DK's Comment on Rachel's Post (2/8)

(The word verification for posting my comment on Rachel's post from last week kept getting messed up, so here it is in new-post form:)

Hey Rachel,

I'm glad you chose to focus your discussion on Langer's four stances. I also wrote about the article, but I took a different approach, so it's great to read what you have to say about it. I particularly appreciate your insight with Being In and Stepping Out. You are right that personal connections are important, even when they seem simple to us as adults. Making connections help students identify with the characters in the story, giving them a greater interest to and attentiveness to what they are reading. I'm also glad you mentioned the non-linear nature of the stances. I think it is important to realize that different children will be at different stages of their understanding of a text. However, I wasn't clear after reading the article whether or not the author meant that each individual child can move through the steps in a non-linear order. Do you know if that's what she meant? Regardless, you are right: remembering that children are at different stages is key, as it broadens our instruction to incorporate multiple stages of student interpretation.

- David Koch