I wanted to respond to Jan's post.I don't believe it matters when you start
writing or reading workshop. Actually I believe they go hand in hand. The
reading students do can definitely influence the writing they do. I have one
teacher who has her 7th and 8th grade literacy classes organized completely
around workshop. The key is teaching the students the procedures to follow and
what they are expected to do. Modeling what students should be doing is
important. A lot of instruction at the beginning of the school year on "how to
workshop" is important (gradual release of responsibility). Another important
thing is conferencing and knowing how to coach students in both their writing
and reading. From conferencing the teacher determines what needs to be taught,
sometimes to a small group of students or possibly to the whole group in a
mini-lesson. Besides workshop this teacher does a cycle of developmental
spelling with a Word Journey's model that lasts 2 weeks. It takes one full
class period and then 5 - 10 minutes 3 additional days. (Writing Workshop: The
Essential Guide, Fletcher & Portalupi)
Learning about the right kinds of feedback to give students also is very
important in workshop. Using rubrics and giving specific feedback to
benchmarks informs students about where work and improve. (How to Give
Effective Feedback To Your Students, Susan M. Brookhart (ASCD))
The great thing about workshop is that students have choice; they can work at
different levels; and flexible groups can easily be formed. It works well with
interventions because some students can step out of workshop and be given more
guidance.
Other teachers are just beginning to move into a workshop model. They do
literature circles and individual reading with conferencing. They may still do
writing assignments that the whole class is doing but offer a choice. Teachers
should begin slow and keep within their own comfort zone. Many feel they are
losing control because the students actually have the control. These feels
awkward to teachers at first, but after doing it I've heard teachers say more
of their students are on task, are writing better and with more voice, and they
see more growth in their students. A book I found useful to show students lots
of different types of writing about the same topic is The Fruit Bowl Project:
Fifty Ways to Tell a Story by Sarah Durkee. This book is in paperback now and
following the idea in it would be a fun way to begin a workshop type format.
Kay Kuenzl-Stenerson
Literacy Coach
Merrill Middle School
"Great things are not by impulse but by a series of small things brought
together." Vincent Van Gogh
Message: 7
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:53:30 +0000
From: wr...@att.net
Subject: [MOSAIC] workshop
To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email
Group"<mosaic@literacyworkshop.org>
Message-ID:
<011820090153.26741.49728b9a0002ecd90000687522230703729b0a02d29b9b0ebf0a9b079...@att.net>
I am some more questions about workshop. They are all related. I should
probably add that I teach middle school.
Is it necessary to start writing workshop years before a school starts reading
workshop? Does it matter which goes first? Can teachers start both in the
same year?
Is it necessary to have workshop during the majority of class time?
Thanks for letting me know what has worked for you.
Jan
Kay Kuenzl-Stenerson
Literacy Coach
Merrill Middle School
"Great things are not by impulse but by a series of small things brought
together." Vincent Van Gogh
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