Collaborative+Group+11

Hi Group 11. Thought I would have a go at setting up this page in case anyone has anything to offer at this stage. Had some trouble working out which task we are supposed to collaborate on. From looking at the other groups it seems to be the Kohn reading task. All a bit confusing. Will try to add something useful here soon to get us started. Not sure if I should post here or in discussions so have posted in both. Happy for someone to edit in the right spot. Cheers Monica.

Kohn (2000) The Case for: This school uses a whole language approach to literacy. What this means for your child is that we want to facilitate their learning in the many ways we communicate. Literacy is communication in the form of speaking, listening, reading and writing. Your child will be encouraged to explore books and written material that has meaning and provokes interest, fascination, enjoyment and wonder to them. Your child will begin to write stories without the focus being on the spelling and of correct punctuation etc, but for the opportunity to communicate in the written form and them further express themselves through reading and/or retelling to the class. This method encourages children to learn to read by reading and to learn to write by writing. Phonics, spelling and grammar will be learned as part of the literacy program that encourages a love of reading first and foremost with strategies to decode and refine taught in context and as part of the process. Monica

__Hi Monica,__ Kristy has joined but Mary and jayne have not. I will email them both to try and get them started. Sue

Hi Monica, Sorry it has taken so long, I have managed to log on to wiki but still very new at this and trying to work out what to do. Thank you for this posting you did a really good job. I did a posting on Kohn before I went into surgery on the 8/3/09 in our collaborative group 11 discusion area through the normal mylo discussion board because I didn't realise it had to be done in this space. If I manage to do it, would you like see if any of the material can be used as well or not. I am just trying to work out how to transfer that information to this space without typing it all over again. So here goes.

Hi everyone in group 11,

Just a short note to let you all know that on Tuesday I am going into hospital for surgery on my shoulder, so I may not be able to take part in the discussions immediately. With this in mind I thought I would post my ideas to start the discussion. Hopefully I’m on the right track as my brain is a little stressed at the moment.

Perspective 1- agree with kohn’s position.

The school’s position on literacy is based on teaching a balanced approach that helps our students “acquire the skills that can be used for decoding in context and for a purpose”. (Kohn, Getting the 3 R’s right. Ch9 pg. 166). Classroom budgets are spent on buying materials that children can relate to (pg.162) while having the opportunity to choose their own books that can be read to and with one another. Although phonics needs to be taught, it doesn’t need to be done in “drill n’ skill techniques or in any explicit order to be picked up (pg. 160). Decoding skills are learnt through using a broader array of strategies (pg. 161) in our whole language classrooms. We teach children to “read for meaning, make sense of stories and ideas by encouraging them to communicate through reading and writing real stories (pg. 162).

Perspective 2 – disagree with Kohn’s perspective.

Teachers aren’t teaching children how to read and write these days because they think that children learn better “ through feel good, PC fads like whole language” (Kohn, pg. 159). “Studies show” that children need direct instruction in phonics instead of trying Kooky new techniques that individuals, sitting in their ivory towers ideologically decide they need.

YES I did it! Hey guys sorry about the excitement but this is a first for me. I hope I am on the right track for above information. Mary