Chapters One and Two

"First Reader," on page3, was also included in the first edition of
MOT. It captured my imagination because, like all of us 50-
somethings, Dick and Jane were the characters I learned to read with
in my first readers. I have one of these readers, and looking at it
transforms me back to that time, the days of Ozzie and Lucy and
Lassie, that seemed so much easier than today (but of course I was
five years old and we didn't have t.v. to let us know of all the
horrible happenings around the world instantly. I was learning to
read phonetically, and I liked it no more then than I do now…simply
because that is not the way I learned to read…phonics slowed my down.
If I had been taught the thinking skills I would have been like a
duck with water (fortunately, I lived in a home that encouraged
critical thinking and lots of reading…so I did learn to read).

Looking at Chapters 1 and 2, the insights I gained were (This is hard
because I have reading and rereading this book for about 7 years…I am
having trouble thinking of what I have learned that is new from this
book, this time around.): One insight included another idea that we
discussed in our ESL training last week. It is found at the beginning
of the first full paragraph on page 35. It is the idea that many
times a student is capable of deep thinking, but is unable to
articulate his thinking. I think that is what emphasis on the
development of oral language is so important for children today. We
need to (all the way to 12th grade) read aloud and discuss good
literature. I watched Ellin Keene do this last year, and it made me
realize how much good thinking work you can do with what seems like a
simple picture book. The secret is looking for the best books to read…
books that have life themes in them…books with meat in them.

When I first read this book I felt a lot of dissonance. By now, I
have formed new schema in my brain, and so I wasn't surprised by too
much in MOT. I suppose the whole idea of more time to read and more
time to talk (pages 38-41) disturbs me because, as we are all aware,
there is little time in our days for anything. That being said, I can
see how carving time out for reading and talking are going to be the
two uses of time that will give great gifts to us and to our
students. This is what is going to change all of the teaching and
learning in our school (math, science…all of it). That's why I have
wanted to study this book with all of you. My hope is that we can get
started on this…that we can have a support group…and that we can have
accountability to a group. That will change the quality of our work
more than anything.

There are two things that have surprised me, but they do not have to
do with reading this book. One, is how easy the whole thing was when
I observed Ellen Keene conduct a group's work on a thinking strategy.
After seeing that, I know that the hardest things to do (for me) is
going to be allotting time for our work and finding the best books to
work with. Also, I have been surprised at how much studying these
strategies has helped my own reading and thinking.

The authors have included a lot more practical information in this
edition of MOT (like the chronology of strategy instruction on page
34). This has made this book more helpful and user-friendly to me.

I marked a lot of the text, but I put exclamation marks beside the
2nd paragraph on page 29, and this sentence: "Kids who think well
test well." I fully believe that if we can implement these thinking
strategies in our school, our children would have no trouble with the
TAKS. That said, I know that it is an up-hill journey…lots of work…
but, hey, we're working hard already…I think we would get a lot
of "bang for our buck" with this…this is what I have been looking for
30 years!

Next Monday, we'll discuss Chapter 3. I hope to "see you" then.