Day 1 of the Teachers College Home Grown Reading Workshop Institute

[To follow are my notes from my sessions at the OAISD Home Grown Reading Workshop Summer Institute with Teachers College Reading and Writing Project]

Morning Session: (Lindsay Mann @lindsaymann22)

Reading Workshop is a component of Balanced Literacy

A simple definition of Balanced Literacy:

  -To... (kids)

  -With... (kids)

  -By.. (kids)

• To kids = Interactive Read Aloud/Writing (not necessarily explicitly stating what you are teaching as you read, but in your teacher head you know what you are explicitly modeling for kids)
• With kids = Shared Reading/Writing (again, not necessarily stating to kids what you are teaching, but you FOR SURE know in your head what you are purposely modeling)
• By kids = The Workshop

In read aloud, shared reading, and reading workshop mini lesson, consider what you are supporting: (You often are doing much more than you realize!)

     -Accuracy and print work (The actual reading of words)

     -Fluency

     -Comprehension (Cumulating texts)

     -Engagement and Identity

     -Habits and routines

1. Interactive Read Aloud (To...)

• Be very deliberate about what you are modeling, but you aren't naming it yet for kids (keeping it authentic to reading)
• Read aloud, think aloud, and 1 or 2 turn and talks
• Afterwards, just try to get kids talking: "So, what are you thinking?"
• Then pick one idea a kid shared, and start a discussion around the idea, anchoring it in the text
• Sample: A Sick Day for Amos McGee
• Without explicitly teaching about prediction, she modeled predicting in the book. She also had us turn and talk twice, focused on comprehension work

2. Share Reading (With...)

• Beginning of year, start with a simple text, then build across the year
• Sample: Big Book: There Was a Mouse (repetitive structure)
• She did a picture walk with kids popcorn sharing, but didn't show last page
• Had us read the text chorally
• Without explicitly teaching about prediction, she made a prediction, had us make a prediction, and we all checked our predictions at the end (didn't actually use the word prediction. Asked us what we thought might happen next)

3. Reading Workshop (By...)

• Kathy Collins' Principles of Reading Workshop
• Investment and Engagement
• Explicit Teaching and GUided Practice
• Independence
• Opportunities for Response and Talk
• Predicting was scaffolded in Read Aloud, in Shared Reading, and now it's named explicitly and is the teaching point.
• She reviewed the work we did in A Sick Day for Amos McGee and There Was a Mouse as the Connection for her mini lesson. ("Remember when we...")

Afternoon Session (Christine Robson)

Recommends reading Kathy Collins: Reading for Real

Balanced Literacy Overview

-Reading Workshop

     ~Shared Reading

     ~Read Aloud

     ~Word Study

-Writing Workshop

     ~Shared Writing

     ~Interactive Writing

*If you want to see more than literal details on post-its, consider how you have scaffolded it. You might be good, but it will take a miracle to get kids from having no experience, to doing something perfectly, with only a 7 minute mini lesson. You need to scaffold it before they have to do it alone.

Reading Workshop Timing:

1. Mini Lesson (7-12 min) [If it takes longer, you might be teaching more than one thing]

2. Private Reading Time (15-30 min)

3. Mid Workshop Interruption

4. Partner Reading Time (10-15 min)

5. Teaching Share (5 min)

Teacher meets with students:

-Conferring

-Small Group (Guided Reading/Strategy Lesson)

Partner Reading tips:

Level J and higher: Partner reading will be more about collaboration on ideas. The conversation will be more rich if books are related. (She sets up book shopping so that partners choose related books so it is more collaborative in nature)

Level A-I: THey will be doing more reading together (Sharing pages, echo reading, etc.) [Their books won't have as much "meat" for them to collaborate about]

*She does more small group than conferring, especially with younger kids, because kids don't have enough stamina. She might do a small group where she quickly checks book bags and then confers with one kid while other kids in the group are getting things set up

*If she see a common need with more than one kids, she will do a small group

*She has a Monday-Friday conferring schedule on the board and writes student names. Kids can add their name if they really need to meet with her.

Tip: Don't throw out the small groups in order to confer with every kid. Balance it!

Guiding Principles of Reading Workshop -Cathy Collins:

1. Students read just-right books every day

• She often uses the levels from June and makes up a book baggy for each student so they are matched with a just-right book starting Day 1.
• If kid's reading level dropped over the summer, she let's them feel the pain. She puts it as, "Oh my gosh, but that's what you were reading at the end of first grade! What happened? Oh no, what are you going to do to get caught up so you can get back to where you were in 1st grade?"
• COOL!!!!! At the end of the year, she has her kids create leveled book bags for next year's kids. Then she has the kids create any charts or helpful hints to help next year's kids, and puts them in their bag.

2. Readers choose appropriate material and take care of materials

• She schedules shopping days so she knows who just got new books. She can check-in with those kids right after they've selected their books. That way she can quickly weed out the Harry Potter before the kids has been "reading" it for 3 days.
• A-G readers might need 10-12 books in their bag to last them a week! If you don't have enough books, consider having kids select 5-6 books, then swap reading bags with their reading partner mid-week
• She has partners select matching books so they can have rich conversation
• She has each group have a "Look Book" basket (These are those DK books or other books that aren't just-right, but kids want to read. She keeps these books completely separate from the kids' reading bags. She always had the kids start the day by reading from their "Look Book" basket, and any other sponge times
• She also created "Look Book" bookmarks for at home. A kid can identify what level a book is for them and show their parent the bookmark:

                (R)      This book is hard. Please read it to me.
                (Y)      This book is pretty tricky. Please help me read it.
                (G)      Listen to me read this and let's talk about it when I'm done.

• Create a Book Hospital-->A place for kids to drop off broken books. She had a parent helper be the "Book Doctor"
• Student jobs: Librarian (keep the baskets nice and neat)
• When kids go back to book shop, they take the post-its out of the book. She has them select some of the post-its to tape into their reader's notebook. Students label the page with the book title, the date, and the level.
• For assessment, she will sometimes have kids turn in the post-it from the week that shows their best thinking.
• H and Above: Students should be doing Post-its
• A-G: She is less worried about having kids do post-its, she just wants them to read lots and lots and lots, and tell someone their favorite part. If they do post-its, the post-its serve more of a role of page-holder

3. Readers respect reading time and each other

4. Readers have daily opportunities to talk about books in genuine ways

• If you have a struggling ELL student, or a behavioral challenge, you might want to put them in a group of three (She told the story of the time that she put her super naughty kid in a partnership with the girl in her class that was a natural teacher and rule follower. Three days things went great. Then on the third day the rule-follower-girl bit the naughty kid. Through sobs she was apologizing profusely, but said she couldn't handle it any more. Her point? It's not fair to have kids manage kids. That should have been a group of 3.)

5. Readers read the words AND understand their reading

6. Readers' work during workshop is replicable outside the classroom

• Graphic organizers: Would I do this every time I read? Would it help me? If not, then why are you having your students do it?

Management Tips:

• Fountas and Pinnel have an iPad prompting guide App
• Fountas and Pinnel have the best, most comprehensive leveling website out there. It costs money, but it is SO worth it!!!
• Best (cheap) leveled books ever: pioneervalleybooks.com 
• She NEVER lets kids put their writing folders or their reading bags in their desks!! (She has hooks on the backs of their chairs for their reading bags)
• Fun: Have a "Building Stamina Marathon" --Which table will read the longest and strongest? One time she had the whole grade level meet in the gym for a stamina marathon
• She hasn't found reading logs to be very helpful until kids reach the J/K level

*If your kids don't know how to be in a reading workshop, you need to teach them how to be. (Make charts to reinforce and use photographs of kids doing it right)