"How do students become thoughtful, independent readers who deeply understand what they read?"

The authors of Mosaic of Thought, Strategies That Work, I Read It But I Don't Get It, Reading With Meaning, Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?, and Learning Along the Way have taught us how to model and explicitly teach the strategies students need to become more proficient readers.

The idea for this group was born out of the teachers taking the journey through this instructional paradigm. Wanting to jump right in and get started, but often feeling unsure and alone, we wanted a forum to share our questions, our joys, our successes, and our frustrations. Reading the book, Mosaic of Thought, (or any of the other books mentioned above) will strengthen your connection to our conversations.

Some of the most powerful emails have been when members reflect openly on the email group about their teaching. Being reflective “outloud” on the list is one way to grow professionally. Try taking the risk to tell us specifically what you are doing. Talk with us about how you feel the teaching went and what you plan to do next. When we share our own thinking (just like we are asking our students to do) we often move to a new level of clarity and understanding.

Here are the focus points we welcome discussion about:

• comprehension strategy instruction
• questions about implementation
• action research conducted by teachers based on experiences in strategy teaching
• reading workshop
• authentic assessment
• strategy instruction as it relates to high stakes testing
• professional reading suggestions/reflections to continue our learning process
• lesson write ups/book suggestions
• online book talks related to comprehension teaching

We are looking forward to an active, stimulating, and supportive discussion with you on these topics! Remember- no question is too simple to ask.

Membership is open to any teacher who wants to hear from others teaching reading comprehension this way. There are many excellent email groups for teachers, but ours specifically concentrates on helping students become strategic, thoughtful readers. It is our hope that we can stay true to our original intent and purposes.

Seek the support you need to be successful in this teaching. All can respond. No one is expert. Our strength is in our collective knowledge and experiences. From the positive feedback we've received, we know that the Mosaic Email Group has become a great support system to our members- helping them take their students much farther in their thinking.

We're looking forward to having you join us!

Ginger Weincek Mosaic Email Group Owner

Jennifer Palmer Mosaic Email Group Moderator

To send your thoughts/comments/questions to the group,
email: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org

Two other great reading sites we encourage you to visit are

• ReadingLady.com (click on COMPREHENSION on the left of her home page)
• Teaching is a Work of Heart (view her home page as well!)