[Understand] Mostly Chapter 4

[write at att.net]

I've tried to send this message more than once.  I'm sorry if several different versions come through.


Yes, Jennifer, what the reader brings to the text is important.  I'm not a fan of Van Gogh, but I love Edward Hopper.  All through chapter 4 I was stuck on what seemed to me to be a negative catergorization of Hopper's art. 

I also felt that I wanted more information about the kindergartener Kevin.  I wrote in my previous message (far below)

> The example of the kindergartener,  Kevin, a few pages later was more 
> satisfying for me.  I LOVED that  kid.  I wanted more insight into how Kevin was 
> taught to investigate so  deeply.

and in my book I wrote that Kevin taught himself how to work so hard and think so deeply.

I am also wondering if what works with elementary students might not work with middle school students.  Are there any middle school (grades 6 - 8) teachers on this list?  On page 77 I had a question about the teacher who responded to a student by saying, "I know you don't know."  In my class, that statement would cause uproar.  I would be accused of calling someone stupid.  Can you really say that in your classes?
Jan


  -------------- Original message from CNJPALMER at aol.com: --------------


>  
> Jan
> Well, here we have another example of how important it is to think about  
what the reader brings to the text.  I loved the Van Gogh example because  to 
> me, 
> the painting itself WAS the thinking...visual representations of his  
> attempts to make sense of his world. I saw it as a way to try to work through or  
around his illness. I connected it to the journal I keep or the emails I send  
> to 
> colleagues (Like on the mosaic listserv)  The process of writing  helps me to 
> understand. For Van Gogh, maybe it is the process of painting that  helped 
> him to make sense.
>  
> I loved the Kevin example too, but it left me with a lot more questions.  How 
> did he really make that much meaning as a kindergartener from this very  
> difficult text? Was it the process of creating his model that he made sense of  
> it? Was he a reader at all? What or how much did he actually read and how much  
> came from schema and reasoning it through? This was the one place in the 
> entire  book that I felt needed more detail, more investigation, more 
> explanation.
>  
> Do you think he was taught to investigate this way? Surely his class was  set 
> up for that and probably his teacher modeled...but I bet that a lot of  it 
> was the natural curiousity of the very young...
>  
> Your students may have giggled and rolled their eyes, but I would keep it  
> up. You probably made them feel  uncomfortable because they don't yet  see 
> themselves as scholars. I bet you, with time, they'll get there.
> I am still working on this too. Let's talk about this some more during the  
> school year...I didn't have too much time to try much before the school year  
> ended...
> Jennifer 
>  

=================================================================================

> n a message dated 7/17/2008 11:39:57 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
> write at att.net writes:
> 
> Yes!  There is a great sense of pride that comes from working  through 
> something difficult.
> 
> I'm going to share some more of my  struggles with To Understand right now. :)
> 
> Tell me what you all make of  the information about Van Gogh on page 48 that 
> says, "He became a blind  painting machine... He no longer thought about his 
> painting."  
> 
> I  felt as if the example of Van Gogh was counterproductive.  I wanted to  
> hear about a painter who did think about his painting.  Van Gogh  struggled, but 
> I got the idea from To Understand that he struggled due to his  mental 
> illness.  I wanted a clear cut example of someone who struggled to  understand 
> and 
> think and try again.
> 
> The example of the kindergartener,  Kevin, a few pages later was more 
> satisfying for me.  I LOVED that  kid.  I wanted more insight into how Kevin was 
> taught to investigate so  deeply.  
> 
> What have you all done to help students learn to look  deeply and work to 
> understand what interests them?  I teach 8th grade,  and when I shared my 
> enthusiasm with my students last year about half of them  rolled their eyes or 
> giggled.  Whew!  That was hard on  me.
> Jan
>