L.A. TIMES
Armstrong Language Arts
Do you have the HPISD Fountas & Pinnell Levels? Ask your LA Team member!
Units of Study for Reading: Structures of Reading Workshops
Is What I am Doing Reading Workshop?
Elements of a Successful Reading Workshop
- Mini-Lesson- on focused topic, includes teacher modeling and student practice (I do, We do, You do)
- Independent Reading- time to apply ideas from mini-lesson from that day or previous day, student should refer to anchor charts, must be reading on level books that are a "good fit"
- Conferring- students confer with the teacher, topic can be teacher or student led, documentation is taken for assessment purposes, go over reading log, post-its, reading notebook, etc. Strategy lessons can take place here.
- Mid-Conference Teaching Point- Stop and do a short check-in, have partners share with each other, keep students focused on task
- Wrap-Up- Time to share with group
What about centers?
- Centers have been a favorite way to keep kids busy doing independent work while the teacher assists individuals or groups. Centers are not part of the reading workshop. Instead of using independent time to work in centers, the students are using independent time to READ!
What is the difference between guided reading and strategy lessons?
- Guided reading is when you pull small groups to work on reading skills, rather than strategies. Often guided reading is found in the younger grades when they are still working on fluency and accuracy, decoding, phonics, vocabulary, etc. It is done in the upper elementary grades as needed. Guided reading, is when the students are all reading the same book, working on the same skill set, with a heavy hand from the teacher. While the students are working to independence over time, they are reading their instructional level books. Typically comprehension is not the main objective in a guided reading lesson, although interactive questions can be asked throughout.
- Strategy lessons are lessons about the comprehension of reading- visualization, character traits, summarizing, etc. These are reflections of mini-lessons and can be done in small groups during conferring time.