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 _______________________________________________ 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.