I vary the responses, depending on what they've been taught. Typically, I begin the workshop with a read aloud from our mentor text. All students have a copy and follow along silently. I think aloud to model whatever is connected to the minilesson strategy. For the first couple of weeks of school, we've been focusing on metacognition. I believe that in order to practice all other strategies, students must be aware of that internal voice Readers have as we interact and react to text. So I model that a lot. They have a go with it, first by doing turn and talk with a reading partner.
Next I modeled stop and jot, which is basically the same thing as turn and talk, but instead I show the youngsters how I jot down what I am thinking. For a 12 page chapter, I may stop and jot four times. I focus initially on Observations, Wonders, and Links (OWL) which I got from this list years ago. They practice and at the end of the read aloud, several will share their thinking. So that is currently what we are doing now for reading responses. This week I need to be sure they are set on story elements, so that will be the focus of my think alouds. Next up witll be the strategy of asking questions. I love QAR for this strategy, so I'll be pulling that in next week. All of these are things I'll be having them practice into their Reader's Notebook. They'll use our mentor text as well as their Just Right books. After this part of the workshop, I have them reading independently in either Just Right books or novels at their level which are connected to our thematic unit. This year I'll be doing less assigned novel reading; rather I'll offer the books up and see if children want to read them. Our district tried doing Guided Reading using novels in the upper grades (I teach fifth), but I just can't make it work in the limited time I have. So this year I'll be doing small group targeted instruction using short text and more nonfiction. Our district bought the Scholastic leveled library, so I hope to get kids practicing strategies within these books, short text (love Scholastic's "Storyworks"!), their Social Studies text, poetry, and whatever I can find online. As students are reading independently I pull small groups for more instruction. I also use the time to do miscues, interviews, and write anecdotal notes on the children. Whew! The 50-60 minutes flies by! I try to have a quick share at the end of the workshop, to pull us all back together. I highly recommend going to the Tools page for the list serv, which I believe is still on Reading Lady. Here's the link http://www.readinglady.com/mosaic/tools/tools.htm Many talented teachers have put up so many wonderful lessons, assessments, long term strategy plans, and way more. I could not possibly do what I do without this site. I love it and so appreciate my online colleagues for sharing! Good luck with launching your Reading Workshop. This is my twelfth year, and I still feel like I am constantly learning and refining and growing. That's why I teach! Maura 5/NJ On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 2:49 PM, Cara Acosta <cara.aco...@gmail.com> wrote: > That site is so great, thanks for the share. For those of you who do > reader's workshop-- I am a bit overwhelmed with management. How do you > decide what type of responding the students are doing at any given time? > Is > it set up individually or as groups or whole class? > > On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 9:13 AM, Maura Shea Sackett <maura...@gmail.com > >wrote: > > > Try the Teachers' College Site. They have downloadable assessments. My > > district just began using these. > > > > > http://rwproject.tc.columbia.edu/resources/assessments/reading-assessments > > > > The assessments are accompanied by rubrics, good explanations for > > administering them, and how to use them for assessing levels. > > > > Maura > > 5/NJ > > > > On Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 3:41 PM, <wr...@centurytel.net> wrote: > > > > > Hi Beverlee, > > > What is DEAR? > > > > > > And what is the difference between independent level and high > > instructional > > > level? The names make them sound very different. > > > Although my school gives various reading tests, we do not test for > > reading > > > level. Can anyone suggest a test I can use in the classroom for > reading > > > level so that I can determine what texts are right for my students? > > > Jan > > > > > > > > > Quoting "beverleep...@gmail.com" <beverleep...@gmail.com>: > > > > > >> And the other thing we'd do well to remember is the crucial piece in > his > > >> work reminding us that the material used absolutely needs to be at an > > >> independent/high instructional level > > >> in order for the child to continue to grow as a reader. If she's > > reading > > >> "below grade level" then it's very likely that all of the content > books > > >> are > > >> too high, so little growth is likely there. Unless the books in > readers' > > >> workshop are carefully matched to the readers, we can't expect the > kind > > of > > >> growth that needs to take place. Plus, there has to be quality > > >> instruction. It so disappoints me in the [hopefully] rare instances > when > > a > > >> teacher > > >> creates what amounts to little more than DEAR, calls it readers' > > workshop, > > >> and then complains that workshop "doesn't work." So...be sure when > > you're > > >> looking at the research that you look beyond the conclusions to see > how > > >> the > > >> research was set up, how the terms are defined, etcetera. And PLEASE, > > >> some > > >> of you, find a collaborator and do this research so teachers in ten > > years > > >> aren't still asking, "Where's the beef?" > > >> Connected by DROIDVerizon Wireless > > >> > > >> > > > > > > ______________________________**_________________ > > > Mosaic mailing list > > > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > > > http://literacyworkshop.org/**mailman/options/mosaic_** > > > literacyworkshop.org< > > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org> > > > > > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/**MosaicArchive< > > 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 > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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
