Banyan Newsletter
November 20, 2009
Reading Workshop
Good Talkers Are Good Listeners: The Art of Conversation We have been discussing the way good talkers can also be good listeners. We charted what our listening minds and our listening bodies should be doing. Our listening bodies look at the speaker, nod and say “uh, huh.” Our listening minds think about what the speaker is saying, listen hard to understand and picture what the speaker is saying.
We learned about how many voices can be heard in a discussion but one at a time. We also focused on the skill of sticking to a topic. We looked at an issue of Time For Kids and picked one related topic that we all agreed to stick to. Then, we had a discussion and tried our best to make our comments stick directly to the topic. These are all vital skills for regular conversations but also for our discussions around books in small groups, whole groups and partnerships. Try some of these skills at home around the dinner table.
Writing
We also thought about what types of questions we ask each other when listeners want help understanding something: “Can you say more about that? Can you repeat that? Can you explain that differently?”
We used our blend and ABC charts to stretch out words when writing to increase our accuracy when spelling. We continued to use planning strategies and introduced writing partnerships. Writing partners help each other plan their writing work and they share what they have written.
“Turn and Talk” is a new strategy that we applied to our class discussions. Students learned to apply the above skills when talking to a partner about a book.
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