Theoretical Discussions

 



Tina, Heather, and I discussed the two articles for our theoretical groups. We all seemed to agree that we liked the Duffy/Hoffman article the most. We all agreed with the premise of the article; there is no one silver bullet for teaching all kids to read. Tina spoke to the fact that sometimes when teachers are made to teach a certain way or a strict curriculum, that they will miss some teachable moments. This is especially critical in grades prek-2. I shared that I really liked that the authors used the word “eclectic” to describe teachers that do the right thing in the right way at the right time. I think it was Heather that made the point being willing to try different methods didn’t mean that anything goes. We all liked that part of the article and discussed how it’s more of a toolbox that teachers have. Good teachers have a lot of tools in their toolbox and know when to use the appropriate tool for each child. I am glad the authors brought out the point that sometimes we research the either/or approach too much. Why do we always need to design research that tests method A against method B. Why can we not design more elaborate studies that test both when used together in an eclectic manner? We also discussed how it is important for teacher education to be ongoing to keep the intellectual ferment bubbling up.

Even though I stated I enjoyed the Duffy article more, the Fitzgerald article was an interesting read. There is a lot of confusion about what constitutes “Balanced Literacy”. Our group felt that the author did a good job of explaining some different philosophies of balanced literacy. We discussed how BES is very much on the path of fitting Cunningham’s definition of balanced. We are doing guided reading, we have lots of self select reading time, and this year we will incorporate writer’s workshop and words their way into our curriculum. We discussed that the article began to drag a little on the idea of balanced literacy is a set of beliefs. Almost all things can be boiled down to a set of beliefs. We all liked the part about the local, global, love of reading and how to best incorporate that into lessons.