Customer Reviews

Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Reader's Workshop

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Mosaic of Thought redefines teaching reading comprehension in a workshop approach. Teaching comprehension as a strategic process enables readers to make connections and move beyond literal recall. The simplistic nature of the teaching process and the realistic ideas from classroom teachers makes Mosaic a wonderful tool for any teacher. I could not put this book down, nor could I stop myself from recommending it to everyone I know! We started a book club at my school to immerse ourselves in Mosaic and apply the strategies in our teaching. It has been a very exciting process!

This book is the missing link that teachers have been looking for! This book fills that gap that has existed between teachers knowing what skills a student needs to comprehend the text and how we as teachers can teach those skills. In the past teaching reading comprehension seemed a mystery. Teachers would include all of the correct ingredients and hope that something would click in the students' minds and like magic they would comprehend. Well, this book finally tells us what that magic is. It is metacognition. And when you read this book, you will realize immediately its importance. It was like being hit by a bolt of lightning--that had me asking, "Of course! Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?" A bolt that has me glued to the pages. A bolt that has me running to school filled with enthusiasm and new ideas to try in the classroom. And these new techniques really work! A bolt that has me so excited that I can't stop talking about this book. A bolt that has me walking into the classroom with a new sense of confidence about my ability to teach reading. I am using the book and teaching meatacognition to elementary students. The rubrics at the back of the book are wonderful, too. Enjoy!

The style of this book is different than any I have read before. However, it has put into writing the ideas I have come to believe about the high-level processes involved in truly reading and learning to read. I have personally bought copies of this book for the six new teachers at my school and as a team, we are discussing and synthesizing all of the information shared in Mosaic. I CAN NOT explain the depth of the joy of teaching, feelings of empowerment as an advocate for student thinking, and enthusiasm for learning these young teachers are demonstrating since we began! Other teachers are so very curious; even our kindergarten students are responding with high level connections and thinking! As a parent of teenagers, I wish I had known the ideas shared in this book to have been able to develop the depth of thinking in my own children's reading as they have grown up. Teachers, student teachers, administrators, and parents--You should OWN this book and read it! You will not forget or regret it.

For years I have tried getting my students to be better readers by focusing on separated skills like main idea, characterization, and sequencing, but I have always been disappointed by how they failed to get into the deep structure of the text. Since reading Mosaic of Thought I have changed my approach and focused on what the authors learned about proficient readers. By using the book as a road map I am having students become aware of what they must do in order to become proficient readers. The authors delineate the key strategies that readers use and then through examples reveal how these strategies can be taught in a classroom setting. For teachers who are wanting to develop higher level thinking in their students this is the book!

I can't recall ever wanting to read a professional text more than once. I almost couldn't wait to finish the book so that I could read it again. I find myself using the strategies they discuss in my own reading and of course, in my student's. I plan to use this text as a handbook for reader's workshop in my class this year.

This is the first book I've found that does not concentrate mainly on primary readers. These strategies work for all grade levels! I taught 5th grade this year for the first time, moving up from primary grades. I needed different reading strategies for my more mature readers, and I wanted to know what kinds of questions to ask for assessment when they read on their own. This book supplies key ideas in the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy as well as a student interview with a rubric for evaluation. I checked it out of our professional library at school, and I am buying it so I can reread it and have it for my personal reference.

If you are a teacher and can only afford one professional book this year, this is the one! It is an easy read, yet offers one of the best set of guidelines I've ever seen for teaching students that greatly needed skill of interacting with text. You'll love the pieces of literature that start each chaper, the authors' personal anecdotes, and the very practical guidelines for teaching. I couldn't put it down and have probably sold 20 copies in two weeks for the publisher. I am a language arts coordinator for a large school district and see MANY professional books each year. This is the best in a long time.

But don't stop there. ALL teachers need to read this book. Provides the perfect explanation and strategies for teaching comprehension to upper level students. Fits perfectly with the new Utah State Core for English! I've read it twice and plan to read it again so that I can build each year in the way I use the strategies.

I first read, Mosaic of Thought in a Literature Circle and I was impressed with the book and began using the terms with my students. Mosaic stresses that we need to teach children what good readers do when they read. Good readers make connections with the text. They make text to text connections, text to self connections, and text to world connections. Teachers need to model the connections they make while they read and encourage their students to do the same. This book really made me think about how I read and what I DO while I read. After reading Mosaic, I suggest you read Strategies That Work.

This is the single best book I have ever read on reading comprehension. Not only do the authors describe specific comprehension strategies, they also provide concrete classroom examples and explain how they themselves use the strategies. The authors describe how a genuine community of readers is developed. This is a must read for anyone who teaches reading and language arts!