Heather, I'm a bit behind on my emails because I've been on vacation, so hopefully I'm not just restating what someone else has written...
For the past couple of years my room served as an "unofficial" lab classroom, since we don't have "official" ones where I teach. I can't remember exactly how it started, but it probably began after I taught a summer inservice on reading/writing workshop and then invited the participants to visit my class to see it work. After that word spread and a few principals came who were interested in implementing balanced literacy in their schools along with other teachers and coaches. I probably had around 40 people visit that first year. After a few visits I found that teachers always asked for the same types of things (copies of my lesson plan sheet, the book log letter I wrote my kids, the booklog sheet they recorded on, etc.), so my literacy coach helped me put together a packet of these forms along with an article supporting the workshop approach. I found it worked best when my schedule allowed for the workshop followed by the specials schedule (art, music, PE) so I could spend time talking with the teachers and answering their questions. WHen my schedule didn't allow for that I ended up taking the kids' conference time to talk with teachers, and that didn't work so well. I didn't receive any type of compensation or credit, but it was very helpful to me in that it served to help me examine my teaching and verbalize what I'm doing and why. I do think it helped the teachers who observed b/c I heard from many of them throughout the year as they tried it in their rooms. Most folks need to go slowly and implement pieces at a time (I know I was that way!), so it really does work best if the teachers have a literacy coach they can go back to who can help them through the process. Once they've tackled writing workshop, for instance, they often become interested in changing their spelling program, then the reading workshop, then learning about strategies, etc. It's a very rewarding process! Congratulations on taking the plunge! Heather Wall/ 3rd grade/ Georgia NBCT 2005 Literacy: Reading - Language Arts ----- Original Message ---- From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Monday, June 4, 2007 1:43:44 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] Lab Classrooms A few years ago I saw Ellin Keene speak about lab classrooms. I am feeling comfortable with the strategies enough to start to develop a lab classroom for next year. I am looking for how they are running in other schools. What are the positive and negatives? Do teachers really benefit from them? Do the teachers who lead the lab classrooms benefit in someway (money, in-service credits??) How do you let other teachers know when they can come and observe in the classrooms? Any information you provide would be helpful!! Thanks!! Heather Ferris "Smart is not something you are, it is something you become." _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
