Week 4 Assignment

Dear Participants:

We are beginning the second half of our training sessions!! Before going on to tell you about this week’s assignments, I would very much like to congratulate you on your work.
I have just spent several hours reading your posts and your comments to each other. They are truly amazing! Can you see the changes? I am particularly heartened by your inclusion of ideas and strategies in your lessons and units – and your sharing of the results with us!! These last three weeks should be so much easier now that we are masters at navigating the blogs and so much richer as we continue to increase our participation and sharing of ideas and strategies. I particularly like our readings and topics for this week. They are literacy, of course, but I keep thinking of the math teachers’ complaints regarding word problems – just think what think-alouds and cued think-alouds might do for them!

Once again, the two chapters I have selected from our texts share a continuum in student awareness and skill. I found myself thinking, as I read about the Youngest Learner that much of the information here is even helpful for older students (past 3rd grade and on). I won’t ruin the chapters by discussing them here. But look at these simple texts and project them forward. Can you see applications?

Online Training 02/18/09 — 02/24/09 Week 4
Texts: Think-Alouds and Youngest Learner

Reading Assignments

Youngest Learner: Chapter 8, "The Writing Center," pp. 141–159.
Pay special attention to “Scaffolded Writing,” pp. 153 – 54.

Think-Alouds: Chapter 3, "Author’s Craft, Reader’s Role,” pp. 67 – 92.
Pay special attention to the “Rules of Notice,” p. 80 and to the ongoing list of reading strategies.

Prompt: Some of you may already do “Cued Think-Alouds.” For some of you, this may be a new idea. Include one in your classroom activities for the following week. As an extra challenge, particularly if you have already done something like this, what about attempting to use this strategy in one of the content areas? Don’t forget to model and scaffold. What would be the “Rules of Notice” for math? For science?

Even very young children need exposure to different genres, yet we often use stories as the basis of reading instruction. If you try the extra challenge, share your “Rules of Notice” for the content areas with us.

Just a comment: Did you notice the beginnings of the graphic organizer concept in Youngest Learner? I love the way we humans integrate and transform our knowledge throughout our lives.

I look forward to your posts and comments. And I thank you for your generosity. Your suggestions and praise for your colleagues are appreciated.

See you in the blogs!

Vicky