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

I'm shocked to see some of the bad reviews for this book, which has been one of my all-time favorites for helping my daughter improve her reading comprehension. I'm a parent who read this book at the recommendation of another parent, and I didn't find it particularly hard to follow -- certainly not in comparison to other books I've read that were aimed at professionals. In fact, this is one of the few books I've read to get information to help my kids that was also a satisfactory reading experience for me as well. The excerpts are thought-provoking while also nicely illustrating the authors' points. The new reading textbooks being used in our school district utilize the same research and take the same approach as the authors of this book describe, and it's been great to be a little "ahead of the curve" in understanding why reading is being taught this way. This is not a book to be afraid of. I recommend it highly.

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.

While I agree that at times this text gets too wordy and would have been improved by making a point and moving on, it still has much to offer. This book was recommended to me by my school principal. While she is a bit more of a fan than I am, I would still recommend the book to other educators. This is a resource that I return to over time. The amount of worthwhile material and my faith in the ability of educators skim through redundant text leads me to agree that this is a good addition to any educator's library.

I bought this book to glean information to write a paper. Excellent resource with lots of great information. It was recommended to me by a teacher.

Excellent product.

My daughter-in-law loves this book. She is a teacher.

fine

In the foreward of this book, published by one of the leading whole language publishers in the country, Donald Graves summarizes what MOSAIC OF THOUGHT is about: "Each chapter begins with texts...the authors apply various reading skills, from schema to synthesis, to enrich their own reading and quest for learning. The authors then take the same skill inside the classroom, where superior teachers show how they teach the skill with their children. We meet teachers and children in the process of learning to read and, above all, comprehend." And, I would add, boring the reader to death with layers of padding.MOSAIC OF THOUGHT is typical of the flaky writings published by Heinemann, but this one is much worse than most. The authors could have taken the key ideas and strategies from each chapter of the book as well as some of the appendices, added a couple of vignettes to illustrate the strategies, and turned in a reasonably effective piece for publication in reading journals. Unfortunately, the authors go on and on and on about their personal reflections over books or movies that they have read or seen while the reader frankly couldn't care less what the authors think of Omar Sharif or Ben Bradlee. I suppose the authors are trying to make their theories about reading comprehension and reader's workshop relevant to the unfortunate person who has to read this material for inservice, but they fail miserably.Furthermore, I suspect the reason the authors go on and on and on with these vignettes is to cover up the fact there isn't a whole lot of research out there to support their ideas. They keep writing "the research says" this or that, but there is very little in the way of citations to back up their claims. The bibliography is similarly scanty, with many of the books listed actually being trade books.As a teacher, if I want to read something about teaching reading, I want it to be practical, useful, and not least backed up by solid research and citations that I can look up for further reading. I have very little patience or time to read something that reads like a poor imitation of a dime store novel.