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Reading Workshop

Session 1: Building a Mental Model

Purpose

The Reading Workshop provides structure for reading instruction where the goal is to teach students strategies for thinking, reading, conversation and collaboration, as well as comprehension of grade level and differentiated texts.  The reading workshop meets the demands of the common core standards by providing the structures for direct instruction in the common core anchor standards and grade specific standards.   It also provides structures that allow the teacher to differentiate instruction based on scholar data in order to meet the needs of all their students. The workshop structures are planned utilizing CCSS, student data and habits of mind.  Reading Workshop fosters a love of reading and gives students a chance to practice reading and thinking strategies in increasingly sophisticated texts with teacher guidance, with the goal of independence.

Time:                    Component:

 

10 - 15 minutes    Mini-lesson

 

30 - 60 minutes   Independent Reading

                                & Conferring

                                Guided Reading

                                Strategic Small Group

                                Instruction

                                Response and

                                Reflection - Writing

                                About Reading

 

5-10 minutes         Sharing

Teacher implements daily the components of a 60-minute reading workshop including:

  • Mini-lessons that are focused and appropriate which introduce and/or support instruction during other literacy opportunities (e.g., guided reading, writing workshop, etc.). The lessons address identified standards and are designed to meet students' needs as determined by on-going observation and assessment. 

  • Independent work time for an extended period when students read individually or in partners and discuss books with response partners or groups and write responses to literature.

  • Readers reference the anchor charts to support deep understanding and application of mini-lesson teaching points.

  • Readers track their thinking as they read using a variety of note-taking tools and use their notes to write in response to literature.

  • Teacher confers individually with students or leads small guided reading groups.  The teacher organizes time to meet frequently with students to ensure that they are engaged in meaningful literacy experiences during the work time.

  • Teachers use mentor texts and anchors to remind, reinforce and re-teach in conferences and in small groups.

 

During reading workshop share, teacher is selective about which students will share their insights and experiences from their independent reading time so that they are referring back to the mini-lesson. 

Mini-Lesson

The mini-lessons for the Reading Workshop teach concepts, strategies, and techniques for reading and comprehension while encouraging students to read and interact with good literature.  The 10-15 minute mini-lesson gives teachers the opportunity to provide direct instruction to students and model thinking strategies using authentic literature. This literature exposes all students to grade level text at the appropriate level of text complexity as defined by CCSS.  The mini-lesson also serves as the foundation for conferencing that is done during independent reading.

 

Sample mini-lessons can include:

  • Launching the Reading Workshop

    • Rituals and routines

Habits of Mind

  • The first six weeks of school or if refinement is needed later in the year

  • Comprehension strategies

    • Picturing

    • Noticing

    • Wondering

    • Figuring out

    • Connecting

    • Predicting

  • Common Core Standards/strategic actions

  • Genre /literary elements

  • Literary techniques (i.e. voice, descriptive words, etc.)

  • Text complexity

Mini-lessons should be directly connected to the common core standards and the review of student data.

 

See a comprehensive list of Potential Mini-Lessons in Session 3: Mini-Lessons and Anchor Charts

Independent Reading with Conferring

Independent Reading is the heart of the Reading Workshop.  This is the time when students practice strategies modeled in the mini-lesson or practice reading.  Students can read alone, in pairs, or in small response groups.  Scholars are reading independent level text as determined by the teachers college guided reading assessments.

 

Teachers have the opportunity to:

  • Confer with scholars

  • Teach guided reading lessons

  • Teach a small-group lesson on a specific strategy or skill.

  • Assess using  running records, retellings,

  • Track scholar progress using anecdotal notes

 

Scholars may be doing any of the following:

  • Independent Reading

  • Partner reading

  • Accumulating text using a note-taking tool

  • Book club

  • Guided Reading

  • Strategic Small Group

  • Conferencing with a teacher

  • Writing About Reading:  responding to text in reader's response notebook

 

See Session 4: Independent Reading

Guided Reading/Strategic Small Group Instruction

Guided reading is a form of small group instruction -- the teacher works with a small group of students that are on the same reading level.  Each student has their own text and the teacher works with the students on skills depending on their needs, whether it is phonemic awareness, work attack skills, fluency, or reading comprehension.  The instruction is in a text at the groups’ instructional level.  Guided reading takes place during independent reading block.

 

Strategic small group instruction is another form of small group instruction.  It also takes place during the independent reading block.  The teacher works with a group of readers who need similar strategy/skill instruction.  The scholars will most likely be at different instructional levels and the teacher will support textual access for all readers, the instruction is focused on comprehension and thinking strategies identified as needs in the student data.

 

See Session 6: Guided Reading and Session 7: Strategic Small Group Instruction

Response and Reflection - Writing About Reading

Scholars need opportunities to respond and reflect about what they are reading. It helps clarify their thinking, ponder questions, and develop divergent thinking.

There are many ways students can respond to text:

  • Partner Conversation/Conference:

    • conversation with the teacher or other scholars about their reading in order to share discoveries in a text or application of mini-lesson content to a text

  • Keep a reading log

  • Use a reader's response journal/notebook to write responses and reactions before, during or after reading

  • Accumulate text using a variety of note taking tools

  • Respond to directions given by teacher (i.e. write a summary, fill in a character map, etc.)

 

See Session 5: Writing About Reading

Sharing

The reading community regroups to discuss what they learned or did in their groups, such as which strategies they employed for reading, or projects they worked on. Share time is VERY IMPORTANT and should not be skipped.

 

Some of the benefits include:

  • Teacher can assess what students have and have not learned

  • Scholars learn to think, and talk about their own learning (metacognition)

  • Scholars learn to listen to others learning process benefitting from peer models

  • Scholars stay engaged knowing that they will have to discuss their work during share time

 

Some possible strategies for sharing include:

  • Shoulder to Shoulder: Partners sit shoulder to shoulder to discuss a teacher's question or share what they learned/did in Reading Workshop.

  • Public/ individual Share: Teacher asks one student to share something they practiced that the teacher noticed during Reading Workshop, this can serve as a model for the rest of reading community.

  • Small Group Conversation: Scholars sit in groups to have discussion on a topic or a strategy

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