A Teacher's Ruminations

This is the second in a series of blog posts about different strategies I use to help my students take ownership of their learning. The first post was about class meetings .  Today's post is about giving kids opportunities to determine their own writing and reading plans every Friday  afternoon . (Coming soon is the third post in this series about allowing kids to extend an afternoon of planning into an entire day!) This year our school implemented the Lucy Calkins' units of writing. Next year we will be doing the reading units. Although I have been doing reading and writing workshop for a long time, this is the first year where I felt my students had less choice, rather than more choice, in their writing. And, choice is one of the untouchables of a workshop approach to teaching anything, as well as an important element towards getting kids to take ownership of their learning.  Of course, it's not that my students had no choice at all, but their choices were certain...

Every year I struggle with how to organize reading workshop. Even though I've been teaching for over 25 years and not new to workshop teaching, each new group of students makes me rethink the reading workshop. How do I help students set up their notebooks? How do I make sure students are using their notebooks in meaningful ways? How do I allow for lots of reading time? How do I structure my individual conferences with students? What do I teach? How do I assess students in a workshop format? I also rethink my focus lessons so that I can maximize my time with students. And, I particularly struggle with invitations vs. requirements. So, I read professional books, talk to other teachers and reflect on my practice. Recently I read Donallyn Miller's The Book Whisperer  which provides readers with an intimate look at this author's well-though out reading workshop format. Now, I am diving into  Notebook Connections  by Aimee Buckner. You may be familiar with  Notebook Know...

As I visit classrooms during the Reading Workshop time, I witness practices that are counterproductive to supporting students' reading habits. I made up the following two lists to sort this out in my head and to use when I work with teachers. What NOT to do during Reading Workshop: interrupt independent reading to talk to students about an assignment. sit at your desk to catch up on paperwork or to answer emails. give kids 10 minutes of independent reading one day and 45 minutes on another day . Make it consistent so students can plan for their reading. abruptly stop kids' reading without a warning . Instead, allow them to find a logical stopping place before transitioning into a new activity. treat independent reading as a choice among many . Independent reading should be something everybody does on a daily basis. always tie reading to a "project" and a grade. use the independent reading time to go to the library . This should be reserved for another t...

About a year ago, maybe more, I read  The Complete Four  by Pam Allyn.  See it here http://amzn.to/zpRRWl  I appreciated the concept of integrating reading and writing lessons so that what you do in reading workshop directly impacts what you do in writing workshop.  Here's what the authors say about "the complete year":  " Organized around the Complete 4 components (Process, Genre, Strategy and Conventions) and four unit stages (Immersion, Identification, Guided Practice, and Commitment), each book in the Complete Year series features a year's worth of integrated reading and writing curriculum.    Because we honor your professional decision-making, you will find the Complete Year provides a flexible framework, easily adapted to your state standards and to the needs and goals of your community, your students, and your teaching style ."  I particularly like the last sentence of the above description of the "complete year", and that is why ...