on time ;-)
), but I think a different topic would be a better choice. I know that
I have had great luck having my kids write fieldtrip proposals to the
principal (knowing that we COULD really go) and asking them to think
like a principal, what would the selling points be?

Lori
++++++++++From: "Ginger/Rob" <elephant@foxvalley.net>
Subject: [mosaic] warm ups for meetings
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 20:10:19 -0600

In our graduate courses we do two things. We have the teachers create a
visual representation (with pictures and words) of whatever comes to their
minds when they hear the word "reading". Then as they introduce themselves
they share their creations. Lots of people draw themselves reading or the
kinds of texts they choose but some do keep it directly linked to the
classroom. We post these creations around the room to give us inspiration.

The other thing we have the teachers do is write about a book that is
important to them. It could be a current book, an old favorite, an adult
text, or a childrens book. After everyone shares we talk about what was in
common that we noticed in each others sharing. Like how a book really
connected to our lives, etc. It is a great way to hear of some wonderful
titles and it also brings back memories of books we had read as a child.

Keep sharing what you have used. The ideas are great for us all.

Ginger
moderator
++++++++++

Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 20:22:06 -0600
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Persuasive Writing
From: "Lorraine Prokopchuk" <lprokopchuk@sjsd.net>

I agree with Lori re: persuasive writing. I don't think persuasive is
developmentally inappropriate at this level, but the topic itself might be
what is in question. Of course I am assuming there would be a great deal
of modeling and guided practise etc. I would chose a topic that would be
less risky than a pet because of allergies, parental issues etc.
Persuasive writing is a stimulating genre and most children enjoy it. The
level of sophistication is dependent upon the grade level. Children often
find their voice when writing persuasive. Letter writing is a good form
for persuasive... use Dear Mrs. LaRue by Teague as a model.

from your friendly Coordinator of Instruction,
Lorraine Prokopchuk
email: lprokopchuk@sjsd.net
+++++++++

From: "Martha Hitzel" <mehitzel@cox.net>
Subject: [mosaic] Ind. rdg. rubric/just right books
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 19:26:56 -0700

Hi PJ and Rosie. Here are the two rubrics you asked about. They are
developed from student input. These were developed with my 4/5 class.
Hope they are helpful.

How to Choose a "Just Right" Book For You

A "Too Easy" Book

*

It is short with only a few pages
*

The words are written in big type
*

You know every single word
*

You finish it very quickly

A "Just Right" Book

*

It has medium length words
*

You can read the words on the back cover
*

There are one or two new words on each page
*

You can understand what it is about
*

You have some background knowledge that will help you understand
it
*

It sounds smooth and flowing when you read it with maybe a
choppy sounding place once in a while

A "Too Hard" Book (Can also be referred to as a challenge book)

*

It is really thick
*

There are five or more words on a page that you don't know (5
finger rule)
*

The words are really long
*

The print is tiny
*

You are having a lot of trouble understanding it or just don't
get it
*

It sounds mostly choppy when you read it

Independent Reading Rubric

1

*

Asks to go to the bathroom a lot
*

Talks and distracts others
*

Gets up and moves around a lot
*

Changes books frequently
*

Always reads the same genre
*

Mostly picks books that are too hard or too easy
*

Pretends to read
*

Doesn't think about whether or not he is understanding the story
*

Doesn't try to use any of the comprehension strategies
*

Daydreams
*

Falls asleep (my favorite!)

2

*

Reads the words, but doesn't think about the story
*

Reads very quickly
*

Reads, but fiddles or gets distracted a lot
*

Some pretend reading mixed with a little real reading
*

Distracts other readers sometimes
*

Often doesn't pick a "Just Right" book
*

Mostly forgets to use the comprehension strategies

3

*

Spends most of the time reading, but occasionally gets
distracted
*

Picks "Just Right" books almost all of the time
*

Reads a new genre once in a while
*

Thinks about the story most of the time
*

Tries to use the comprehension strategies some of the time
*

Thinks about whether or not she is understanding the story

4

*

Chooses a good spot to read
*

Doesn't get distracted at all
*

Almost always chooses a "Just Right" book, but knows it is ok to
try a bit of a challenge or take a break with an easier book once in a
while
*

Is always aware of whether or not he is understanding the story
*

Uses different comprehension strategies to help her understand
the story better
*

Tries different genres
*

Looks for ways to make reading-writing connections
+++++++++

From: "lclendenin" <lclendenin@sc.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Pied Piper of Hamlen
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 21:33:54 -0500

There is a fabulous place . . . Gutenburg Project (I think this is the name)
. . . anyway, if you cut and paste this extremely long URL, you will see a
page from which you can download "The Pied Piper of Hamlin."

Lynn/5/sc
++++++++++++

From: "lclendenin" <lclendenin@sc.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Pied Piper of Hamlen
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 21:35:06 -0500

OOPS! I forgot to add the URL. . . boy, do I feel stupid!

http://www.archive.org/texts/texts-details-db.php?collection=opensource&coll
ectionid=pooja_20030210040210

Yes, you need the entire two lines. . .
++++++++++

From: MissWalsh1@aol.com
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 21:55:40 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Persuasive Writing

In a message dated 2/3/2004 6:53:45 PM Central Standard Time,
bernadette.domenick@verizon.net writes:

> Taking an informal poll - -
>
> Is this developmentally appropriate: requiring second graders to write a
> persuasive piece on this topic: Persuade your parents to buy you the pet
> you've always wanted.
>

I teach second grade and last year we had finished a long unit on the ocean,
which then took us to the Shedd Aquarium on a field trip. When we returned,
I
had the kids choose a sea animal they had learned about during the unit, and
they had to persuade me to get it for a class pet using some facts they had
learned. The examples were sharks, jellies, squid, cuttlefish, rays, etc.
The
were interested in the topic, and their papers were great. Could I really
get
an authentic sea creature for a class pet? No (not a true ocean animal
anyway) so there really was no emotional hook. I did buy a plastic leafy
sea
dragon that we named Bob as our class pet when we were all done, though.

Developmentally appropriate? In my opinion, yes. How do we get the kids to
write quality persuasive if they don't start young? Second graders are
always
trying to convince me of something... Let them try it on paper with a topic
that interests them.
Just my opinion...

Leah :)
+++++++++

Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 04:38:42 -0600
From: "Michelle Mooney" <mmoon.RI.WFB@wfbschools.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Persuasive Writing

Yes, I do think it is developmentally appropriate--as others have said =
young children try to persuade their parents and teachers to do things all =
the time.

In fact, my first grade class is just finishing up a study of persuasive =
writing. Tony Stead's Is That A Fact? Non-Fiction Writing in the Primary =
Grades (Stenhouse, 2001) was a valuable resource as I planned instruction.

As the unit progressed, students most often chose to write about things =
they considered "the best," such as "dogs make the best pet" or "the =
Green Bay Packers are the best football team." (We're from Wisconsin, and =
those who chose THAT topic generally wrote with a great deal of voice!)

Much of my instruction centered on including facts as well as opinions to =
persuade (i.e. not just "dogs are cool," but "dogs can protect your =
home"). Students became quite skilled at separating facts from opinions in =
other students' writing. They had more difficulty doing so in their own =
writing, which certainly came as no surprise!

As a culminating project, each student chose a favorite book and wrote an =
essay trying to persuade a younger child to read it. We are finishing =
videotaping these book reviews (ala Reading Rainbow), which our media =
specialist will then show to the Junior and Senior Kindergarten classes.

Again, Stead's book is an excellent resource!

Michelle Mooney
++++++++

Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 08:37:49 -0500
From: "PJ Morrow" <PMorrow@spart7.k12.sc.us>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Persuasive Writing

I've had some experiences similar to Lori's, and I believe that learning
about persuasive writing is developmentally acceptable even in some
kindergarten classes. For example, we've modeled writing to persuade
the superintendent to come to read to us (again, something that was
really a possibility). Authentic topics are better. I remember a first
grade class that wanted to have their recess at a different time because
the playground was too crowded. They watched out the window to see when
it was deserted, then wrote to persuade the principal to let them play
outside at that time. Lori's point that the "writing to persuade
parents to get her a puppy" idea originated with the child is another
piece of support that SOME second graders are developmentally ready to
write to a persuasive prompt. And like Lori, I think that the topic
needs to be more carefully chosen.
+++++++++

From: "Bill and Dee Blair" <dbblair71@msn.com>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] Pied Piper of Hamlen
Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 06:49:24 -0800

I found this on Amazon. I know we have something similar at school.

Three Tuneful Tales: The Bremen Town Musicians, the Pied Piper of
Hamelin, the Nightingale
by Marilyn Helmer, Kasia Charko (Illustrator) (Hardcover - March 2003)
(Rate this item)

Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $10.95
Buy new: $8.76
Used & new from

Bill/K-1/WA
+++++++++

Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 13:52:22 -0800
From: "Heidi Hofmann" <Hhofmann@woodburn.k12.or.us>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Persuasive Writing

I think this is an appropriate topic. I have taught 3rd grade for 7 years =
and before that taught 1st. I think it is a very good topic because it is =
something kids can relate easily too. (Most probably have some background =
schema/can make connections because either they've tried to orally =
persuade their parent to buy them a pet sometime in their lives while =
others have a pet and can share how their pet needs to be cared for.

I would use a 4 square approach. (see example below)

Brainstorm:

Title: Please buy me a ...(dog)
_________________________________________
1. Feed it 2. brush and baths

________________________________________
3. let it outside/take it on walks 4. I would feel...

Model an example with the whole class, then after having kids write a four =
square, have students write a paragragh about it and draw an illustration =
to go with it.
+++++++++

Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 13:58:01 -0800
From: "Heidi Hofmann" <Hhofmann@woodburn.k12.or.us>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Persuasive Writing

I've taught 3rd grade in Oregon for 7 years, have administered the 3rd =
grade writing test a few of those years, and I've scored 5th grade writing =
samples atleast 4 times... In the past years, I have seen persuasive =
questions on the test.

One year, I remember 3rd graders being asked to persuade the community to =
build a park in their neighborhood. I agree this is hard, and after =
scoring 5th grade samples for the state have noticed kids get higher =
scores in areas such as Narrative writing and Imaginative Writing. =
However, we need to keep our expectations high. Kids can achieve them if =
we use Best Practices when teaching.

I agree persuasion requires higher levels of thinking, but I think primary =
age kids (2nd grade. and higher.. maybe 1st grade with help from teacher/as=
sistants, parents) can write persuasive papers.
++++++++++

Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 17:04:27 -0500
From: Findleyck@aol.com
Subject: Re: [mosaic] suggestions for teaching metaphors

See the Ocean by Estelle Condra has a beautiful metaphor of the ocean as an
old man. This book in mentioned in STW as a source for visualizing. I love
it for metaphors. Will get a gasp from your class at reading the conclusion
of the story as well.
++++++++++

From: Lamma55@aol.com
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 19:08:08 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] toni morrison

Anyone have any resources or websites to get information on the author Toni
Morrison, her work, the kinds of characters, themes she writes about?
Appreciate any ideas!

++++++++++

Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 16:44:15 -0800
Subject: Re: [mosaic] new member
From: Carolyn Booth <boothres@mac.com>

Welcome, Jean! While many elementary teachers belong to this list,
there are several (many?) middle school teachers, too. The middle
school where I teach in Sammamish, Washington continues to emphasize
reading in the content areas. Since I teach LA/SS/PE/Health, this
emphasis affects almost everything I teach on a daily basis. I look
forward to hearing more about your middle school students and reading
strategies.

Carolyn Booth
7th-grade LA/SS/PE/Health
Sammamish, WA
++++++++++

From: CATHYMILLR@aol.com
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 20:04:40 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Scholastic's Read 180 Program

The immediate jump in test scores is obviously the appeal of this program.
We
just started this year, so I am wondering if we will have a similar
experience. It is disheartening the way real learning has taken a back seat
to raising
test scores as quickly as possible.

Cathy
El. Super.
+++++++++++

From: CATHYMILLR@aol.com
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 20:08:50 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Persuasive Writing

I would make it more of a compare/contrast with several pets. Pros and cons
of owning a dog, etc. I don't think I would expect second graders to write
using persuasive techniques, but you could certainly have a conversation
involving
persuasion.
++++++++++

From: CATHYMILLR@aol.com
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 20:10:03 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Persuasive Writing

I agree about the topic being emotionally charged.
++++++++++

From: teacher_b.hillerns@comcast.net
Subject: [mosaic] just have to share
Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 01:44:31 +0000

I am so excited about this and just have to share.

I just got done reading and responding to some of my students' reader's
response letters to me. We have been working a lot on becoming more aware of
our little voice.
One of my students actually wrote (rough translation because it's written in
Spanish):

Mrs. Hillerns, didn't you hear your voice when you were ten-years-old? ...
When I hear my voice, I always ask someone the question. Sometimes I only
ask myself.

There was much more to the letter, but I thought it was great that she was
asking ME about MY voice. I really had to think about my response to answer
her question honestly. It is SO rewarding to have real conversations with
students.
Since I made it a requirement for my students' letters to me to answer the
questions I had asked them in the previous letter, I try to ask at least one
question in every letter to prompt my students to take their thinking
deeper. Several of my students have caught onto my model. We now ask each
other authentic questions because we really want to know the answer!

Beth
4th BE
+++++++++++

From: "Kelley Roberts" <krober15@tampabay.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Information for NEW MEMBERS
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 20:52:15 -0500

Anyone have research about reading speed? I tried timed readings and took
my 8th graders times and found out that many were reading UNDER 100 words
per minute (watch a second hand and pronounce a word every second or
so....how could anyone gain comprehension at that rate?). I've since
continued the drills and everyone has reached 200-250 (which is average)
with some as high as 800 words a minute (they never thought about it, so
they never tried is what they are telling me). That's with 70% or better
comprehension! Is there any research?
Bill
+++++++++++

From: "Bridget Moylan" <moylanb@hotmail.com>
Subject: [mosaic] New member
Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 21:39:41 -0500

Hello! I am new to the list and am curious as to what type of curriculum
7th/8th grade remedial reading teachers are using. I have 5 classes of
between 10 and 16 students. Unfortunately most of my classes are full of
discipline problems and a variety of reading levels. Any suggestions for
how to handle this type of class.

Bridget
7th/8th
++++++++

Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 10:16:58 -0500
Subject: [mosaic] metaphors
From: bernadette domenick <bernadette.domenick@verizon.net>

Mirandy and Brother Wind is a great picture book depicting the wind as an
elegant old gentleman with a top hat. Good one for metaphors.
+++++++++++

Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 21:46:57 -0700
From: Susan Nixon <Susan@DesertSkyOne.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Information for NEW MEMBERS

At 06:52 PM 2/4/2004, you wrote:
>Anyone have research about reading speed?

Check Timothy Rasinski's article in the Nov/Dec. 2003 Instructor, p. 16+

Susan Nixon
2nd Grade Teacher
Phoenix, AZ

http://www.backflip.com/members/desertsky
http://www.6traits.cyberspaces.net
http://www.desertskyone.com/Poetry2003/
http://www.desertskyone.com/Apple2003/index.html
++++++++++

Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 23:44:14 -0600
From: Dan Fitzgerald <teacher6@consolidated.net>
Subject: [mosaic] Bridget's reading kids

Hi, Bridget!

I am new to the list, as well, and am just loving it! I
thought you might want to try using a consistant theme in
your classes. I have used this approach quite successfully
with a wide variety of reading classes. You could pick your
theme, say "Survival", then pick a book(s) for that theme,
within the range of your reading level-everyoone would be
reading the same book. You could do read alouds, partner
reading, written responses, create student made journals that
coordinate to the book theme, have discussions, etc. It's
alot of fun, which is important for those lower level readers
to realize...that real people read for real fun! Some good
books that I have used: The "Brian" books-Hatchet, etc.;
Homecoming/Dicey's Song; Wringer; Running Out of Time.
There's as many more as there are themes. Incorporate art
projects-even if you think your students can't handle it-give
them a chance. Teach them more than the story-for the
survival theme I am doing now with Hatchet, my students are
learning about what it takes to be emotionally able to
survive anything-from the Holocaust to a bear attack to a
local girl being kidnapped and surviving. Have you heard of
textmapping? I learned about it on the list-it's
fascinating! There's a website for it, just type in
textmapping for a subject search and you will probably find
it. I think it's textmapping.org, but I'm not sure.
You are my first posting-yeah!!! Glenda
+++++++++

From: "jan sanders" <jgousan@hotmail.com>
Subject: [mosaic] books on "differences"?
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 22:48:34 -0800

I wonder if any of you know of primary level picture books that talk abou=
t differences. A family at our school has a very young child who was bor=
n without one of her ears. The parents would like to begin reading to th=
e child on topics that would help her to have a healthy and accepting att=
itude about this 'difference'. Any titles you could suggest would be gre=
atly appreciated.

Jan
++++++++++

Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 06:14:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Yvonne Greene <myvonnegreene@yahoo.com>
Subject: [mosaic] big books and shared reading

Our district is providing training on the STW and RWM
depending on the grade level you work with. The
recommendation all teachers K-5 are being told is that
shared reading must happen with big books. I don't
remember walking away from STW or RWM with those
ideas. Any suggestions or comments?

Thanks!
Yvonne Greene
++++++++++

Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 08:23:45 -0600
Subject: Re: [mosaic] big books and shared reading
From: carol carlson <carlsonca@dist102.k12.il.us>

Big books are great for shared reading. However, there isn't anything
in STW that says IT HAS TO OCCUR with big books. Actually, they
advocate using short text, including but not limited to picture books.
They advocate using articles from non fiction text like National
Geographic or Ranger Rick.
I hate to see a good idea taken and twisted around which turns off both
kids and the teachers.
Carol
++++++++++

Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 09:52:27 -0600
Subject: Re: [mosaic] big books and shared reading
From: "Don B. Shaw" <shaw@platteville.k12.wi.us>

Yvonne,
Which grade levels are doing RWM and which are doing STW? We are going to
be doing this next year and was wondering which book would be more
appropriate at which grade level.
Thanks - Don
+++++++++

Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 10:47:09 -0800 (PST)
From: Yvonne Greene <myvonnegreene@yahoo.com>
Subject: [mosaic] RWM and STW for Don

Don,

I think it is easiest to start with RWM for all. Our
district has split it so K-3rd does RWM and 4-5th do
STW. The training they are providing is occurring
over 4 half day sessions. I would recommend a book
study approach personally.

Yvonne
++++++++++

Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 13:55:42 -0500
From: Elisa Waingort <elisawi@fcaq.k12.ec>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] re: Learning Along the Way, Chapter 2

Hi PJ,
Thanks for these suggestions. I've been writing them down and will
suggest that we
try a few of them over the next few study group meetings. If nothing
else, we can
see how they work so that we can try them out, if appropriate, with our
students.
Elisa
+++++++++++

Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 16:30:43 -0600
Subject: Re: [mosaic] RWM and STW for Don
From: "Don B. Shaw" <shaw@platteville.k12.wi.us>

Yvonne.
We have a half day each month for staff development. We were thinking
about starting off watching the RWM for 1st/2nd grade teachers and STW
for 3rd/4th grade teachers and follow up with the book study groups. I
had not thought about doing the RWM for all 1st-4th grade teachers. Thank
you for your feedback.
Don
++++++++++

Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 15:43:23 -0800
From: Lori Jackson <ljackson@gwtc.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] big books and shared reading

Me neither. And in reality, the number of big books appropriate for older
readers
is pretty limited. In Janet Allen's work, she suggests using the overhead
or
enlarged print with older readers. Even with my second graders, I use
transparancies a lot. Every week, we work on the cover story from Time For
Kids
using the overhead. Although each reader has his or her own copy, the
reading is
SHARED. We work on identifying different nonfiction conventions and read
together. This is shared reading in my mind, every much as much as Brown
Bear.
Shared reading means supported reading to me--my voice and the voice of ther
other
more capable readers supporting the less able readers and making meaning
together.
That's my two cents on the issue.

Lori
++++++++++

Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 15:08:54 -0800 (PST)
From: Kerry McDonald <mcdonaldatstrath@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] RWM and STW for Don

Don, as a grade 6 teacher who has just strated teaching Reading Strategies,
I can't tell you how much I value RWM. It, more than STW and MOT is one
that I refer to almost daily. I love Debbie's charts and often model them
in my own classroom. Of course some of the content in the books don't
apply, but the strategies and ideas work wonderfully in my classroom.

Just my (Canadian) $.02

Kerry
grade 6
+++++++++++

From: <milesandtannymcgregor@fuse.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] books on "differences"?
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 0:04:45 +0000

A few great books on diversity are:

"Don't Laugh At Me"
"Land of Many Colors"
"What If Zebras Lost Their Stripes?"

I don't know the authors by heart...my books are at school.
Tanny
++++++++++

From: <milesandtannymcgregor@fuse.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] books on "differences"?
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 0:08:00 +0000

Jan,
I have written a song about differences, entitled "Difference Makes All The
Difference". My husband and I wrote the song to enhance diversity in our
school district. The lyrics are great to use with kids. The song is on our
"Songs About Teaching And Stuff" CD. If you're interested, just email me at
milesandtannymcgregor@fuse.net.
Thanks.
Tanny
+++++++++++

From: "Carrie Becker" <pigsrock@hotmail.com>
Subject: [mosaic] Greyling lesson
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 19:37:10 -0500

Hi everyone--

I just wanted to share an images lesson I did recently--straight from Deb=
bie Miller's RWM--with my fifth graders. At first I was a little skeptica=
l about it, but decided to try it out. I'm in the process of reading RWM =
for the first time and it's great--even for intermediate level teachers! =
:)

I used her lesson about adapting mental images with Jane Yolen's Greyling=
Since I only have 40 minutes for reading a day, I split the lesson over=
yesterday and today. I covered the cover with a paper and didn't show th=
e kids the illustrations as I read the story. We stopped 4 times (before =
the fisherman finds Greyling, before the wife sees Greyling, after Greyli=
ng grows up, and at the end) and wrote words on a chart paper about our i=
mages of each character. By the time I finished reading it to them today,=
a few were trying to sneak looks at the pictures :) and others were begg=
ing for me to show them the pictures. It was great fun! When I did go thr=
ough and show them the pictures, some were disappointed their images didn=
't match the illustrations and others felt rewarded that theirs matched. =
We talked about how our images are different and that's okay as well as t=
hat there is no 'right' or 'wrong' image. =20

Thanks for listening! Keep sharing, it's inspiring!
--Carrie :)
+++++++++++

Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 18:50:35 -0800
From: Lori Jackson <ljackson@gwtc.net>
Subject: [mosaic] Questioning

I have been struggling somewhat with questioning--they get the I
wonders, but their wondering was pretty mundane. Then this week I hit
pay dirt! I am using Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez,
because I really want my students to understand that civil rights is not
just about blacks and whites. Lester Laminack recommended this book
very highly last summer at Hamline in St. Paul. Anyway, on Monday I
began by talking to them about 'before' questions, and under the heading
on the chart paper we wrote our before questions which included things
like:

Why did the author title the story Harvesting Hope?
Was Cesar Chavez a real or fictional character? (That came from a
child, isn't that a great question?)
Where does the story take place?

Then we read only about 8 pages of the text and on that day, I stopped
after each page and asked the students for questions to list under
"While we read…". Again, there was quite a range of questioning and
some were very superficial while others were beginning to get at the
heart of the themes of the book. On Tuesday we began with a review of
the questions and a knee to knee activity in which I asked them to work
together to retell the part of the story we read on Monday. Attendance
is an issue in our school, so I use this strategy a lot. It helps get
the missing blanks filled in, but this time several children began to
notice that thinking about their questions really helped them remember
the story! And then I read again, this time the children provided all
the questions. We read another 8-10 pages of the story and this time
the children generated ALL of the questions. Guess what? They were so
much better. Here are a few:

Why did the teachers punish Cesar for speaking Spanish?
Why was Cesar so uncomfortable at school?
Why were the teachers so mean to Spanish children?
Why did the family only get 30 cents for a whole days' work?
Was it hard for them to live in a shack when their house in Arizona had
been so nice? (The story said spacious.)
Was this taking place at the same time all that stuff in the south was
happening? Which I reworded slightly, thrilled at this connection, Was
this taking place at the same time as the civil rights movement in the
south?
Why were migrant workers like slaves? (analogy made in book)
Why were some migrant workers beaten and even murdered?

And more! Great questions--starting to get to the critical literacy
discussion I wanted to see taking place.

So today, we used the knee to knee discussion strategy again and I asked
each partnership to pick one or two questions from their list and
discuss them. There were fantastic conversations going on. One pair
was talking about the issue of thirty cents a day, one boy telling how
he knows that money was WORTH more back then so it might have been like
making a dollar and his partner arguing that NO WAY would his whole
family work like that for just a dollar a day! Another team, focusing
on the same question, talked about how you couldn't really live on that
much money and wondered if the children had to eat vegetables in the
field to keep from starving. These two, on their own, arrived at the
idea of a strike, though they did not use the language. They talked
about how everyone should just refuse to pick the vegetables and make
the landowners just do it themselves, to see how hard it was.
Can you imagine their delight when they found that is exactly what
happened? I paired myself with a little girl who is struggling with
behaviors and she wanted to talk about the issue of being beaten and
murdered. She told me that she thought it was because they were like,
standing up to the landowners and the landowners were probably afraid,
because there were so many workers. So they killed them or beat them so
they would stop standing up for themselves. Now, these kids have no
prior knowledge relating to the migrant movement (other than the civil
rights movement, which we have been discussing), so I was finding the
level of inference amazing. I was really impressed when one boy started
talking about how his grandmother has told him stories of being beaten
for speaking Lakota in school, how Chavez must have felt like just
giving up. And he also talked about how the teachers might not have
been able to understand Spanish and that scared them. Others talked
about whether or not schools should have to have teachers who can talk
the same language as the kids. One girl really wanted to defend the
teachers, not the one who put the awful sign around his neck, but the
others because they might have felt bad because they could not teach
children who did not speak their language. When our circle turned in
and shared, these issues just got richer and richer attention. Clearly,
the idea that prejudice is not just about black and white is really
sinking in.

We finished reading today and tomorrow we will generate our "after"
questions. Then I am going to have the kids work in teams to generate
2-3 before questions, 2-3 (or more) during the read questions and at
least 2 after the read questions as they partner read some thought
provoking books I have pulled.

Lori
++++++++++

Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 20:35:45 -0700
Subject: [mosaic] re: [PERIODIC mosaic DIGEST POSTING]
From: "Sue Jones" <maps@resourceroom.net>

I started screening my email even on my home computer b/c of spam,
looking at it "remotely" first -- adn even the digest of this list is
readable now :-)
It's hard to do the remedial thing with mixed reading levels -- but when
in doubt, structure and consistency, structure and consistency.
For me, the bottom line was whether I had administrative support on the
behavior end. It took a while, but I got my guys engaged by doing a lot of
short, graded things every day. I was very pleasantly surprised that when
something seemed short and doable, they were willing to do it for an A.
Most of them could not believe it -- some had to watch me write teh A's in
the grade book. (Actually what I did for "grades" was start with a baseline
of 85 and add a point for every "A" they earned for a "daily participation"
grade that was about 20% of their final grade... this was in content area
stuff so I had other grades, too.) I had an "opening exercise" that was a
reference-type thing ("find 5 capes in North America" -- and the Atlases are
on their desks and we had learned what a cape was in Geography, or "what are
the seven continents" before that).
SOme of the things I did are on my site at http://www.resourceroom.net
especially in "reading comprehension." I had a lot of success with
Corrective REading (with a lot of more unscripted free-form exploration) for
the accuracy issues -- b ut that needs to be done by reading level and you
don't have that "luxury." But the smartest thing I did was to have a
structure and routine (which, me being utterly unstructured by nature, was
not what you would call strictly adhered to! -- but helped the kids
immensely, even though they were "old" middle schoolers ;)
++++++++++

From: "Martha Hitzel" <mehitzel@cox.net>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] Questioning
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 20:57:02 -0700

Wow! This lesson sounds awesome! What wonderful conversations your
kids had! Anybody who thinks this instruction doesn't belong in the
primary grades should have the opportunity to witness this type of
lesson, thinking, and talk by such young children. I'm going to order
this book. It sounds great. Just the kind of deep, meaningful text that
is needed to get our students beyond the mundane. I've been stalling
about ordering I See the Ocean, trying to be good, but now I think I'll
go for it and order both of them. It sounds like this text would
definitely expand the beginnings of schema my students have developed
about the struggles of migrant workers from reading the Blue Willow
excerpt.
Thanks for sharing Lori! As always, you and your children are so
inspiring!
Martha/4/5/az
+++++++++

From: "Martha Hitzel" <mehitzel@cox.net>
Subject: [mosaic] Looking for book title/author
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 21:39:35 -0700

Ok. I went to Amazon to try and order the book Lori wrote about and the
book I thought was called I See the Ocean, but I See the Ocean is not
coming up. Is this the correct title? Can anyone tell me the author?
Thanks!
Martha
++++++++++

Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 07:24:14 -0500
From: "Donna Sawyer" <sawyerd@psdri.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Looking for book title/author

See The Ocean- and it is AWESOME!
++++++++++

Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 08:53:29 -0500
From: "Jeff Beal" <jbeal@sccisd.org>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] warm ups for meetings

I have teachers write about books that have changed their hearts and
minds and then share their writing. It shows the power reading has in
transforming our thinking. Reading stories changes or transforms the way
we think by: creating, affirming, and modifying our worldview, helping
us make connections between texts or events in our life and helping us
solve problems in our lives.

Jeff
+++++++++++

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 08:49:49 -0800 (PST)
From: Heather Wall <heather_wall_2000@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] big books and shared reading

No, as a matter of fact Regie Routman explains how to
do shared reading with picture books by making
transparencies of chosen pages in her book "Reading
Essentials". If someone you know has a copy, it's
worth looking at the shared reading chapter. It's
definitely a cheaper option and would make the upper
grades students not feel like they're reading "baby
books".
Heather Wall
+++++++++++

From: "Stolpa, JoAnn" <Joann.Stolpa@state.mn.us>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] Persuasive Writing
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 10:22:58 -0600

Yes, I think so.
It's great to have them start writing persuasive pieces in second grade but
they need a lot of background before the writing to understand what it
means. I usually talk about TV commercials and how we want to go out and
buy those things right away. We also use newspapers and find ads to show
persuasion. Also using examples of other things we say to people to
convince them of our thinking is a must model. I use one of these examples
to do a class write and then they should be ready to do the prompt you need
to do. We've used examples from Time For Kids, Scholastic News, Weekly
Reader for spin offs. A great topic is school uniforms. They make a
T-chart for pros and cons. Watch the news as there maybe something
appropriate there. Another time we talked about if children should be able
to drive or fly airplanes at a younger age. Nothing new in these ideas but
it does get kids to start evaluating at a younger age what they hear and
read. Like everything on the web is the only thing to look at for
information.
Jo Ann
++++++++++

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 08:59:00 -0800 (PST)
From: Heather Wall <heather_wall_2000@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Greyling lesson

Thanks for reminding me of that lesson - I will plan
on doing it with my 1st graders next week.

Just a reminder - I found out about 2 great books for
mental imaging through this listserv: "City Chicken"
by Arthur Dorros, where Henry the chicken lives in the
city and doesn't know what country animals look like.
Lucy the cat tries to explain that a cow is big and
eats grass and milk comes out, so Henry makes a mental
image of a large chicken eating grass with milk
spurting from her head. It was great for showing hte
kids how your mental images are based on your schema,
and since Henry didn't have schema for country animals
her mental images are all screwed up. Great book!

Another good one is "Madlenka's Dog" by Peter Sis.
Madlenka really wants a dog and so invents an
imaginary one. Everyone she meets has a different
mental image of what her dog looks like, as we get to
see via lift-the-flap covers. It's another good
illustration of how your mental images are based on
your own schema (each person's image was from their
childhood pet). Madlenka's mental images of what her
dog looks lke changes too, which helped my kids
understand how mental images can change during a book.

Heather Wall
+++++++++

From: "Jeannie Hughes" <jhughes4@cogeco.ca>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] just have to share
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 13:43:18 -0500

I wrote last week about reading response letters and I thank you for your
ideas and suggestions. Today I read one of my student's letters and she
used sensory imaging throughout the entire letter! She described how the
novel made her senses respond and went on to explain each one! I was SO
excited! So much better than the dry retell just to get the letter done.
I must get better at asking questions to prompt my students to take their
thinking deeper. Any suggestions to get me on my way?
Thanks again!
Jeannie
5/6 Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada
+++++++++

Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 13:06:39 -0600
From: "Brenda McAllister" <BKMcalli@kaneland.org>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Looking for book title/author

See The Ocean
by Estelle Condra
Illustrator Linda Crockett-Blassingame
Publisher Eager Minds Press
Nashville, Tenn
+++++++++

From: CATHYMILLR@aol.com
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 17:58:19 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Bridget's reading kids

I am fairly new as well. It is great, but hard to keep up with all the
e-mails.

I tried a crime/mystery unit with my remedial 7th graders a few years ago.
They all chose different books, but with that common theme. We did outlines
of
murder victims on large paper, just like you see the police doing. It is a
great reading comprehension unit. If you want me to look for my folder on
it, I
will. Just e-mail me individually at this address. (Some of my materials are
in
the basement of our house, which is undergoing major remodeling, so no
guarantees I can find this quickly!!)
++++++++++

From: "Ted and Lee Johnson" <tlmkjohnson@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Looking for book title/author
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 18:18:44 -0800

Two other tremendous picture books for inference are Rose Blanche and Knots
on a Counting Rope. You can use Knots and Ocean for a comparison as well.
Lee/5
+++++++++

From: sleeves211@comcast.net
Subject: Re: [mosaic] big books and shared reading
Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 23:58:19 +0000

Just a question...

What I understand about Shared Reading is that the text must be enlarged so
that the students can share in the reading, taking on more and more
responsibility for the reading each day. Teachers can used chart paper to
record stories, poems, etc using large print and even transparencies can be
a substitute for a big book.
+++++++++++

Subject: RE: [mosaic] just have to share
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 16:01:00 -0800
From: "Cosgrove, Coralie" <ccosgrove@lkwash.wednet.edu>

On page 191 of Strategies That Work there is a good list of generic
questions for each strategy.
+++++++++

Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 17:02:26 -0700
From: Susan Nixon <Susan@DesertSkyOne.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Looking for book title/author

At 07:18 PM 2/6/2004, you wrote:
>Two other tremendous picture books for inference are Rose Blanche and Knots
>on a Counting Rope. You can use Knots and Ocean for a comparison as well.

One of my students checked out an interesting book yesterday. It's called
_Time Flies_ by Eric Rohmann, from 1997. It's a wordless book, but the
concepts in it are, or can be, pretty advanced. The artwork is
phenomenal. Time is depicted as a bird. It begins in a museum with
dinosaur skeletons and over pages flies backwards in time until the
dinosaurs were fleshed out. Then a dinosaur eats the bird. It flies
through the inside of the dinosaur, with the head appearing fleshed out,
through to the tail which is just skeleton and is back in the museum. I'm
sure that as an adult I missed things and want to go back through the
pictures again and again to pick up nuances I missed.

As I "read" it to the children, I told them it was a wordless book, so we
had to listen with our eyes and have a wordless read. They were quiet all
the way through, except for a couple of places where they *had* to ooh and
aah. At the end, we had a magnificent discussion, lots of questioning
going on, lots of conversation among them about what the title had to do
with the pictures, etc. There was a lot of inferring going on, without any
words at all. Also lots of use of other strategies.

It was a terrific read-aloud experience, and spur of the moment. I want to
see what I can do with it once I've thought about it! I know there will be
implications for writing, and it might be the next book review I post on my
site. Can you tell I loved it? The students wanted to "read" it again!

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0517885557/qid=1076111771/sr=
1-3/ref=sr_1_3/104-5213975-9015143?v=glance&s=books>

Susan Nixon
2nd Grade Teacher
Phoenix, AZ

http://www.backflip.com/members/desertsky
http://www.6traits.cyberspaces.net
http://www.desertskyone.com/Poetry2003/
http://www.desertskyone.com/Apple2003/index.html
+++++++++

Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 17:05:38 -0700
From: Susan Nixon <Susan@DesertSkyOne.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Greyling lesson

At 09:59 AM 2/6/2004, you wrote:
>"City Chicken" by Arthur Dorros, where Henry the chicken lives in the
>city and doesn't know what country animals look like.

Oh, this is one of my favorites! I did a book review of it last year.

http://6traits.cyberspaces.net/review.html

My reviews are slanted toward writing implications, but this was a great
read aloud for the purpose of understanding schema. If I remember
correctly, that's where I started my schema lessons with my first graders,
who are now my second graders. With luck, they will also be my third
graders! And then I retire. =)

Hugs,
Susan, in Phoenix
+++++++

From: <milesandtannymcgregor@fuse.net>
Subject: Re: Re: [mosaic] Looking for book title/author
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 0:21:05 +0000

Susan,
How funny that you mention using wordless picture books! I just spent the
past two days observing Debbie Miller teach classes of 1st and 2nd graders
in my school district. Debbie explored the use of wordless picture books
when launching a new strategy: inferring. She worked with the same 2nd
grade class for 2 afternoons in a row. On the first day, Debbie used Van
Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Debbie modeled her own
inferences in a think-aloud with one of the pictures. Then the students
inferred aloud, individually and then with partners. On the second day,
Debbie used A Circle of Friends (can't remember the author). Again, she
modeled for a few pages and then let the kids "infer their way through the
book". Next, Debbie had 2 teachers get into the middle of "the fishbowl" to
model how to infer through a wordless picture book with a partner. The
students paired up with their own wordless books (most of them Mercer Mayer
books) to infer through the books together. For at least 45 minutes, every
single 2nd grad
er in the class was completely engaged! The kids spent so much time looking
at small details in the drawings, backing up their inferences with evidence.
Because Debbie taught these students about the strategy of inferring in this
way, the kids weren't caught up in decoding the text. They had the
opportunity to focus on strategic THINKING instead. I think the use of
wordless picture books is a wonderful "bridge" into the text later on.
Tanny McGregor
West Clermont Schools
Cincinnati, Ohio
++++++++++

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 16:44:23 -0800 (PST)
From: Kerry McDonald <mcdonaldatstrath@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Debbie Miller-oh my!

Tammy:

I am so jealous. How lucky to spend 2 days with Debbie Miller. I just
can't imagine! You must have learned so much!

Kerry
grade 6
+++++++++

From: <milesandtannymcgregor@fuse.net>
Subject: Re: Re: [mosaic] Debbie Miller-oh my!
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 3:49:30 +0000

Kerry,
You are right....I learned so much! Debbie is one of the most respectful,
patient teachers I have ever seen. She forms relationships with the
students almost instantly. At the end of Debbie's lessons, each child feels
valued and smart. What a wonderful model for all of us.
Tanny
+++++++++++

From: aschmitz@mpls.k12.mn.us [mailto:aschmitz@mpls.k12.mn.us]
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 1:04 PM
To: mosaic-owner@u46teachers.org
Subject: inferring

I wanted to share some successes that I've had this week with inferring.
First, I was amazed at how when I started to think about and observe my own
inferences... well there were so many!! I had no idea that all that was
going on in my
head!! Just looking at the cover and title alone. There are so many things
that go into
making the inferences.

I chose the book "Xochitl and the Flowers" by Jorge Argueta.
Just from the title I told my students that I was making an inference that
the girl is
from Central America. I'd heard the name Xochitl while traveling in
Guatemala and
Mexico, but I'd never heard it when I lived in Colombia.

The first page of the book confirms my inference and we learn that the girl
is from El
Salvador and the name is in the Nahuatl Language.

There are more inferences that I model as the story continues. It is about
a girl and
her family that move from El Salvador to San Francisco. She misses El
Salvador. She
some times thinks she sounds a little silly speaking English. She is just
learning to say
How are you? My name is Xochitl. (Let me tell you this took us on a such a
conversation about Text to Self that my students begged me to write in their
journals
about it!!! They could really relate. 4/5 graders writing about their
families moving
from other countries to the USA. )I guided the students to link the Text to
Self/background knowledge and the words on the page and the pictures to
create
inferences.
Then on page 20/21, there is a part of the story where it is ideal for
stopping and
thinking about your inferences, which led to predictions. The kids were in
two camps,
there were two ideas that they were leaning towards - so when we finished
reading
the story it was great to see that some predictions play out in the story
while others
do not. As the kids were sharing, I would always ask for the clues, the
evidence...
"How do you know..." The kids loved the story. With one of my groups (3rd
grade) I
couldn't finish the story in one day (I have a 1/2 hr. class with them) ...
They were
begging for the story the next day.

Well, my next class is arriving.
Thanks to everyone for sharing their ideas. I 've learned so much.
I hope you will read this book with your students!!
Ann, MN ESL/NLL
+++++++++

From: "Ilse Martin O'Brien" <imartin.1@rcn.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] writing letters in reading response journals
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 11:06:51 -0500

I teach 4th grade in Massachusetts and use reading response
journals as a record for all reading, all year long. This is
only my third year using RR journals, and I am always
fine-tuning. While it can be time-consuming, I find it extremely
helpful in figuring out where students are having successes and
struggles.

For homework, each student writes a response one night each week,
and is assigned a specific night. I have 20 students, and 5
students do their responses each night (Monday through Thursday).
Each morning before school, I review and respond to the 5
journals from the previous day (e.g., on Wednesday morning, I
respond to the 5 Monday journals; on Thursday, I respond to the 5
Tuesday journals, etc.). This morning ritual helps me plan
conferences, and even plan whole-class mini-lessons.

During Readers' Workshop, I may have students record their
thinking on post-its, then place them in response journals, and
write a response. Or in guided reading, for example, I may have
students record a T-chart or other graphic organizer in response
to their reading.

My main goals with response journals are:
to promote and encourage a love/interest in reading through
written "conversations"
to assess student's abilities to summarize/determine
importance/retell what they're reading
to provide a structured opportunity to activate and record their
THINKING about their reading
to maintain a record of each child's reading in one place (both
pleasure reading and guided reading)

When writing letters to me or other students, I ask them to
include 2 things:
a few sentences about the plot/characters
a few sentences about their thinking (predictions, questions,
confusions, observations, etc.)

In my responses to them, I ask questions to encourage and guide
them toward recording their thinking.
And I explicitly say to them: THERE IS NOTHING AS IMPORTANT AS
YOUR THINKING.
(I think I heard Stephanie Harvey say this at a conference, and
it stuck with me).

I periodically choose exemplar reading responses to share with
the class to remind them about what a good reading response looks
like, and why it's important.

-- ilse
++++++++++

From: "Debbie Lacy" <dklacy@usmo.com>
Subject: [mosaic] Class meetings
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 10:57:31 -0600

This is what I get for not printing off things when I want to remember =
them--I know several weeks ago there was a conversation and =
recommendations for books dealing with class meetings/morning =
meetings--could someone with a better memory than mine send me the names =
of the books (I think there were two recommended)

Thanks--

Debbie
+++++++++++

From: "Michelle Hulke" <shelltchr@wowway.com>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] Class meetings
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 13:11:26 -0600

I know one of the book recommened is titled The Morning Meeting Book by
Roxann Kriete. I love it. It explains each part of morning meeting and
then gives a lot of activity suggestions in the back. Hope this helps.
++++++++++

Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 13:14:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Kerry McDonald <mcdonaldatstrath@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] guided reading and questioning

Hello:

I am wanting to try guided reading with my grade 6 class. I would like to
encorporate my non-ficiton unit and asking questions about the text. I have
some prereading activties (using the features of non-fiction, predict what
the piece will be about), but I am not sure what the best "thing" to do
during reading. I want to focus on their types of questions and searching
for the answers. Does anyone have any suggestions for this?

Thanks,
Kerry
grade 6
++++++++++++

Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 15:02:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Michele Hollingsworth <mholli4350@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] big books and shared reading

I have used Orbit Sharing reading Posters for Shared
Reading in the upper grades. There are excerpts from
their guided reading books so you can connect to
guided reading lessons They even include graphic
organizers (poster size) I think the ones I had were
non-fiction texts. Check out www.learningmedia.com

I also copy pieces of texts and use them on an
overhead projector. This works well because I can
write out my thinking work on the text as we go
through it.
Michele
++++++++

From: teacher_b.hillerns@comcast.net
Subject: Re: [mosaic] guided reading and questioning
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 00:44:15 +0000

Kerry,
I would have your kids do the same during reading things they do when they
read independently, especially if this is your first time trying guided
reading with them. For example, have them use sticky notes to mark where
they have questions or where they learned something. Or have them use a
two-column note form to record non-fiction conventions they find and what
information they provide, or predictions about the text and whether they
were confirmed or not.
The important thing is not so much that they should be doing something
different because it's guided reading. In fact, I try to very closely relate
my guided reading lessons to my whole-class mini-lessons and shared reading.
The key difference is that when kids are reading independently, their books
should be on an independent level. When they are in guided reading, the
books should be on their instructional level.
Hope this helped. You have a great question; I would love to hear more
people weigh in on this.

Beth
4th BE
++++++++

Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 17:55:03 -0800
From: Lori Jackson <ljackson@gwtc.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] guided reading and questioning

One strategy I have been using with a group of very good second grade
readers is 'stop and talk about it'. They were reading about Martin Luther
King, and the text was full of challenging vocabulary. In spite of their
prior knowledge about King (I picked the book because this group is so
interesting in biography and in King), two of the kids were not connecting
with the text. I worked with a student in the group to model how we would
each read a page,
marking our questions as we did. The we would stop and talk, turning to
each other to share our questions and to support each other in our
discussion. They loved doing this, and seemd to be gathering a lot more
information, making a lot more connections as they did so. I told them
that, someday, they might have trouble in a class using a textbook that was
hard to read and this would be a good strategy to use. I have seen several
of the children using this
strategy during partner reading of self-selected material.

Lori
+++++++++++

From: teacher_b.hillerns@comcast.net
Subject: Re: [mosaic] guided reading and questioning
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 00:51:17 +0000

One more suggestion (not my idea, but from a colleague):
If you're wanting to focus on questions and answers, you divide the text
into sections and have each student volunteer to read and become an expert
on that section. Then they would be responsible for "teaching" the others in
their group about their section.
They could record the questions they have before reading and the answers as
they find them. Or you could have the group list questions about each
section, and have the expert read to find the answers. Or you could have the
experts read their section first, determine important information, write
questions for other students, and have the students read someone else's
section to find the answers for the questions of the original expert. (Okay,
that last one might take some heavy modeling and be better later on in the
unit.)
Just one more suggestion,
Beth
4th BE
+++++++++++

From: "Martha Hitzel" <mehitzel@cox.net>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] guided reading and questioning
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 19:00:51 -0700

My study group just watched the video "Think Nonfiction" done by
Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis. I highly recommend it, as well as
their book, Nonfiction Matters. They do a wonderul lesson modelling to
the students noticing new learning and marking it with an L on a sticky
note for new learning. Then, they think about this new learning and
what does it make them wonder about? They might then record a question
on a sticky note. I'm not conveying this as powerfully as it came
across in the video. This study of nonfiction was going to lead into
the student's own writing of nonfiction. The teacher did another
modelling lesson where she posted her original question and then a
deeper more meaningful question. The example on the tape was from a
story about Edward Shakleton. Her original question, posted on one half
of a chart paper was, "What was the coldest temperature they had to
endure?" Her other "What is it I really want to know?" question, posted
on the other side of the chart paper was, "What was it like for the men
to experience these extreme weather conditions?" I know I don't have
that second question exactly right, but it was something like it. The
idea was to take their original questions and take them deeper.
Martha/4/5/az
++++++++++

From: Patty526@aol.com
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 21:32:11 EST
Subject: [mosaic] comprehension building objective

At a recent school based planning team meeting, I proposed that teaching our
K-4 students a comprehension strategy in depth become our building objective
for the next two school years. Every school in NJ has to have one of these,
and it must be approved by the district, and by the state. My idea was met
with
enthusiasm because it could apply to all teachers, at all grade levels, and
in all curricular areas. However, it must be objectively measurable. Can
anyone suggest a way to measure growth objectively? In the past, objectives
have
been measure with pre- and posttests on a given skill, or on a given topic.
I'm hoping this group can help me out. Thanks for any ideas.
++++++++++

From: teacher_b.hillerns@comcast.net
Subject: Re: [mosaic] just have to share
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 02:38:52 +0000

Wow, Jeannie! Your question really helped me think and reflect on my own
practice and how I read my students letters.

I often try to pick out one thing they mentioned in their letter and ask
them to think about it more. For example, if they summarize an entire story,
I might ask, "Do you think the main character changed from the beginning to
the end? Why?" Or I might ask them to describe the main character (we were
focusing on vocabulary for emotions and characteristics at the time). I
might ask why they think a certain character did something. (Mmmm... I
really need to focus on questions that attend to aspects of story other than
character.)

One student was reading a Madeline book and asked if I would like to
baby-sit 12 girls. I responded, "I would not like to baby-sit 12 girls or 12
puppies. I wonder what the author's purpose was for having 12 girls in the
story. Do you think that was important?"

I also try to connect to what we've read in class. For example, "The book
you're telling me about reminds me of one of the books we've read in class.
The book I'm thinking of also has a girl who gets jealous of her younger
siblings. Do you know which book I'm thinking of? Can you make any other
connections?"

If students are reading a series of books or books by the same author, I
often ask what it is about those books that they like so much. I've also
asked students to attend to illustrations. For example, if they say they
like the pictures, I might ask if the illustrations helped them understand
the book better. How would the book be different if it didn't have any
illustrations?
Another thing I often do is give them a name for something they tell me
about but don't have a name for yet (e.g. flat or round characters, certain
non-fiction conventions, etc.). Then I encourage them to be on the look-out
for those things in their future reading.

Those are the types of questions I've been asking. I never thought it would
help so much to organize them in this way. Now I can be much more deliberate
in my responses to students. Thanks!

Beth
4th BE
+++++++++++

From: teacher_b.hillerns@comcast.net
Subject: Re: [mosaic] big books and shared reading
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 02:49:42 +0000

I sometimes get confused about this myself. I hope others respond to your
question as well, but here's my go at it.

Whether you use a single picture book, multiple copies, or enlarged text
depends on your purpose. I think classrooms should use a combination of all
three for "shared reading." The problem with saying that picture books are
off-limits for shared reading is that it limits the texts available to use
for this type of instruction. Maybe when the teacher is the only one holding
the copy it would better be called a think-aloud, but to me the term
think-aloud is also inadequate because it implies that the teacher is doing
all the thinking. Maybe the "shared" part of shared reading with a single
picture book, is that the students are sharing in the construction of
meaning. However, if one of your purposes in working with a certain text is
to build fluency, then of course a single picture book is not appropriate.
Likewise, right now I'm working on giving my students copies of texts that
they can mark up the same way I'd like them to mark text on our state test
in April.
Also, several people have mentioned using a picture book as a shared text,
and then putting a couple of pages up on transparency for closer study,
choral reading, etc.

Just me thinking in cyberspace,
Beth
4th BE
++++++++++

Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 19:02:55 -0800 (PST)
From: Michele Hollingsworth <mholli4350@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] big books and shared reading

shared reading is... everyone has access to the text
as you model strategies and engage in a discussion
with students. Read Aloud is the term used when you
are doing a think aloud and you are reading a picture
book that is shared with the students but they do not
have access to read along. A big book is a way for
emergent readers to share in the reading of a story
and have access to the print and pictures to learn the
strategies for becoming a reader and thus shared
reading. In the upper grades basal readers or copied
overheads of texts are ways to teach shared reading.
++++++++++

From: "jan sanders" <jgousan@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] guided reading and questioning
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 18:47:11 -0800

Kerry-
Not sure of your question but...
how about how to locate information using the Table of Contents, index, g=
lossary, rather than leafing through the book.
Have you thought about linking it with determining importance?
jan
++++++++++

From: teacher_b.hillerns@comcast.net
Subject: [mosaic] classroom schedules
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 03:07:01 +0000

This question is directed mainly to self-contained elementary classroom
teachers.

What are your classroom schedules like? I just want to know what things are
like on the other side of the fence and possibly get some ideas for my
classroom. Everything I read seems to have these classrooms where teachers
get to teach with schedules that are like nothing I could imagine in my
present situation. We are required to have no whole-class instruction for
one hour during pull-out time (although this is more like a name for show in
my school where I have students going in and out of my room from 8:15 to
2:30), teach 90 minutes of LA, 90 min. of math, 45 min. of social studies
and 45 min. of science every day.
Also, how do you go about integrating your curriculum? How does that work
with your schedule? Is there anyone out there who does grade-level planning
and is successful with integration? Please give me pointers.
On our grade level, each person is responsible for planning one subject area
and then sharing plans with the other team members. Other team members can
either take them or leave them. Since Christmas I've been leaving them more
often than not in an effort to better integrate my lessons. I'm proud of the
work my students and I have been doing, but would like any help any of you
have to offer.

Thanks,
Beth
4th BE
++++++++++

Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 19:41:28 -0800 (PST)
From: Donna Ellis <donnawellis@yahoo.com>
Subject: [mosaic] Vocabulary Ideas

Hello! I'm new to the list. I grew up in
Pennsylvania,(Pittsburgh), and my husband and I have lived here
in Grand Island, Nebraska since 1976. This is my second year
teaching 4th grade. I have taught PE, as well as 5th and 6th
grade, all subjects, in elementary settings. I have also taught
6th grade Reading/Language Arts in a middle school setting.
Reading is my first love!

I am thinking of using the book Donovan's Word Jar in
conjunction with some vocabulary activities. I've searched
Google and haven't come up with very many ideas. Do any of you
have any specific ideas, or do you have another book you've used
with your classes as a lead-in that would work with my kids?
Any and all ideas are welcome!

Thanks again for being such a great group--I've already learned
so much from all of you!

Donna
+++++++++

From: RR1981@aol.com
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 22:48:19 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] classroom schedules

I teach a fourth grade classroom and am responsible for all subject matter.
To my knowledge there is no set amount of time for each subject (although I
am
only a 2nd year teacher and am always finding out things I should have
known).

7:30-8:10-student arrive, eat breakfast, take an AR test, check out books in
the library
8:10-8:15-announcements-my students check in when they arrive, so I don't
take much time to check attendance
8:15-8:50-Content area, we rotate Social Studies, Science and Health at
three
week intervals
8:50-9:00-bathroom break
9:00-10:00-Reading-I teach from the anthology and also do novel units from
time to time
10:00-10:30-Writing or English
10:30-11:20-Math
11;25-12:05-Computers, Media Center, Music, Gym and Art
12:10-12:35-Lunch
12:35-12:45-bathroom break
12:45-1:00-teacher read aloud
1:00-1:20-recess outside or board game time
1:20-1:30-prepare for dismissal
1:30-2:00-Silent reading time
2:00-2:05-afternoon announcements
2:05-2:10-line up to leave
2:10-dismissal

Hope this helps. I am responsible for planning everything I teach!

Rosie
++++++++++

From: JAF0211@aol.com
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 23:02:29 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] research based reading programs

Is there anyone out there using a research based reading program? Or do any
of you have a list of research based programs? Jennifer
++++++++++++

From: teacher_b.hillerns@comcast.net
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Vocabulary Ideas
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 04:16:22 +0000

I love that book! It will be great.
One thing you could do is put up your own classroom word jar made of butcher
paper on the wall. Then kids could add words to it that they come across in
their independent reading. Since it will be a shared word jar, you would
probably want to have them write more than just the word on their paper.
Donovan can do that because he chooses the words themselves and knows their
definitions, but I would have the students write new and/or interesting
words on a piece of paper or notecard along with the sentence they found it
in and the definition. That way as students look at other students'
contributions to the "jar", they can learn what those interesting words
mean.
Beth
4th BE
++++++++++

From: "jan sanders" <jgousan@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] classroom schedules
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 20:28:16 -0800

We have no specials and very limited pull out for RSP. The classroom tea=
cher does it all. The RSP teacher mostly goes into the classrooms, with =
some pull-out. Grade level teachers plan together, but teach their own s=
tudents (33, 4-6 and 20, K-3) in a self contained classroom. We are a tit=
le 1 school with 30% ELL. This is the 4, 5, 6 schedule:
7:40 - 9:05 Roll, then Math (1 hr 25 min.)
9:20 - 10:20 Readers' Workshop and Writers' Workshop (each 1 hour)
11:30 - 12:20 Social Studies or Science (50 min.)
1:15 - 2:05 free reading time, art, music, P.E., language development, o=
r anything else you need time for (usually a combination of these things)
a primary schedule (some teachers start the day with calendar or morning =
message followed by skills and do Writers' Workshop at 12:15- 1:15):
7:50 - 9:50 Language arts (readers' and writers' workshop) (1 hr each)
10:10 - 11:30 math (1 hr. 20 min.)
12:15 - 12:45 skills, word work, (LA) (30 min.)
12:45 - 1:15 free reading or language development (30 min.)
1:30 - 2:05 social studies, science, art, music, etc... (35 min.)
jan
literacy coach K-6 CA
++++++++++

From: "jan sanders" <jgousan@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] LAW-Chapter 3
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 21:08:30 -0800

I was struck by the Final Thought - "Isolation is a regular part of schoo=
l life. Teachers feel isolated within their classroom, and schools feel i=
solated within the greater community." ....I don't know about the rest o=
f you, but I really, truly have very little idea of what instruction look=
s like in other classrooms on my campus.
I also had very little idea of what instruction looks like in other class=
rooms. It was interesting to hear teachers talk about their practice, bu=
t i had know idea if they really did what they said... Then I became a c=
oach. The great part of my job is going into classrooms to see first han=
d all the teaching that is going on. There are still a few classrooms I =
have not been invited into, but the teachers with open doors keep me very=
busy.
Honestly, I'm thinking it might be awkward to have two or three teachers=
set up as "experts" within a school community.
Each elementary school in our district has a literacy coach. We started =
this coaching model 3 years ago. We learned early on that teachers neede=
d to see writers' and readers' workshop in action. We had a few "chosen"=
classrooms for visits. This did cause some hurt feelings from some teac=
hers who were not chosen, however they were not doing RW or WW but felt t=
hey were outstanding teachers and should not be passed by. As coaches we=
had talked about wanting that "perfect" (we know no one is perfect) mode=
l for teachers to observe to help deepen understanding and increase knowl=
edge and schema of these practices. During the debrief we did not want t=
o have to say, well, that isn't really what it should look like etc. We =
started out with 3-4 observation classrooms and now have 7-8. I was fort=
unate to attend a PEBC training about 5 years ago and to this day I feel =
the days spent in that classroom with "excellent" teaching and modeling o=
f RW and WW is what changed my practice in the classroom with lasting eff=
ect. Our district is also part of a consortium of districts working on =
Writers' Workshop using the NY writing project as a model. We (a team of=
7 teachers from each school)observe classrooms in other districts monthl=
y. We revisit the same classroom each time. Our principal attends the 4=
th grade monthly observation. We always have an hour pre conference befo=
re observing and a debriefing afterwards.

I'm wondering if a first step might be more on the lines of reciprocal ob=
servations?
We also observe each other in our own school. Often it is for a specific=
thing that that teacher does really well -interactive writing, guided re=
ading, shared reading, a mini-lesson, etc. Our principal "covers" for th=
e teacher while she and I (the coach) observe together. We talk with the=
teacher being observed before the observation then look for the teaching=
we talked about. We always debrief afterwards -what did you notice, wha=
t questions do you have...Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer downl=
oad : http://explorer.msn.com
++++++++++

From: "jan sanders" <jgousan@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] LAW-Chapter 3
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 21:16:27 -0800

sorry- I forgot to sign this post it was me...
jan literacy coach K-6 CA
+++++++++

From: "Donna Baker" <baker@sprint.ca>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] writing letters in reading response journals
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 05:48:12 -0500

"I periodically choose exemplar reading responses to share with the class
to remind them about what a good reading response looks like, and why it's
important."

Ilse,
One of the hardest things with students is getting them to write a
thoughtful response. Would it be possible for you to post some of the
exemplars you use to show students what you expect?

Donna
+++++++++

From: "Dave Middlebrook" <dmiddlebrook@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] guided reading and questioning
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 08:31:54 -0500

Textmapping would be an excellent fit here (you mentioned guided =
reading, pre-reading activities, and questioning, with a focus on types =
of questions and searching for the answers). The other answers I have =
read sound right on target. You could implement any of them in the =
context of scrolls and Textmapping; that would make the lesson more =
concrete and explicit, and would involve the students in a much more =
direct, hands-on way.

Start by scrolling the text and either taping it to the blackboard or =
unrolling it on the classroom floor. The scroll gives you the =
whole-view of the text; all of the features are clearly visible in full =
context. You can then set your students to work -- drawing boxes around =
the illustrations, circling headings and sub-headings, and identifying =
and marking other features. After they have mapped the typography, they =
can begin predicting -- What is the subject of this text? What are the =
sub-issues? etc. Ask them to write their predictions and questions on =
post-it notes and stick them to the scroll.

You will find more about these points on the following pages:
1. Textmapping involves paper scrolls, colored markers, and a =
spatially-descriptive form of marking called mapping.
http://www.textmapping.org/scrolls.html
http://www.textmapping.org/middlebrookScrolls.10.02.03.html
http://www.textmapping.org/mapping.html
=20
2. Instructional benefits and FAQ sheet:
http://www.textmapping.org/benefits.html
http://www.textmapping.org/lessonFAQ.html

Dave Middlebrook
The Textmapping Project
A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills =
instruction.
http://www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your =
colleagues!
+++++++++++

From: CATHYMILLR@aol.com
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 08:57:32 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] research based reading programs

As far as I can tell, the names of all possible "scientifically research
based programs," referred to in NCLB legislation, are not listed on any one
website. I can find some here and there in articles. I know that many SRA
and some
Harcourt and Houghton-Mifflin programs are considered research based. As far
as
I can tell, that just means systematic phonics; it can assessed easily and
objectively; whether or not it helps kids learn to comprehend is still up
for
debate. Just about everyone is calling their programs and textbooks research
based now. I would love to see a comprehensive list of these programs
posted
somewhere. If you find one, please let me know. I will continue searching
myself.

Cathy
El. Sup.
+++++++++++

Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 07:38:51 -0800
From: Lori Jackson <ljackson@gwtc.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] research based reading programs

Cathy,

Have you read Gerry Coles' book, Reading the Naked Truth: Literacy,

Legislation, and Lies> It is NOT a book for NCLB fans, but Gerry is

painstaking in his anaylsis of the National Preading Report. He spent

over a year carefully looking at every study cited in the report and

found the report to be full of misinterpretation, shakey research and

neglectful of any of the research related to real comprehension. It is

a great read.

Lori
+++++++++++

From: sleeves211@comcast.net
Subject: [mosaic] Looking for suggestions for training videos
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 15:19:35 +0000

I'm currently in the process of developing a list of recommendations for
excellent training videos to support our balanced literacy curriculum.

Debbie Miller's Happy Reading was my first recommendation to support the
explicit teaching of comprehension strategies. (By the way I finally read
her book. A great read!) Thank you to whoever recommended that I read it.
I've also read the 7 Keys to Comprehension, of course Mosaic of Thought, and
Strategies that Work, but Reading with Meaning was a helpful addition.

Can anyone recommend other training videos they have used successfully to
support their coaching efforts? I would like to hear you suggestions for
videos that cover not only comprehension, but also:

Reading Workshop, Writing Workshop, Guided Reading, Conferencing, etc. I
focus on K-3 grade levels.

Your suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks
+++++++++++

From: "Georgina J. Pipes" <gpipes@bellsouth.net>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] Looking for suggestions for training videos
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 10:24:18 -0600

Sharon Taberski's video's, A Close-up Look at Teaching Reading, are also
excellent.....it is a 4 piece set focusing on guided reading, read
aloud/shared reading, independent reading/reading share, and reading
conferences. Also, I have used Strategy Instruction in Action, by Harvey
and Goudvis (the authors of Strategies that Work), which is another 4 piece
set. I have used all three video series with both teachers and reading
coaches. Those would be my top three recommendations.....good luck.

Georgina
++++++++++

Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 08:41:37 -0800 (PST)
From: Heather Wall <heather_wall_2000@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Looking for suggestions for training videos

"When Writers Write" by Ralph Fletcher and Joann
Portalupi on the Stenhouse website is a good one.
It's good for teachers who still need introductory
information on how a writer's workshop should look, as
well as experienced teachers who want to get more into
writer's craft.

Heather
+++++++++++

Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 08:46:39 -0800 (PST)
From: lei <lcamara3@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Bridget's reading kids

Hi...interested in your folder....is this the Mystery Festival, from
Lawrence Hall of Science? Did a similar one with 2nd graders....still
interested in types things you did.
Leilani lcamara3@yahoo.com
++++++++++++

From: mimosa22@comcast.net
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Looking for suggestions for training videos
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 17:23:36 +0000

Linda Hoyt's videos are excellent. She demonstrates strategies that you can
implement immediately.
+++++++++++

From: CATHYMILLR@aol.com
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 12:42:15 EST

Lori,
Thanks for the recommendation. Do I sound like an NCLB fan? If so, let
me assure you that I am not. I certainly see a need for standardized
testing,
but I have tons of worries about the implementation of this legislation.
I was fortunate enough to attend NCTE this year and heard some about the
national reading report criticisms. I look forward to this book.

Cathy
++++++++++

From: Ltandy1211@aol.com
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 13:04:42 EST
Subject: [mosaic] Books

I've been reading the posts and wanted to add to the discussin about books
on
vocabulary instruction and research on reading.

My entire district is reading Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary
Instruction,
by Isabel Beck. It is a reader friendly book and has some great ideas for
teaching vocabulary, especially to English Language Learners.

On the topic of reading:

Richard L. Allingtons Big Brother and the National Reading Curriculum is a
great read and disputes much of the No Child Left Behind Act and Reading
First
and the National Reading Panel Report.

Then there is Resisting Reading Mandates - How to Triumph WIth the Truth by
Elaine M. Garan.

Both of these books address the issues of teacher disempowerment and the
federal encroachment into local educational decision making. Both are
published
by Heinemann.

Laurie
3rd Grade Teacher
California
+++++++++

Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 11:18:46 -0800
From: Lori Jackson <ljackson@gwtc.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Looking for suggestions for training videos

We have these and reeally use them. I would add to this list Barry Lane's
video
set, Barry In A Box for great mini lessons related to revision (and really,
simply
to teaching writing).

Lori
++++++++++

Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 11:09:01 -0700
From: Susan Nixon <Susan@DesertSkyOne.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] research based reading programs

If you are interested in some summary of reading research, you might check
out the 4-blocks Leadership notes. Jim Cunningham's power point for Guided
Reading and for Writing are on there to download. To see the slide show,
you need Power Point, of course.

If you need some notes for them, let me know and I can attach my Word files
for you. They are just what I gleaned from his talk, though, nothing
official.

<http://www.wfu.edu/%7Ecunningh/fourblocks/leadership_2004.html>

Susan Nixon
2nd Grade Teacher
Phoenix, AZ
++++++++++++

Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 11:20:27 -0800
From: Lori Jackson <ljackson@gwtc.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] research based reading programs

Actually, I was certain that you are not! One more reason your teachers
are lucky to have you.

Lori
++++++++++

From: "Ginger/Rob" <elephant@foxvalley.net>
Subject: [mosaic] forward from Stenhouse/staff development
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 12:08:50 -0600

I received this information from Stenhouse and if you skim down you will
find some new titles and video sets.

Cris Tovani's new book, Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Content
Comprehension, Grades 6-12, looks excellent for the older students. Her
book is available in entirety on line at the link below. She also has a
video set to show the work in action.

I believe these will all be great resources for our purposes.
Ginger
moderator

-----Original Message-----
From: Stenhouse Newslinks [mailto:newsletter@stenhouse.com]
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 1:07 PM
To: elephant@foxvalley.net
Subject: Explore our new spring titles!

Stenhouse Newslinks
February 6, 2004

C O N T E N T S

1) Explore our new spring titles
2) PD Corner: Teaching reading in the content areas
3) Be heart smart on February 14th
4) New Study Guide for THINKING THROUGH GENRE is now available
5) Don't forget about the Educator Expense Deduction

----------------------------------------------------------------
1) Explore our new spring titles
----------------------------------------------------------------
Visit our Web site to browse nine new Stenhouse titles including
five books, three video sets, and a flipchart! Four are available
now, with the rest arriving throughout the spring:

DO I REALLY HAVE TO TEACH READING? Content Comprehension, Grades 6-12
Cris Tovani * 144 pp/paper * Available Now! * $19.50
Shows teachers how to model reading strategies to enhance both
reading and content proficiency; filled with classroom examples.
Review the entire text on-line:
http://www.stenhouse.com/storefront/detail.asp?product_id=0376

COMPREHENDING CONTENT: Reading Across the Curriculum, Grades 6-12
Cris Tovani * 4 30-min. VHS tapes * Available Now! * $395.00
Classroom examples of Cris and her colleagues working with
students using texts from multiple disciplines.
Download the free Viewing Guide:
http://www.stenhouse.com/storefront/detail.asp?product_id=0375

(See the PD Corner below for more details on the two titles above.)

TOOLS FOR TEACHING CONTENT LITERACY
Janet Allen * 52 pp flipchart * Available Now! * $12.00
This compact tabbed flipchart serves as a ready reference for
content reading and writing instruction.
http://www.stenhouse.com/storefront/detail.asp?product_id=0380

THE SPELLING TEACHER'S BOOK OF LISTS 2nd Edition
Jo Phenix * 112 pp/paper * Available Now! * $19.50
Categorized word lists help teachers illustrate spelling
concepts. These are not memorization lists!
http://www.stenhouse.com/storefront/detail.asp?product_id=0390

TIME FOR NONFICTION
Tony Stead * 4 30-min. VHS tapes * Available in March * $395.00
Step inside two classrooms at the Manhattan New School (1st and
3rd grades) and see nonfiction reading and writing come alive.
http://www.stenhouse.com/storefront/detail.asp?product_id=0378

STRATEGIC THINKING: Reading and Responding, Grades 4-8
Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis
4 30-min. VHS tapes * Available in April * $395.00
Observe how students in one middle school language arts classroom
practice two key comprehension strategies: inferring and
determining importance.
http://www.stenhouse.com/storefront/detail.asp?product_id=0370

BECOMING ONE COMMUNITY: Reading and Writing with English Language Learners
Kathleen Fay and Suzanne Whaley
176 (est.) pp/paper * Available in April * $18.50
Teachers whose classes include English language learners and ELL
teachers working in general classrooms will find plenty of ideas
for reading and writing instruction in a diverse setting.
http://www.stenhouse.com/storefront/detail.asp?product_id=0368

WORD SAVVY: Integrating Vocabulary, Spelling, and Word Study, Grades 3-6
Max Brand * 256 (est.) pp/paper * Available in May * $22.50
Fully integrate word learning into your literacy workshops with
this practical resource; includes over 30 sample lessons.
http://www.stenhouse.com/storefront/detail.asp?product_id=0366

CHOICE WORDS: How Our Language Affects Children's Learning
Peter H. Johnston
88 (est) pp/paper * Available in June * $11.00
Grounded in a study by accomplished literacy teachers, this book
demonstrates how teachers' language helps children acquire
literacy skills and shapes their view of the world.
http://www.stenhouse.com/storefront/detail.asp?product_id=0389

----------------------------------------------------------------
2) PD Corner: Teaching reading in the content areas
----------------------------------------------------------------
*February Quote of the Month*

"Dreams sometimes do come true. But not without something that
looks a lot like hard work."
-- Sylvia Ashton Warner

This article from Principal Leadership (National Association of
Secondary School Principals) summarizes the "hard work" that's
most effective when it comes to professional development in
adolescent reading strategies:

http://www.principals.org/publications/pl/pl_going_for_broke_1103.cfm

Two new Stenhouse publications by Cris Tovani take on the
challenge of teaching reading in the content areas. In the book
DO I REALLY HAVE TO TEACH READING? Cris presents stories and
teaching strategies from her last four years of work with
teachers at her high school in Aurora, Colorado. You can review
the entire book on-line:

http://www.stenhouse.com/storefront/detail.asp?product_id=0376

The companion videotape series COMPREHENDING CONTENT provides
classroom portraits of Cris at work with students and colleagues.
The texts used range from novels to math problems to history
textbooks. Follow this link for a free downloadable copy of the
Viewing Guide:

http://www.stenhouse.com/storefront/detail.asp?product_id=0375

Both the book and video are available now!

----------------------------------------------------------------
3) Be heart smart on February 14th
----------------------------------------------------------------
Many schools do something with a mail/letters/post office theme
this time of year because of Valentine's Day. For a more
meaningful and ongoing way to connect mail exchange and learning,
check out the Epals on-line community where you can establish
relationships with classroom pen pals around the world:

http://www.epals.com/about/info/

If the Valentine's Day student swapping of cards every year isn't
your favorite event, you might enjoy one parent's voice of
dissent. In "Who Gets 10,000 Valentines Too Many?" British
expatriate Moira Redmond rants about the sheer volume of
Valentine's cards in schools:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2061678

----------------------------------------------------------------
4) New Study Guide for THINKING THROUGH GENRE is now available
----------------------------------------------------------------
We've just posted a brand new study guide for the book THINKING
THROUGH GENRE: Units of Study in Reading and Writing Workshops 4-
12. The free Guide includes discussion questions, PD workshop
activities, and guidelines for a full genre study. To access the
guide and learn more about the book, visit:

http://www.stenhouse.com/storefront/detail.asp?product_id=0352
(Click on the "Study Guide" link at the beginning of the book description.)

----------------------------------------------------------------
5) Don't forget about the Educator Expense Deduction
----------------------------------------------------------------
As we enter the thick of tax season, be sure to take advantage of
the Educator Expense Reduction which allows educators to subtract
up to $250 of qualified classroom expenses when figuring their
adjusted gross income (AGI) for 2003. This deduction is available
whether or not deductions are itemized. Here's a summary from
NEA:

http://www.nea.org/members/taxdeduction.html

For more details, go directly to the IRS:

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc458.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe to Stenhouse Newslinks, please send an e-mail with
your request to newsletter@stenhouse.com or visit our Web site at
http://www.stenhouse.com.

Stenhouse respects your privacy, and we never share e-mail
addresses with anyone. If you no longer wish to receive e-mail
communications from us, just forward this message to
unsubscribe@stenhouse.com.

Stenhouse Publishers
477 Congress Street, Suite 4B
Portland, ME 04101-3451
Tel (800) 988-9812
Fax (800) 833-9164
http://www.stenhouse.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c) 2004 Stenhouse Publishers
++++++++++++

Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 11:25:31 -0800
From: Lori Jackson <ljackson@gwtc.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Books

Amazing choices, given the climate. I haven't read Garan's book, but it
is heavily recommended. Let me know what you think.

Lori
+++++++++++

From: "Martha Hitzel" <mehitzel@cox.net>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] Looking for suggestions for training videos
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 11:30:29 -0700

Think Nonfiction! By Anne Goudvis and Stephanie Harvey. It is
excellent!
Martha/4/5/az
++++++++++

Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 10:44:06 -0800
From: Katharine Klevinskas <katha@syix.com>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] research based reading programs

I have Gerry Coles' book, Misreading Reading; The Bad Science That Hurts
Children . (pub 2000) Like Reading the Naked Truth: Literacy,Legislation,
and Lies, he 'examines the studies of leading researchers who have
testified in various hearing and promoted policy and legislation on behalf
of skills-emphasis learning, especially those financed by the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)." And, of course,
NCLB.

It's a clearly writen critique of the 'evidence' that has moved us into
lock step phonic programs. I found it very interesting.

Katharine
++++++++++

From: "Don or Wendy Howk" <dhowk@satx.rr.com>
Subject: RE: [mosaic] schedules
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 14:08:22 -0600

I teach self-contained 3rd grade in Texas. I am responsible for =
teaching all subject areas to my students, other than specials. I am =
also responsible for planning, although the grade level team gets =
together once a week after school to plan for the following week. We =
have tried having different people plan each subject area and sharing =
plans, it did not work well for us (we have 10 teachers on our team - =
all good teachers, but very different teaching styles). We were wasting =
time & paper - it works better for us to verbally share ideas and then =
we plan on our own or with one or two other people. =20
I am an inclusion classroom, so I have 3 "special education" students in =
my class all day (autistic, learning disabled, emotionally disturbed). =
Special education teachers and assistants come into my classroom to =
provide support for the students and myself - I have approximately 2-2 =
1/2 hours of support provided daily. I've done this for 4 years now, =
and it works very well!
I still have students pulled out for speech and reading support during =
the day, it is my responsibility to make sure the students to not get =
behind on schoolwork missed when they are pulled out. =20
We have recommended amounts of time for subjects (ie. 75-90 minutes for =
Math), but have been given the professional courtesy to design a =
schedule that works for our classroom. =20

7:45-8:10 Student do morning jobs, complete daily agenda, =
announcements,=20
morning work (DOL or Math4Today), begin Writer's =
notebook
8:10-9:00 Writing Mini Lesson
Writers' Workshop
Sharing time
9:00-9:50 Specials (Art, Spanish, Music, PE)
9:50-10:10 Teacher Read Aloud/Snacktime
10:10-10:30 Working with Words block (spelling/phonics type lessons)
10:30-11:15 Science/Social Studies - rotated on 2-4 week units
11:15-12:05 Reading - May be whole group or Guided Reading groups
When possible I combine my Science/Social =
Studies with=20
Reading and integrate subject matter - not =
always possible though
12:10-12:40 Lunch
12:45-1:40 Math
1:40-1:55 Recess
2:00-2:30 Self-Selected Reading (Two days a week I am pulling a =
"RAP"=20
group at this time, which is for below level =
readers)
2:30-2:45 Pack to go home, end of day jobs, children share out about =
their=20
reading

I have been playing with combining the Self-selected reading into my =
earlier reading time -- letting the kids read on their own while I pull =
reading groups. Unfortunately I don't get to meet with individuals if I =
do this... so I'm still working on the legistics of it all.

Wendy
3rd, TX
++++++++++

From: "Joanne" <jstano@wadsnet.com>
Subject: [mosaic] Finding Debbie Miller
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 15:21:20 -0500

Is there a site I can go to see her speaking schedule? Also my principal is
concidearing having her speak in our distrct but does not know where to go
to see if this is a possibility. I would love to go to IRA in Nevada but
during the school year makes it hard to travel that far for a day or two.
Joanne/2nd/Ohio
++++++++++

Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 13:26:38 -0700
Subject: Re: [mosaic] schedules
From: Kris Peterson <kpeters@amug.org>

On Sunday, February 8, 2004, at 01:08 PM, Don or Wendy Howk wrote:

> I teach self-contained 3rd grade in Texas.=A0 I am responsible for
> teaching all subject areas to my students, other than specials.

I am wondering if anyone teaching 7/8th grade has a schedule they
follow for Language arts. In 1hour 20 min., I am finding it difficult
to get everything in in any depth.
++++++++++++

Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 15:59:58 -0500
From: "PJ Morrow" <pmorrow@spart7.k12.sc.us>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] comprehension building objective

Patty, I've been studying a similar problem. We've been rigorously
teaching our fourth, fifth and 6th grade students 4 comprehension
strategies - predicting, self-questioning, clarifying, and summarizing;
and I'd like to find some way to measure their progress, hopefully
before we hit PACT in the spring. I've been searching the literature,
reading studies on comprehension strategies such as reciprocal teaching,
the strategy of self-questioning in particular. What I keep noticing in
the results and reviews of these studies is that while students'
comprehension usually, but not always, seemed to improve on standardized
tests of comprehension, their (improvement) scores on "investigator
designed assessments" were usually significantly higher than on
standardized measures. Now what I would like to find out, is what some
of those "investigator designed assessments" looked like and exactly how
they went about designing them. Please keep us posted on what you find
to pre and post your students.
PJ
++++++++++

Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 16:24:00 -0500
From: "PJ Morrow" <pmorrow@spart7.k12.sc.us>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] classroom schedules

Beth, classroom scheduling is a sore spot with me big time - the rest of
you can shut my window now if you want - I'm about to spout flame!!!

How can an intermediate teacher be castigated for not raising her
students' language arts standardized test scores when she has roughly 15
minutes of uninterrupted time a day? How can sixth grade teachers be
pointed out for having the poorest ELA standardized test scores in the
building when they have the most pull outs and the most mandated special
topics to teach, AND they are expected to upgrade student technology
skills so that the kids are prepared for the specifications of the
junior high school teachers?

My fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teachers are interrupted twice a week
for 40 minutes of PE and 40 minutes of music, and once a week for 50
minutes of art. Resource children are out of the room for another hour
each day, speech children for 30 minutes more, 2-3 times a week. Fourth
graders also have 50 minutes of French twice a week, some fifth & sixth
graders leave the classroom for another 40 minutes of French and/or band
or strings twice a week. If these schedules could possibly be
co-ordinated so as to give grade level teachers common planning and/or
study group time, all of the instructional interruptions would at least
serve some practical purpose. Unfortunately many of these "extras" are
wrapped around the schedules of traveling teachers, whose comings and
goings haven't really been coordinated by anybody for any particular
good reasons that I can fathom. And so there is barely one common 40
minute planning time per grade level per week. How one can accomplish
serious communal, integrated planning on such a schedule I don't know.

In other words, to support the state academic standards for ELA, Math,
Science and Social Studies, in the limited time we have with our
students daily, we are going to have to teach reading and writing using
social studies and science content. To this end, our school district
has begun to try to develop integrated ELA/Social studies units so that
we teach literacy with our Social studies content. This may be the way
to go, but we haven't been doing it long enough with enough teachers to
see what the effect will be on our students' reading, and ultimately, on
their standardized reading scores in the spring.
Thanks for letting me sound off!
PJ
+++++++++

From: RR1981@aol.com
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 16:37:00 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] classroom schedules

PJ,

I am a new teacher so my experience is limited. That said, when I did my
student teaching I had an interesting expereince. I taught 6th grade
students in
a lab school on a univeristy campus. I had 10 students, no one was below
grade level. In fact most of the class read at a high school level. They
routinely had two specials a day. We didn't worry about standardized tests
and
there was no set curriculum. The only text book we had was Math.

Yet we were able to get real learning done each and every day. It just
amazes me that I can't seem to accomplish that now. I have 15 students in
the
fourth grade, yet only one or two read on grade level. I am required to
teach a
standard course of study, that I barely understand. There is little to no
grade level planning. Our grade level meetings are more groan and moan
sessions.
This really does not help me as a new teacher.

My students are pulled for SL resource, and for chorus. Also, many of them
go out for small group instruction during the day, missing everything that
is
going on while they are gone. It is so frustrating.

Rosie
+++++++++++

Subject: RE: [mosaic] Finding Debbie Miller
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 16:45:58 -0500
From: "Darsey, Suzanne" <SDarsey@hcbe.net>

Debbie Miller is coming to Warner Robins, GA this summer. We are
hosting a Reading and Writing Institute. This year the focus is on
reading. Debbie Miller and a host of other wonderful speakers will be
here. This is June 16 and 17th. =20

"Nothing improves a child's hearing more than praise!"
Suzanne D. Darsey
Instructional Coordinator
Morningside Elementary
478-988-6263
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Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 16:54:53 -0500
From: "PJ Morrow" <pmorrow@spart7.k12.sc.us>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] Looking for suggestions for training videos

I agree with the recommendations for Sharon Taberski's videos, we loved
them. Also for the videos that go with Strategies that Work and Happy
Reading from Debbie Miller. Personally, I LOVED the Fletcher Portalupi
writing videos, and have watched them several times, learning more with
each view. But I have shared them with the faculties of 3 different
schools, and the results were terrible. The title school folks watched
them, one a month at a faculty workshop on Writing Workshop (we were
also reading the book) but were bored, and discussion was lethargic.
The other two schools had a lukewarm reaction to video one, and some
heated discussions afterward, although they said they were interested in
learning more about writing workshop. The next month they yawned
through the beginning of video two, and asked me to stop about midway.
They were emphatic about not wanting to see the other videos, said they
were "boring and irrelevant to the kind of children they had to teach."
Has anyone else had this reaction?
PJ
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From: "Anne Blake" <anneb4534@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [mosaic] classroom schedules/Social Studies
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 16:42:05 -0600

To this end, our school district
has begun to try to develop integrated ELA/Social studies units so that
we teach literacy with our Social studies content.

I think I must be the only person in the world who has a problem with
integrating Social Studies into the Reading curriculum. I do not like the
fact that I am tied to certain subjects when I am choosing texts for my
students to read. (It does not help that I teach 4th grade in Texas and
that curriculum is Texas history. Try finding well written literature on
that topic!) There are so many good things that I would be throwing out to
accommodate such an integration and that makes me nervous.
+++++++++++

From: RR1981@aol.com
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 17:50:09 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] classroom schedules/Social Studies

In a message dated 2/8/2004 5:42:53 PM Eastern Standard Time,
anneb4534@earthlink.net writes:
I do not like the
fact that I am tied to certain subjects when I am choosing texts for my
Students to read. (It does not help that I teach 4th grade in Texas and
that curriculum is Texas history. Try finding well written literature on
that topic!) There are so many good things that I would be throwing out to
accommodate such an integration and that makes me nervous.
I teach fourth grade in NC. NC history is our social studies curriculum.
Ugh, I have onlylived here 18 months and no very little about NC history.

Rosie
++++++++++

From: Klbgarcia@aol.com
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 18:46:05 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] classroom schedules/Social Studies

In SC our SS curriculum is to teach early exploration through the Civil War,
stopping at just before Reconstruction. This is A LOT for fourth graders to
grasp! We integrate literature into the curriculum, however it still is
difficult to teach everything that is required. I integrate SS into guided
reading
groups and whole class instruction and also use some during the content
time.

My schedule is
7:35 - 7:55 SSR
7:55 - 8:35 Differentiated groups (I have about 19 students to work with
during this time) while the resource, GATE and reading
students (small groups of about 5 students in the group who
scored below basic on the PACT) leave
8:40 - 9:20 Special Area
9:25 - 9:35 break (RR)
9:35 - 10:20 Whole class instruction for reading
10:25 - 11:20 Writing
11:20 - 12:05 Math
12:06 - 12:26 Lunch (groups use restroom during lunch time)
12:35 - 1:10 Social Sciences
1:10 - 1:30 Recess
1:35 - 2:05 Social Sciences
2:10 Pack up to go home
2:20 Leave for the day

I feel very fortunate that my administrator considered the uninterrupted
time
we needed for our reading/language arts blocks of time. The special ed
classes (including the GATE) have been blocked for the same time as the flex
groups
for 3 - 5 grade. I am not certain what it is like for K - 2. I know that
our reading specialists work with each grade level.

Karen, 4th SC
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From: SKosmoski@aol.com
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 18:55:09 EST
Subject: Re: [mosaic] research based reading programs

Cathy--
Look on your state DOE website. The Florida approved programs are listed on
our site.
Mary Anne
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From: "Cheryl Turner" <cmorgan7@cinci.rr.com>
Subject: [mosaic] Writing Traits CD
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 19:10:30 -0500

The new Writing Traits by Miles & Tanny McGregor is excellent! I have all of
their CD's & I don't know who enjoys them more...me or the students! (The
McGregor's should be nominated for an Educational Grammy!)
Cheryl Turner
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