small group reading methods
Ilda Carreiro King (kingil who-is-at bc.edu)
Thu, 01 Apr 1999 19:52:51 -0500
Mike,
Along the lines of small group techniques, I am leery about stating an
opinion based on reading about it as it is not a substitute for seeing
the practices. I had read about Peer Assisted Reading Strategies by
Fuchs and Fuchs in one of the AERA journals and was excited by its
possibilities. So, a year ago I tried using some of the pair techniques
described with kids in classrooms and saw boosts in fluency and
comprehension. The teachers and i were so impressed that we sent away
for the manual and video from Vanderbilt to do it more systematically.
In this case, the video was a total turn off!!!! It came across as a
strict behavioral method- complete with ringing bells- in which I would
not engage. Yet when I read it and thought I was implementing it
correctly, I loved it!
I have since continued to train teachers in my version of the method -
which I thought was the same- and do not show them the video which is a
turn off. But then I struggle with "Am I implementing it faithful to
the way in which it was effective?"
No answers!
Ilda