CNewman

Chapter 7 goes into detail about the reading part of the Reading Workshop (independent reading, conferring, responding and sharing).  Some of the things teachers should do are demonstrate thier own love of reading, have an orderly environment which has rules of voice levels and material use, and help children choose the correct book.  Activities during workshop time are story chats (to get them to think about what they are reading), guided reading groups (to help understanding of text) and flexible grouping (to work on specific skills certain students need help with).  This chapter goes into great detail about conferencing with students:when to conference, what a teacher's role is, different types of conferences and what questions to ask, interventions for certain behaviors and forms for documentation of conferences.

Chapter 8 helps teachers with assessment and reconciling the report card grades with workshop grades.Cheklists and rubrics are provided and running records are recommended.  If you have clear checklist and ideas about how you are going to assess using workshops there will be less questions/problems when grades are assigned.

There are a few ideas in this book that I can use in connection with the workshop system I already have in place.  I like the list of books used for mini-lessons.  The books were well matched with the skills that need to be taught.

Chapters 4-6 give ideas on topics for the mini-lessons, characteristics of a good learner and sample mini-lessons.  These chapters also give more information on how to conduct workshops.  These chapters gave me a better understanding of the workshops and confirmed my belief that this would not be appropriate for first graders until October or November.  I like the choices of books to teach certain skills.  The eight reading strategies are also helpful.  Good readers should always be asking questions while they are reading and improving their comprehension skills.  The mini-lessons and teacher conferencing should strengthen these skills.  Although I still prefer the way I do workshops for first graders, I do see some ideas that I can use.  I particularly like the 5 finger rule.  As you read, put a finger on a word you don't know and if you use five fingers the book is too hard.

Chapters 1-3 give an overview of what Reading Workshops are and how to organize the workshops.  The workshop block starts with a mini-lesson and read aloud followed by an hour of independent reading, response and reflection and sharing.  This program is compared to traditional reading programs. The major differences are in Reading Workshops the students are responsible for choosing their reading material, they write contantly and use alternate forms of assessment.  Chapters 2 and 3 show how to set up a classroom library and how to plan for a mini-lesson.  I use a form of reading workshops in my classroom that I feel is more appropriate for first graders.  The plan in the book seems to give the students too much unstructured time.  In addition it does not seem appropriate for beginning first graders who  mostly do not read or write yet.  I believe there are some good components in the Reading Workshop but it is more appropriate for older children. It should be used as a framework that teachers can use and tailor to their their own styles.