On 7/18/11 9:19 AM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
Here's what I did that I think helped, along with all the other strategies I
used from Atwell, Sibberson in her Reading Workshop book etc.
In my 5/6 multiage class I had kids who sometime ranged from 2/3 to high
school reading levels (whatever that means exactly...but that's another
story.) I also always had a rather large "special ed" cluster. I taught
thematically for my shared/small group - not called lit circles in those
days but that's what they were in effect. So I would choose a read
aloud/shared where kids could listen (sometimes I even had class sets) but I
would model strategies and the kids would apply in their reading logs or
other activities in small groups as we went. For example in a reading log,
they might describe their visualization at a certain point where I stopped.
We would discuss and create charts collaboratively figuring out text
structures and characteristics of genres and themes and so on.
We would then all move to the lit study groups with books on same theme but
representing a wide range of levels and other possibilities (one could be in
Spanish at least part of the time for example, might want both male and
female protagonist choices etc.). So Wizard of Earthsea might be the book
shared. Then kids chose from Wrinkle in Time, Black Cauldron, Lion Witch
(which kids kindly pointed out wasn't the same genre - quest fantasy
....smart them) but nevertheless we were all doing fantasy. Their small
groups were supportive of each other and I gave some extra supports like the
RSP teacher sometimes helped kids keep up, books on tape etc. My most
struggling readers didn't read every word I'm sure but it meant a huge
amount to their confidence and engagement to be part of the groups and the
overall class study. They were part of the reading club to use Smith's
description.
I did other themes like survival, tricksters, historical fiction about the
civil war, a theme on ecological/technological approaches to our world etc.
Hill/Noe/Johnson by the way have a great book of lit circle resources which
also includes greatgreat bibliographies of books by theme, some across
curriculum. For everyt heme lists picture books for older readers, easier
chapter books, more challenging books. It's a little dated and may be out
of print but it has been a hugely useful book in my view. And good books
always remain good books - you can just add more! Their other books on lit
circles with edited chapters by different teachers at different levels is
great. I also think we can use TEXT SETS to good advantage in all subject
areas.
Think on a larger scale than an individual read or reader this is the
gradual release model advocated by Keene and all our Strategy mentors out
there.a
What happened was that kids always had a range of "good lit" modeled, used,
available. Almost always everyone wanted to be part of our literacy
culture. And all this spilled over into workshop - the self-selected part
of my day. Kids were often choosing books from other groups, or the second
book always choose as usual. I did "push" and bargain at times. For every
two goosebumps, this month your goal is try another genre. Ask a classmate
who knows that genre for help finding a good book.
To answer #2, the kids were being challenged in the shared and "guided"
small group parts of the day. So I didn't worry too much about the
self-selected time.
To answer Time - well that I can't. I was in charge of big blocks of time
in my whole language classroom and school. We do absolutely need time. And
I do understand that some people don't have any choice now, my own daughter
being in a position like that.
So maybe on this list it would be useful to generate ideas about how to work
some of this in even when scripted basals are mandated. On suggestion that
I've heard is to teach workshop style and with ideas like text sets etc.
during content area teaching, e.g. Social studies and science. Another
strategy I've suggested and had teachers use was not to preteach all the
vocabulary in depth (which is NOT supported by research and takes a large
chunk of time but instead start with KWL or semantic maps and quickly intro
some key vocab and concepts - but not taught in depth at that point. Saving
this practice usually saves one whole day's reading block....so there's an
hour for independent reading snuck in!!! Andy other ideas out there???
Sally
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.
> 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. O
> 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.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
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