An update on the tape strips to Therese and the Maine Group:
I am still too undiciplined during stories to properly use the tape strips. Sometimes I do it but I usually forget and the board is typically a mess. This is of concern to me because I know how organized boards like Linda Li’s help students decode language.
However, there may be some hope for me with the tape strips yet. Today, I started writing all the (past tense) verbs on the right hand side of the board, to the right of the right hand tape strip. Of course with the English.
The kids say this helps them a lot. Then, on the left side of the board and in the middle section (there are two strips dividing the board into three parts), I list all the new words that occur during the Pause and Point moments of class.
(To repeat something that never seems to get mentioned enough: the introduction of new words via Point and Pause must be kept to a minimum or the kids will be overwhelmed with too much new information and they won’t understand the story. The three structures must be our focus in a story for the story to work.)
So I’ll try this new idea out. All verbs on the right 1/3rd of the board. All new words on the left and, when that column is full, in the middle. But the middle section shouldn’t be full at the end of class – if it is it means that I am doing too much Point and Pause.
I welcome anyone else’s experience with this if they try it.