Self-selected members of the MiddleWeb Discussion List are
joining together to explore the Reading Workshop and other ideas
about supporting young adolescent readers. Juli Kendall, a reading
teacher/coach in Long Beach, California, is helping moderate the
discussion. Juli is also keeping a weekly journal of her own Reading
Workshop initiative. Find out more about our project at our Reading Workshop homepage. You'll find
Juli's background article here. Links
to many of the tools created by Juli and her colleagues are embedded
in these journals. Most often, when you click on them, a PDF file
will begin to download. You'll find a list of the downloads here.
"I think, however, that there isn't any solution to this problem of education other than to realize that the best teaching can be done only when there is a direct individual relationship between students and a good teacher -- a situation in which the student discusses the ideas, thinks about the things, and talks about the things. It is impossible to learn very much by simply sitting in a lecture, or even by simply doing problems that are assigned."
--Richard P. Feynman
Preface from Lectures on Physics, 1963
In Reading Workshop our purpose is to create "a situation
in which the student discusses the ideas, thinks about the things,
and talks about the things." This is what we want our Reading
Workshop to be even in the first week of school. So we started
with two easy Read Aloud books (Tyrannosaurus Time and
Mr. Falker) and poetry from Shel Silverstein's Where the
Sidewalk Ends. We worked as a class to establish rules for
reading aloud.
1. Quiet please!
2. Listen carefully.
3. "Turn and talk" respectfully.
We'll post them on the wall to use as the year goes along.
In addition, we taught two mini-lessons. Designed to be 10-15
minutes long, they teach one thing. Here's what Guiding Readers
and Writers has to say: "...each mini-lesson has an opening
statement and a demonstration or example. Lessons build on each
other; points are repeated; charts are posted in the room and
referred to again and again." (Pg. 142) They deal with Workshop
management, Reading strategies and skills or literary analysis.
Initially, mini-lessons are about management. One of our first
minilessons was about "turn and talk."
"Turn and talk" means two students who sit side by side
(Reading partners) turn and talk to each other about the Read
Aloud selection. It can have a special purpose but to begin we
told the students to talk about the book -- anything they chose.
In a group Esmeralda always has the answer, Vuthy never has the
answer and Chandra doesn't say anything. That's what "turn
and talk" is all about -- giving everyone a chance.
It worked so well we needed a signal to stop the discussions and
come together again as a group to share out. We picked "Give
me 5!" When the teacher calls "Give me 5!" everyone
stops talking, puts their right hand in the air and looks at the
teacher. It works well. I also introduced counting down from 10
to zero, just to have some variety. We're using positive reinforcement
for following the signals -- leaving on time, etc.
Based on a suggestion from Deb Bambino on the Middleweb listserv,
their first assignment in the Reading Journals was to "draw
a picture of yourself reading." In their illustration they
included a book, themselves, and the setting (home, school, etc.)
How interesting it was to see them visualize themselves as readers.
Several drew themselves in wonderful libraries, many were in bed
or in the living room, only two read at school, and one risk-taker
drew himself reading on his skateboard.
But the most unusual was Giovanna's exquisite tree house. She
explained that they had a big, beautiful tree in their backyard,
and when they moved in her father built a tree house. "It's
my favorite place to read," she said with a smile. "It's
so peaceful."
Coming next:
Independent Reading and assessments
Read Juli's next journal entry
Read Juli's previous journal entry
Read Juli's backgrounder about her
work
Back to Juli's journal index
Back to the Reader Workshop Index Page