Reading workshop

Some educators, like Kathy Collins, believe that " a balanced approach to literacy instruction offers a variety of ways for children to become well-rounded and strong independent readers and writers. One of the many components of this framework is Reading Workshop .(For the other components of this framework, see "Growing Readers: Units of Study in the Primary Classroom" by Kathy Collins). In her book , "The Art of Teaching Reading", Lucy Calkins refers to reading workshop as "the heart of our reading work because it's the time in the day when children have the opportunity to orchestrate all they know about reading in order to read their own just-right books." Reading workshop is detailed in "Growing Readers: Units of Study in the Primary Classroom" by Kathy Collins. Reading Workshop consists of the following components: a group mini-lesson, student independent reading time, partner reading time,selection of a book for at-home reading, and a group share. During a group mini-lesson, the teacher will spend about ten minutes teaching a lesson on how to use a comprehension strategy that proficent readers use. Then, children are given about 20 minutes to read privately, or independently. Children will be reading books during this time which are contained in their very own book boxes, file folders, or bags. These books have been self-selected by the students from the classroom library during "book shopping " time. These books span the range from easy to their own independent reading level. During this time, the teacher circulates among the class and provides individualized instruction and holds one-one-one conferences. The teacher also carries a notebook in which notes about each child's reading are made. Next, the children spend about 10 minutes reading with their reading partner. The reading partner is a child who reads on a similar level. The partners read aloud to each other and discuss story elements. When partner reading concludes, each child selects a book to bring home to read that night. The teacher gathers the class again and talks about what she observed during the reading time. The talk may center on students who used the strategy taught earlier in the mini-lesson.

Kathy Collins lists seven guiding principles of the independent reading workshop:1. readers have time to read just-right books independently every day.2. readers select their own appropriate books.3. readers take care of books.4. readers respect each other's reading time and reading lives.5.readers have daily opportunities to talk aobut their books in genuine ways.6. readers don't just read the words but also understand the story.7. readers' work in the independent reading workshop is replicable outside the classroom.

References

Kathy Collins: Growing Readers: Units of Study in the Primary Classroom. Stenhouse Publishers. (2004) ISBN 1-57110-373-2

Further Reading:

Calkins, L. The Art of Teaching Reading. Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 2001.