I very much believe in reading workshop and used it myself. I struggled with the following problems during the whole time I implemented reading workshop and didn't find any easy answers.
1. Students who (at grades 7 and 8) were reading two to three years below level had a great deal of trouble finding "just right" books that met their interests and reading level. I've been out of the classroom for about ten years as a coach, so maybe things have changed. Couple that "just right" books with Hispanic students, and I had so much trouble finding appropriate books for them. 2. Students who were reading at grade level had the opposite problem--they wanted to read books that just might not be appropriate for a school setting. I solved by asking parents to sign off. But it is a problem. 3. After seeing Ellin Keene, I realized that the "just right" books needed to be slightly challenging for those who were reading at grade level and above at least half of their reading time. Otherwise, how would they have the opportunity to practice their reading strategies? If the books were easy for them, they breezed through them. That didn't mean they could articulate the strategies, but I had to be careful to ensure they read text that might be a little difficult. 4. Time is an issue. I had 42 minutes of reading workshop time. I struggled mightily to find time to pull small groups, conference and do a mini lesson. 5. I've said this before, but the last district I worked in, the admin and board determined that a basal would better meet the students' needs. The reading workshop model was scraped in favor of strict adherence to the basal. Teachers could not deviate from the basal with any of the materials previously used, like the Comprehension Toolkit or grade level mini lessons that were written to integrate with social studies and to address genres across the grades. A sad time for the teachers and students. Carol ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sally Thomas" <[email protected]> To: "mosaic listserve" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, July 18, 2011 8:42:46 AM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] adding instruction for remedial... I am not getting why the classroom model wouldn't be Reading Workshop. You know, a mini lesson and a solid long block of reading time, and a few share out at the end. During that time, all children are reading at their own independent level in books that are "just right" for them in terms of difficulty and interest. Teacher is conferencing with individual children and/or pulling together small groups for particular purposes. And support teachers of any kind could join the teacher in this. How great, two or more strong teachers just means kids get the one on one more often. This means children would be getting lots of reading time in just right texts which Allington calls for and one on one or small group instruction regularly (but not taking over the reading time). Is the issue that most teachers are not using this model??? For me it seems ideal. I also don't get why regular teachers wouldn't be able to plan their teaching in other content areas to meet the needs of children reading behind. Can set up the essential questions to explore and children can individually, in pairs, or small groups use different text(s) to explore, bringing their findings back to the whole group. And projects can be differentiated easily. Use tic tac toes or menus for example for choices of how to do "work" and "presentations." Also teachers can use their SDAIE strategies to teach not only ELLs but struggling readers as well. Guess I'm wondering if all those approaches went by the way side with the adoption of whole class basals and teaching??? Hmmm. Or is there just no freedom out there now? I know I can answer that that is true - I've seen it. But this should be something I hope we're working back towards!!! Sally _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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
