What are you thinking about a Reading Workshop after our last class? What about the idea do you like? Not like? What seems to make sense? What is confusing? I am very interested in your thinking so that we can figure out where to go next. Please write anything you are thinking...there are no "right" answers...
Think about one thing that you might try with your class. Perhaps you left thinking you would organize your library with your students, change the format of your reading time, begin conferring with students, try to "organize" and try a workshop...the possibilities are endless. What is one piece that you will try right away?
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I actually feel more relaxed about the Reading Workshop after our last class. It was comforting to hear that others were just as anxious about the aspects that I am feeling anxious about and that we were not expected to just immediately implement the program while expecting instant success.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea about having the students take part in the organization of the books and baskets. After all, they are the ones that are going to be using these books. It will encourage student ownership in the program and send a great message that they are valued.
I am still unsure about how I, a special education teacher, can fit into the program. Obviously I am not going to be able to enjoy the coordination of teacher and students as they organize the program. I just wonder how I am going to fit into the mix. I don't have a class to try things out with.
After our last class, I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed but at the same time empowered to try something new in my room. I started last Monday morning by dumping out all the books in my classroom library. I let the kids organize it. It took us about three days, but the kids really got into it. They were excited to make new baskets, label them, and alot of them saw books they hadn't seen before. After that experience, I decided it was time to try book boxes. I had a local pizza place donate 16 boxes to me, and now each child has a pizza book box. They went book shopping in our reading corner and choice 5 books, and I gave them one. Although Readers Workshop still intimidates me a little bit, probably because of my lack of knowledge and training with it, I am taking baby steps to try new things. It really helped to get ideas from the other teacher's at the last class who have done this stuff and tried it. I am trying to have the students focus on a specific strategy with their book boxes. This week, we are working on questioning. I know that most teachers spend a month or two on a strategy, but I am just trying things first.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lisa Stevens that I am still unsure about how I, a Title 1 teacher, can fit into the program. I have to sit back and look at the whole program and see what part of that program I can or cannot do. It's not really possible to do the community thing with my students like organizing the books, write tags....but I can do a mini lesson and do alittle conferring and debriefing....and I can have them put post-its on pages as they wonder or have questions. They can even share with partners as well. But the problem I have is that my students are just beginning to blend their sounds and recognize basic sight words. So if I can do some of these stategies with simple CVC decodable books,then I can figure out where to go next. I have been doing some of these stategies, but I was doing the reading with a more challenging book.
ReplyDeleteWe did a visitation in Portsmouth and now that I've watched several teachers, and seen how they set up their class, and talked to them...it seems pretty easy to understand. It makes a lot of sense. I'm impressed with how the children stayed on their tasks, whether doing silent reading or written reflection or group sharing and record keeping. The amount of written anchor charts and reminders on the walls was a bit overwhelming. I am used to displaying science, social studies and math content as well as student work....so I would have to really rework how my room is set up. I have a class this year that just does not seem to click as a community of respectful learners.....so I am feeling like I will make my first steps be explaining a Reader's Workshop, working with them on learning how to respect other readers and to respect their book choices and opinions, and how to talk and listen to each other. We will also spend time on choosing just right books. I have been doing some strategy practice with questioning, QAR, schema and so on during reading, science and social studies. That is going really well and so even if my attempts at reader's workshop don't get far this year, I feel like I've really improved the way I teach comprehension. I am concerned at how long most of my strategy lessons seem to take. I'm worried about reducing them to fit into the workshop schedule. But I think as I get better at it, that will come. Finally, I continue to be concerned about the decoding skills of my struggling readers.....so I feel if I use a workshop model during the final quarters, I will spend a lot of time with these children on word study while others are reading silently. I won't get to confer with the others as much, but that is okay if everyone is getting their needs met.
ReplyDeleteI am thinking that I will start organizing my classroom library. I’ve been thinking of doing this for a long time and have put it off since it’s a big job. The kids will help me. I do have to figure out how to keep 28 kids occupied as we organize! I will figure it out, though. I am definitely overwhelmed by Readers’ Workshop. There are many kinks to work out, including how to grade the kids. The school we visited in Portsmouth does not give letter grades on their report cards; it seems to me that it would be easier to report children’s progress in reading without the letter grades. We do have them, as you all know, so we have to figure out how to assign letter grades to assessments. Also, deciding how to include spelling and vocabulary in the reading program will be a challenge. I do like the idea of letting kids read what they want to, so will try to make that my ultimate goal after taking the many small steps needed to hold a Readers’ Workshop. I think it's going to take me awhile!
ReplyDeleteI am very excited about the reading workshop. I’ve started organizing my books which is a big project, but worth it. The kids take more ownership of the books and have found many books that they didn’t know were in the room. I have been focusing on staying with the workshop model as best I can: Mini lesson, independent reading while conferring/ share. While conferring, I’m trying to write what I feel each student needs to focus more on and going from there. I am trying to use the notebook approach to keeping track of my conferences so I can see right away what I spoke to them about when I last met with them. I am able to see who I need to meet with quickly. Right now my mini-lessons have to do with the reading strategies: visualizing and after vacation inferring. I feel it’s going pretty smooth right now. I’ve taken a break from McGraw Hill, but I know I will want to use the stories in the future. I’m not sure what to do when I get to that point though. I guess that’s where I will need to focus more on as well as more time/ lessons on word work for my students.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of the reading workshop model, it's easier for me to think of implementing it if I switch my first and most important objective (at least in my mind) to encouraging students to LOVE reading. With all the current research supporting the idea that for students' to improve their reading, they need to read and read and read, I tell myself that, field of dreams style, "If I build it, they will come (along)." I think about it as if implementing readers' workshop is the most efficient step toward fostering a love of reading, which will in turn improve their reading, which will make them want to read more, which will make them better readers.....and so on...
ReplyDeleteI think all this, by the way, until I think about how to take their newly found LOVE of reading and assign a letter grade to it and I realize I have no clue.
The more I learn about readers workshop, the more eager I am to teach this way. I feel overwhelmed about where to start. I know that the way that I'm doing things is not the best way - I am a person who loves reading and I find that my reading block is my least favorite part of the school day! I know readers workshop is where I want to go. I love teaching the strategies - I love the interest level of the students and the thoughtful comments and conversation. I'm having trouble letting my students go off on their own - I feel like I am not able to guide them with a clear enough structure, since I am still learning myself - although I do know that the only way I'll get there is to jump in and try some things. It is pretty clear to me that the first step I'll try is having the students organize the books. I need them to be able to find the books they want quickly and easily. Erin, I love your pizza book box idea, and I think that will be step 2 for me!
ReplyDeleteHi Everyone!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Kristi Zargiel(Colleen's teaching partner!) and I will be joining your group in March. I'm very excited to hear all of your ideas and thoughts on reader's workshop and the implementation of the reading strategies.
I agree with Colleen, in that, reader's workshop is where I would like to head. The difficulty I face is scheduling. When do we implement this in our day? How many days a week should we have reader's workshop. How long should it be? How do we squeeze this is with our guided reading groups. These are all questions I hope to get answered in the class!
I do feel that the lessons I have done so far, in regards to schema and questioning, have really made my students better thinkers! I look forward to learning new strategies and lesson ideas to use in my classroom!
I am, for the most part, pleased with the progress my class and I are making in using the Readers' Workshop model. They are becoming more adept at choosing "just right" books and we have had little or no issues with students being off-task. I have been using Mondays to teach new vocabulary and phonetic skills and Tuesdays to read the core story with both grades. These guided reading groups have given us a lot of practice on our strategies. The rest of the week we do Readers' Workshop. They really love to sit on the bean bags or lay on the rug in the semi-darkened room with the lamp on and just read! This week I seemed to have more trouble getting to as many students as I would like to conference with. It has seemed as though the time just got away from us. A change I am going to make after vacation is to move this portion of our reading block to earler in the morning so it doesn't get shortened, and do centers and/or skill work later. After our guided writing lesson and practice we'll move right to a mini lesson then on to independent reading. I am hoping that this allows me to have the time I need to work individually with more students. I know it is a process, but as long as we continue to move forward I feel good about it!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of introducing a Reader's Workshop in my classroom. I think by giving kids choices, it encourages them to become more invested in the reading process. It also will allow me the opportunity to conference with my students on an individual basis to discuss their progress. Keeping these goals in mind, I am aware that I will need to take baby steps to successfully achieve this goal. Where to begin?? I plan to start by organizing my classroom books into genres so that the students will have easy access to whichever subject they choose. I also plan to introduce them to Reader's Workshop by using mini-lessons that focus on procedure. I hope that by going slowly it will increase my comfort level.
ReplyDeleteI definitely felt better after our last class. I thought everyone was so much further ahead than I was with reader's workshop. I have been doing the mini focus lessons with my class and the students seem to enjoy them. After vacation I will begin organizing my books into the different levels. I am nervous about conducting a reader's workshop in my classroom as I am still learning about it myself. I would feel more comfortable if I could observe it going on in a classroom. I think as time goes on and I listen to more colleagues share how they conduct reader's workshop and how it works in their classroom I will start to become more comfortable with it.
ReplyDeleteI was very happy to hear that many people are at about the same point that I am at. I am trying different mini lessons but I need to feel comfortable with the activity. the more I do the more confident I feel and the lesson seems to get better. Putting you library in order sounds like a great idea to help all the students read at their level. i was wondering if someone has a way to find out the reading level for the incoming grade. That way I can look at materials and find ones to fit these students. I know I have a ways to go but I think the students enjoy this much better. I need to come up with a plan to blend what I am doing to what I am learning.
ReplyDeleteI think Reading Workshop is extremely beneficial to our students because it gives them ownership of their learning in a controlled setting. Students have choice, but as teachers we can help guide their choices and address their individual needs as readers. Individual conferences and guided reading lessons complement the strategies taught in our minilessons and provide students with more individualized instruction; something they do not often get from a basal.
ReplyDeleteI was sold on Reading Workshop long ago as much of my student teaching experiences utilized this method of instruction. Although I am familiar with this method of instruction, it is still intimidating. I still do not have all the pieces in place the way I want them to be. I know that I need to take it one step at a time, but sometimes that is difficult for me because I feel like I am a far way off from where I want to be. For the remainder of this year I would like to implement guided reading lessons and confer more with individual students. I am also hoping to get word study off the ground, although I keep putting it off. My biggest problem is that I am scared and worried that I am not doing it "right". However, I know that I have to just jump right in and do it. The experience will come with time and I will continue to learn and grow in the process.
After watching the lesson you conducted in my room, I was left with the feeling of "oh I can do that!" I have since tried to set up a workshop approach 3 days a week. I am very pleased with the students on task behavior-something I was worried about. There are now 2 things I feel the need to hurry up and do. I need to organize my classroom library and find the recording system that works best for me. I have been fortunate enough to have had my administrator or a bunch of colored book crates for me. To be honest, they are currently sitting on the shelf, empty. The whole thing seems a bit overwhelming. The thing I need is time. I guess I just have to let myself chip away at it a little at a time. I also want the kids to work on it to enhance ownership. As far as the record keeping, I like the idea of the one notebook. I am terrible at keeping track of and filing paperwork. Perhaps the notebook would be more effective for me. We will soon find out...
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of Reader's Workshop. Since it is the way I learned to teach reading during my internship I truly see the positive effects of it. I did my inernship in second grade and it is always amazing to see the progress of the students from the beginning of the year to the end. They grew so much and truly developed a love of reading. I feel as though the format of Reader's Workshop gives the kid's ownership of their reading and progress.
ReplyDeleteTeaching 5th grade now, I feel as though you don't quite see so obviously how the students grow from the beginning of the year to the end, but this year I have seen my students develop that love of reading.
I do feel overwhelmed with all the great ideas and lessons that we've been talking about. I want to do all of them but I am having difficulty organizing everything and trying not to jump around. As others said in class on Thursday that I am looking forward to the Summer so that I can organize my thoughts and plan an organized, sequential reading program.