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.
The Reading Workshop class had an extended school year of 204
days. Their promotion exercise was held on Tuesday, July 16, 2002
at 9:30 A.M. in the Whittier School multipurpose room.
Graduation comes in all shapes and sizes, and you don't need
to be a rocket scientist to know the difference between nervous
twitters, polite applause and raucous cheers. The same goes for
our Reading Workshop "promotion exercise" where balloons,
flowers, candy leis and flashing cameras competed for the kids'
attention.
Few graduations have so fluidly mingled big laughs and sentiment.
Arriving late for the ceremony, Esmé's older sisters, together
carrying 50 pink helium filled balloons, hardly made it through
the multipurpose room's wide doorway. Following them came her
brother with a dozen red roses, but it was the hug from her sister
that made the biggest impact. "My sister never hugs me,"
she reflected two days later, "Except for that day."
Absent this year was the dreary atmosphere of the last year, when
nine out of the seventeen students in the class did not complete
their Reading Benchmark Assessments and were not promoted on to
middle school. As a visitor at that "non promotion,"
I was deeply touched by the kids' disappointment. This year, in
the end, only one of the twenty-five students in the class will
remain. She just needs more time in English language instruction.
Almost as notable as what wasn't in evidence, however, is what
was. A popular innovation saw its first release. Miss Thia,
our Instructional Assistant, and her candy leis, one for each
of the students, hit the top of the charts their first time out.
Afterwards, as several hungry graduates nibbled on candy, dismantling
their leis in the process, Thia just beamed. Needless to say,
the leis took many rolls of clear cellophane, several colors of
curling ribbon, bags of candy and hours of work on Thia's part.
What a great addition!
If you wanted to peer into the future, past the too-sweet sheet
cake with the huge blue flowers, the multitude of video cameras,
and the tremendous sense of accomplishment reflected in the kids'
smiles, there were the proud faces of parents and other family
members, babies included. Their high expectations for these children
are just beginning to be realized.
As Leti, who finished the year by passing the end of fourth grade
Reading benchmarks in fiction and nonfiction (the standard is
third grade), walked across the elevated platform and received
her certificate, I thought about the new schools that our kids
would attend in September. I'm optimistic that these schools will
receive our kids warmly and assist them in continuing their journey
as lifelong readers and writers. Just do it!
[Editor's note: Juli will return in the fall with a
new journal, focused on her work with struggling writers,
and will also continue to share new learnings from her Reading
Workshop experience.]
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