Juli Kendall's Weekly
Reading Workshop Journal
A MiddleWeb Listserv Project
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.
Week #7
Leti's Journey:
Becoming a Reader
At John Norton's suggestion, I have chosen a student from Reading Workshop
to follow for the whole year. My hope is that as I outline her progress
in my journal entries and examine her student work, I will be able to see
patterns and better choose strategies to help her improve in Reading. Please
feel free to make suggestions and ask questions. Self-reflection only
makes us better teachers.
At eleven years old, Leti is a remarkable young lady. The oldest of
four sisters, she has many interests, especially the California Gold Rush.
She studied it last year in History/Social Science. She is crazy about the
Harry Potter books. We read the first one together during Shared Reading
(from Yellow Brick Roads
by Janet Allen) when I worked in her class this past summer. She asked to
keep a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in her personal bookshelf
(book box) and takes it back and forth to read again at home in the evenings.
Since the start of school, I have met twice with Leti's mother. The first
time was at our "Introduction to the Middle School Prep class"
meeting the first week of school. Her mother believes that Leti's struggles
with Reading are a result of the fact that she has learned English at a
slower pace than her younger sisters. When I spoke with her at Back to School
Night, she commented that last year's teacher told her Leti was speaking
in "Spanglish," a combination of English and Spanish.
She has been placed in the Middle School Prep class for Reading Workshop
because she is at risk of not going on to 6th grade next year. She must
successfully complete the end of 3rd grade Reading Benchmark Assessments
for fiction and non-fiction text. These are 20-30 minute reading selections
including a running record of text reading with at least a 90% accuracy
rate. There are also six comprehension questions. She must answer at least
four of those questions correctly. My personal goal for her is to be farther
along than the "end of 3rd grade" minimum requirement by the end
of the school year.
Tracing her development from Day One, here's where Leti was in September.
Her initial Reading Journal entry was a picture of herself sitting in a
tree house reading a copy of the book, Froggy Gets Dressed.
On September 5th, she wrote her first entry about her favorite book:
My favorite book is The Golly Sisters Ride Again because the
sisters were gonna do a show then they call audience means bad luck is about
Rose and May-May they were start the show but Rose was not ready Hurry said
May-May Rose said I cannot go on tonight why said May-May because we gonna
had bad luck May-May went on stage May-May said chased the goat so we can
start the show then they stared chaising the goat all the people starting
chaising the goat then the goat chase them back the people and the goat
distroy the show May-May
Based on the Benchmark Book Assessments (running records and comprehension
questions) her initial Reading level was at the end of 2nd grade on fiction
and non-fiction text.
During the first sessions of Independent Reading, Leti frequently changed
books and whispered to the girl sitting next to her. She seemed to have
difficulty staying interested in her reading. The first books she wrote
on her Reading list (Guiding
Readers and Writers: Grades 3-6, Appendix 13) were listed as Easy,
not Just Right or Challenging.
So what are the next steps instructionally for Leti?
1. I want her to be able to easily select "Just Right" books (books
at her reading level).
2. I want her to be able to read Just Right books for an extended period
of time (25-30 minutes) during Independent Reading.
3. I want her to begin to have conversations about books she is reading
with her Reading Partner.
4. I want her to be able to retell a Just Right fiction or non-fiction book
using a flow map (from Thinking Maps, by Innovative
Learning Group).
Watch for weekly updates on Leti's progress.
See Juli's November curriculum
map.
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