Reflecting on Chapter 3: What We Know About Collaboration (pp. 36-54)

[Kristin Fontichiaro]

Add your thoughts and ideas here. Or start a new discussion topic!

[Mary J. Johnson]

Never having been a reading teacher, I would like to read the reactions of more experienced reading teachers to the following comment made on page 34:

"For too many years, kids have been asked to do a laundry list of activities when they finish reading books. You know the ones--dioramas, shadow boxes, paper bag puppets, word jumbles, and the ubiquitous book reports. None of this busywork gives us any indication of what the reader learned or understood. Nor do these activities challenge readers to think about what they are learning, synthesize the information, or ask more questions."

Do you agree with this criticism of typical activities? Is there a way in which such activities can be enhanced to assess comprehension? Are you aware of more effective alternative activities that do focus on comprehension? I'm thinking that if these supposedly ineffective activities were eliminated, there would be more time for actual reading!

[Kristin Fontichiaro]

This is fading, but I still see it sometimes. Mike Schmoker calls this the Crayola Curriculum:

http://mikeschmoker.com/crayola-curriculum.html

Some elementary educators still see learning through a lens of "cute." Those projects above are all soooo cute, right!?!

[Beth Friese]

I'm with everyone about avoiding cute but empty activities - also the importance of just reading. At the same time, response to literature (originally taken from the work of Louise Rosenblatt) can be powerful, and I can imagine puppetry or maybe purposeful dioramas/shadowboxes being a part of it.

I think "purposeful" is the key, not just busywork or cute activities. Like you said, it's about comprehension. So drama/puppetry or reader's theater can be used to demonstrate deeper understanding of text. A shadowbox of objects or artifacts that represent a character can add new dimensions to texts, especially if a student has to explain the reasoning for their choices (anchored in the text and their personal experience of it) orally. I just bookmarked Museum Box as a site to try out for this kind of work.

So there is a line between busywork and purposeful response to literature. I think what differentiates these activities is our understanding of why we are doing them, and asking students to accompany creative activities with real thinking and expressions of their literacies (as in meaning-making). Doing a coloring sheet or a garden-variety book report is very often wasted time - but meaningful writing and thinking and creating go hand in hand with deep comprehension and reading/literacy growth. At the same time, as Krashen says, there has to be ample time for light reading too, without necessarily producing anything as a result. Just reading.

[Mary J. Johnson]

In my middle school several years ago, every teacher was required to teach reading for about 1/2 hour a day. I'm a huge advocate of Krashen's ideas about free and voluntary reading, but my school turned this idea into a punishment, both for kids and teachers. Without proper training and leadership, some of the teachers probably did more harm than good. Some turned to cute activities just to survive as well as to prove that they were "teaching" reading. If I could have had the entire school reading for pleasure in the library, I think it would have been more effective.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on reading instruction, everyone. I'm still interested in hearing your ideas about teaching/assessing comprehension. What is happening in your schools?

[Joan Upell]

"The more you read, the better you read. it is that simple" p. 34

Voluntary Free Reading or Free Voluntary Reading (or many other variations) - check out Readicide by Kelly Gallagher and the Power of Reading by Stephen Krasen. It's not always what is being asked of students; it's how and how much. They need time to just read!

[Susan E]

Joan,

And "the more you read, the better you spell!" to change that quote. :)

I always thought spelling instruction was a waste of time growing up.
Just spend that 20-30 minutes on free reading.
Reading correct words helps you internalize correct spelling.
(Ahhh....what do we do about those darned Junie B Jones and Captain Underpants books? hee hee)

[Susan E]

I liked Chapter 3's techniques. I NEVER had a teacher use these techniques growing up. I was always just thrown into a group, no ground rules, no going over what not to say / how to contribute meaningfully. I guess that's why I hated, and still hate, group work! Teachers and college professors just assumed we each knew how to assign equal roles, when all the time, I would take on most of the work for myself because the other students weren't up to my "standards." I'm anxious to read more about how Harvey Daniels assesses work in a small group situation.

On p. 50, the authors stress the idea of allowing a little "social lubrication" time - off task behavior necessary "for the smooth functioning of small group work." I was glad to hear this, it makes sense and it's something I'd like to be more aware of when my kids work together. But I don't think I'd share it with the kids...just imagine..."Mrs. E, we're just chatting now so we can work better together!" :)

[Sharon Hermann]

I thought of this concept today as third graders in our library worked in small groups. There was a good bit of maintenance activity at first. Having read this chapter, I found I was much more understanding of it. With the limited amount of time that our students have for a library visit, around 30 minutes, I'm not sure I can build in an official "maintenance topic" as described on page 51, but it is an intriguing idea and one I may try. I think it would be fun to develop opinion questions that relate to the curriculum -- develop thinking and communication skills while enabling socialization. Hmmm . . . . I just wonder how easy it would be to transition into the task afterward?