Amy, Honestly, if I were you and having SFA forced down my throat, I would be dying to do Readers' Workshop as well. I find it curious that you are doing SFA and Investigations. It seems so contradictory.
Instead of trying to do a Readers' Workshop as an additional "thing" in your classroom, have you thought of doing some kind of math workshop using the strategies, since Investigations lends itself more in that direction? Or how about using the strategies and a readers' workshop type approach for your social studies and other non-fiction areas? On this list people have mentioned that the strategies are for ALL reading, not just for reading instructional time. Renee On Feb 25, 2007, at 5:51 PM, Amy Malone wrote: > Hello!! I just got back from the most AMAZING week - I attended the > Reader's Workshop Winter Institute at Teacher's College at Columbia > University in NYC. I am beyond excited by what I learned there, and > at the same time, I'm completely overwhelmed. This is my second year > teaching, and while I've had some introduction into Reader's Workshop, > I'm certainly not what you could call well-versed in it, even after > the four-day institute. I have a lot more questions than answers > right now, in fact. :) > > I really want to begin implementing Reader's Workshop in my > classroom, but I'm not sure where to start. I also have the > additional hurdle of my district's imposed reading curriculum. This > year, our newly-hired superintendent mandated that all schools would > use the Success for All (SFA) curriculum. I've been using it since it > was introduced, and I can see it's merits, but I really feel like > Reading and Writing Workshops would be more effective and promote > deeper thinking by my students. > > My problem, I guess, is the same as all teachers': time. The first > 90 minutes of my day is dedicated to SFA. After SFA, we are required > to spend 80 minutes teaching math. Fortunately, we teach > Investigations. :) We are also required to spend 30-45 minutes > teaching test strategies (our high-stakes test is coming up soon), and > my students have ballroom dance lessons once a week for an hour. With > lunch, recess, and support (aka specials, prep, plan, etc.), that > doesn't leave much time even for the other core subjects writing > included, since the writing component of SFA is really in support of > the reading, rather than focusing on writing quality. > > I guess my question to the group is: Where do I begin to implement > Reader's Workshop, and how do I squeeze it in??? Should I focus on > just one part, like the read-aloud? I might be able to fit 20-30 > minutes of Read-Aloud into my day most days. I'm pretty sure I don't > have the 90 minutes I need to do a full-blown Reader's Workshop > without giving up Social Studies and Science (which are in jeaportdy > even now). > > Thank you in advance for any suggestions!!! > Amy - 5th Grade > > > --------------------------------- > Want to start your own business? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business. > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." ~ Voltaire _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
