Hi Sheila,
We were discussing reading and debating whether it was necessary to read
every single word.
SK>I suppose kindergarten, and possibly even first grade, are not times to
  >nitpick. By third grade, in some contexts, it is long overdue IMO to
  >stress reading for accuracy. It should be part of the curriculum for the
  >teacher to introduce meaningful reading assignments in which the
  >importance of accurate reading is clear to the students.
Aaah - but you see when I talk about teaching reading I am not talking
of third grade I am talking of kindergarten and grade one and spilling
over into grade two. By the time a student gets into grade three they
should be ready for a more structured approach to certain curricula
items. That matches Piaget's theories....we develop from concrete
learners into more abstract learners - though we seem often to need
these stages when we learn something new as well.
SK>-> I think this also lets the children know that we make mistakes too
  >-> and encourages them to be risk takers.
  >->
  >-> Well what do you think?
SK>Obviously we all make mistakes, and we should let the students know
  >this. I think that has nothing to do with teaching accuracy in reading.
  >That's another topic altogether.
But helping the children to take risks also helps then to experiment in
their reading strategies, etc.
  >same software. It is really exciting to see even some of the old fossils
  >in our department, who are extremely reluctant to have anything to do
  >with computers, being successful and learning to use them.
We are very lucky that we have a whole department/division in our board
that deals with computer education for teachers and also in helping with
the computer set up/repair etc. They ran some workshops this summer on
using the internet, etc. Unfortunately, the workshops happened to be at
the same time as my Math one - which ran the whole week (mornings only)
and I therefore didn't want to miss any of it.
SK>-> Tomorrow in Math we are integrating Science and Technology - we were
  >-> told to wear old clothes - can hardly wait!
SK>Good luck. Hope you have fun, learn lots, and feel like you've
  >accomplished something and prepared yourself for the students!
Well, they told us to wear old clothes but I didn't find it really
necessary I didn't get more than a speck of sawdust on me. We were given
a great binder each on Science Math and Real Technology. I haven't
unwrapped the plastic yet... I was given the gr 4-6 binder as I was
taking the junior division option. However, I really want to teach
younger grades so would have loved the younger binder.  I will
probably take a peek once I start teaching again.
Have to take a peek also at the In Service sheets at the schools and see
what is coming up that I can get to. Can't go in the daytime, of course,
as I'd have to miss a day's work. I'm looking forward to the day that I
get a contract and can go to a workshop and get paid for it.
Actually we do get one paid one a year but it's specifically for Subs.
Bye for now--------Ruth
SK>Sheila
SK>--- PCBoard (R) v15.22/M 10
SK>
--- PCBoard (R) v15.3 (OS/2) 5 Beta
---------------