AHarrington

The final section of Revisiting the Reading Workshop, the authors continue to explain the structure of the workshop. The book stresses that the teacher share his/her own love for reading by talking about  personal readings done at home. The periods of independent reading must be quiet and structured so that most of the time is spent on task. In addition, the authors explain that reading is a social activity where communication between students should be encouraged. The section that deals with partner reading is especially useful. Partner reading should be modeled in detail for the students so that they know what is expected of them when they read in pairs. The authors also explain using story chats to help with comprehension. For ESOL students, the section on "things I was confused about" would be especially helpful. Stories are often filled with idioms and words that students learning another language might not understand.

One of the most important aspects of the reading workshop is the student/teacher conference. The book is very specific in explaining the teacher's role and the student's role when discussing their book. It is also very important for the students to write about what they have read. The traditional reader response journal works especially well. I thought the use of sticky notes was a really neat idea to try. The students use the notes to mark places that they would like to share or passages that were confusing for them. The authors end the book by providing rubrics for assessing the progress of individual students.